A January of Monsters and Mystery
January can be one long, boring month, even for a guy like me who loves the winter. Hopefully I’ll get to enjoy watching my Seahawks right through to the first Sunday of February. Other than that, it’s huddling in the house while the wind rattles our windows most nights.
The up side is that means I get to catch up on my reading. To inject a little oomph into January, I’ve laid out my reading list with enough monster and thrills to keep me warm and feeling like a little kid reading deep into the night by flashlight.
So, here’s my reading list. I hope yours includes my latest, ISLAND OF THE FORBIDDEN. When you’ve gotten your chills with the ghosts from that one, feel free to pluck one of these from my TBR pile…
IT WAITS BELOW By Eric Red (Alien sea monster! Hell yeah!)
It waits no more!
In the 1800s, an asteroid carrying an extraterrestrial life form crashed to earth and sunk a Spanish treasure ship. Now, a trio of salvage experts dives a three-man sub to the deepest part of the ocean to recover the sunken gold. There, they confront a nightmarish alien organism beyond comprehension, which has waited for over a century to get to the surface. It finally has its chance.
As their support ship on the surface is ambushed by deadly modern-day pirates, the crew of the stranded sub battles for their very lives against a monster no one on Earth has seen before.
BIGFOOT TRACKS – A CREEPSQUAD COLLECTION By Steve Vernon (Gettin’ squatchy!)
Everything that you have read about Bigfoot is a lie.
Everything that you have HEARD about Bigfoot is the truth!
Enjoy three stories from the files of The Creep Squad – that pack of cryptids, legends, and nondescript rumors who fight crime and misjustice anywhere that you aren’t looking.
What if ALL the stories were true?
What if Bigfoot really did exist? What if he depended upon people’s belief in him for his very existence?
TOXIC BEHEMOTH By David Bernstein (Freakin’ kaiju by one of my favorite writers!)
A creature born of flesh and toxic waste stalks the ocean depths, devouring every living thing in its path as it grows to a colossal size.
Weeks after its inception, the monster rises from the deep and attacks a cruise ship, alerting humanity to its presence.
The United States armed forces are called in to stop it, but with its human like intellect, mammoth size and organic, alien-like weaponry, the toxic behemoth will prove the most formidable enemy humanity has ever seen.
ABRAM’S BRIDGE By Glenn Rolfe (New Samhain blood with some serious writing chops!)
There is a darkness in this town, and it’s buried beneath Abram’s Bridge.
When Lil Ron meets Sweet Kate under Abram’s Bridge he is mesmerized. And when he realizes this beautiful girl is a ghost, it frightens him, but also draws him to her. Curiosity and a drive to make things right lead Lil Ron into a tangle of small-town secrets involving his own father and other members of this otherwise quiet community. Bit by bit, he will uncover the truth about Sweet Kate, a story of heartbreak, violence…and fear.
DEVOURED, THE HUNGER BOOK 1 By Jason Brant (Honorary Monster Man. I have been dying to dive into his series)
Life isn’t kind to Lance York. A full-time job has eluded him for years, his wife loathes the sight of him, his bank accounts are empty, and his wealthy father-in-law revels in his failures.
After he lunges in front of a car to save a sick and disoriented woman, Lance awakens in a quarantined hospital. A devastating plague is spreading worldwide, driving those infected with it insane. Their bodies begin to mutate into horrors that have haunted mankind’s nightmares for centuries.
The world descends into chaos as the infected flee to the shadows, emerging at night to devour the remnants of civilization.
With the help of an unlikely ally, Lance must navigate through the collapsing city of Pittsburgh, striving to escape the madness of the apocalypse that unfolds around them.
What’s on your reading list? Convince me to add your fave to my February list, when the days seem even longer!
Hunter Shea 
A lot good stuff on your list, very well done!
I can’t put Devoured down. So glad there are more in the series.
Hunter! I would love to know your thoughts on Bird Box by Josh Malerman: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18498558-bird-box?from_search=true But keep your eyes closed while you read! 😉