In the idyllic waters of the South Pacific lurks a dangerous and insatiable predator, a monster whose bloodlust and greed threatens the very survival of our planet.
Thousands of miles from the nearest human settlement, deep on the ocean floor, the creatures have lived for millennia. But when an oil drill bursts through their lair, Nøkken attacks, damaging the drilling ship’s engine, trapping the desperate crew.
The longer the humans remain in Nøkken’s territory, struggling to repair their ailing ship, the more confrontations occur between the two species. When the death toll rises, the crew turns on each other, and marine geologist Flora Duchovney realizes the scariest monsters aren’t below the surface.
Monsters in Our Wake by J. H. Moncrieff. Published by Severed Press, February 2017. I had the Kindle edition, 191 pages. This ticked off 3 prompts (out of 50) for the 2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge: 9.) A book you meant to read in 2018. 12.) A book inspired by mythology, legend, or folklore. and 19.) A book told from multiple character POVs.
I love Severed Press. They are one of the best places to go for modern creature feature horror. Especially sea creatures. And I LOVE sea creatures! ❤ I read as much of Severed Press’ sea creature titles as I can.
Monsters in Our Wake had a monster that anyone would recognize due to a creature that is said to inhabit a certain infamous loch in Scotland (Nessie turns out to be the cousin of the sea creatures that are in this story). The Plesiosaurs. One of my very favorite dinosaurs! I love the plesiosaur and I am happy to see this creature having a revival in modern sea creature horror. But here’s the thing…. Moncrieff has put a little spin on this creature. They are telepathic and they are venomous!
The creatures being telepathic was interesting. They talked back and forth between their family members like a typical family. They knew what humans were and things about human life. Every other chapter in the book was actually in the point of view of the sea creatures. I wasn’t really sure how I felt about that. I don’t think I like the “monster” being an intelligent, civilized creature. But I did warm up to the idea as the story moved on. It was neat getting to see the events from perspectives on both sides.
The fact that the creatures were venomous opened up a whole terrible can of worms. I don’t want to give anything more away. Let’s just say that this fact made things even more difficult for the crew! And it was such a creative and fun twist to put on a venomous creature! I loved the situations that the venom caused. Pretty clever.
It didn’t take very long for things to really heat up in this story. I was very curious how everyone was going to make it out of the danger zone. WAS anyone even going to make it out of the danger zone? 😮 The pages flew by fast and before I knew it, the book was over. Here’s the thing, though… the ending… was a little bit TOO abrupt. The book ends and we still don’t know what happened to the creatures and what happened to the survivors. Did the creatures die? Did the humans make it home? Don’t know. It wasn’t badly written, it just -to me- did not feel like it had a clear conclusion. There were just too many answers in the end. 
Monsters in Our Wake was an interesting sea creature story. It took a sea creature we all know and love and put a unique spin on it. This was a quick read and it leaves you dying to know how it will end. Sadly the ending was a little bit unclear and left a few too many answers. Still a very fun title and worth checking out.
Creature From The Book Lagoon 