by William W. Johnstone

I felt this had a shaky start, rushed in some places and not something that would have drawn me in if I hadn't heard it was good, but the author did their research on the species of bat depicted and that always sits well with me. By the end of the first chapter, it started to flow better.

The plot did seem to move too fast in places. That's an unusual thing for me to say because I hate slow books, but there was no build up of suspense before we get a good look at the bats and as an old Horror B-movie fan, I felt that was woefully missing. It did get good, although the characters all seemed overdone, like caricatures of certain 'types'. The story itself felt well written apart from the lack of suspense. It was literate and descriptive with few typos, but the characters just weren't believable.

Just past halfway some really amusing action reminded me of something that would require Leslie Neilson and the cast of Airplane to depict in a movie adaptation. Hilarious, but not realistic. Downright silly in places, but I think it was intentional.

Overall the book was an interesting read and I do love animal/monster Horror, but I think most of the last third needed to be either cut or fleshed out. I got the feeling at that point that the author had become bored with his own story, alternating segments of 'telling' to say what became of peripheral characters or groups with descriptions of bat attacks that sounded like visual notes for a movie script. Also believability waned.

I kept reading because I wanted to know how the situation resolved, which I would call acceptable. Nothing gripping or emotional, just as I felt no emotional involvement with the characters. A generally entertaining read, worth finishing once started.

And this started out so well.

Brain shaped entities from outer space come to enslave humanity for a few hundred years while helping them improve. Unfortunately, there is a mutiny underway, and two factions of the aliens fight for dominance in the little village of Sandy Run.

An interesting premise to what I thought was going to be a fun romp though B horror land.
No such luck.

We gradually degenerate to a continuous lecture about bullying and how stupid the human race is. Granted humans seem to have a built in tendency towards bullying, and we're not the brightest things going, but come on. We're not in the principles office. The stilted writing, constant lecturing, and the name calling comes across as juvenile and immature, like it was written by middle schooler. The head brain thing just comes across as arrogant and holier than thou, completely unwilling to see any side but his own.

The whole book is the reader basically getting lectured to about bullying by a bully and an overbearing parent turn and turn about. Sometimes in the same conversation.

1 star because the scenes with Sid and the paranoid old man in the swamp, and Dickie and Lou Ann stealing Sids patrol car made me laugh. Unfortunately they came towards the end.

The brain from outer space likes John Wayne and Clint Eastwood westerns.

Mmmmmm...  cheeeeese...

Talking tentacled brains that can read your mind.

Time loops and entities from the unknown.  Whose theorized origins seems a bit far fetched, but considering some of the stuff I read who am I to scoff.  

The thing is stuck in the 50s, and apparently doesn't like Mexicans.  Unless it's just the sheriff. Be prepared for some 12 year old style name calling/racial slurs. Most of the time it sounds like a middle schooler.

The story of a man whose truth needs to be told before the world spirals completely past the point of no return on the redemption scale.

Plenty gore, with enough humor to to make some scenes come across as completely absurd.