Reviews

The author admits that this was his take on John Carpenter's "The Thing" and that's pretty obvious and not at all a bad thing. A really gross and fun story that even had a little bit of our old pal Cthulhu thrown in for good measure! I enjoyed it for sure.

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adventurous dark emotional tense

5.0

The Carpenter/Lovecraft influences are a bit hard to miss, but if they somehow go over your head, Hill makes it explicit in his afterword. This gorgeous looking (Stuart Immonene!) tight little horror epic about a small salvage outfit run by three brothers sneaking into a disputed area of the Arctic Circle at the behest of a corporation whose missing ship just came inexplicably online after decades of silence, certainly manages the Carpenter, but as is often the case the Lovecraft is a big squidy monster with lots of eyes. Before that, however, it generates its own chilly atmosphere and Hill is ruthless when it comes to his characters, however lovable. What's notable, perhaps is a trait from good ol' Stephen King himself in deploying some 'magic' objects that both afflict and assist the protagonists. All in all fun and effective, hope there's a sequel, since it certainly ends with a hook.