Pistols

By: Michael Cole

Narrated by: Tom Taverna.

Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

They are known to be one of the loudest organisms in the sea. They can generate acoustic pressures up to 12 PSI. The snap from their claws is so powerful, they can produce flashes of light. Normally, they are harmless, for they grow no larger than two inches in length.

But these are not normal circumstances.

In the waters of Lilly May, Florida, something has gone horribly wrong. The police department gets flooded with reports of heavy sound waves and flashing under the water. The remains of a 30-eight-foot whale shark wash ashore, and a derelict boat is found adrift, its deck covered in blood.

Assisting with the police investigation, marine biologist Jason Rose works diligently to uncover the cause of the phenomenon. The readings from offshore acoustic buoys reveal the occurrence of brief but intense soundwaves—like pistol shots under the water.

The truth reveals itself by escalating the horror to mass murder. A colony of giant pistol shrimp, grotesquely mutated from toxic exposure, have invaded the Florida coast. Their snapping claws are capable of producing intense heat and thunderous shockwaves. Like a swarm of locusts, they will stop at nothing to devour anything inhabiting the water.

©2022 Severed Press (P)2023 Severed Press

Oh SNAP!

ATTACK of the JUMBO SHRIMP

A brilliant idea for a monster. Giant mutated pistol shrimp.
They are bulletproof.
They can return fire.
Plus, they never run out of ammo.

A completely bizarre sea creature with the actual ability to snap its “gun claw” so fast & so hard it “creates sound waves so powerful they seem to split atoms creating super heated underwater explosions launching sea-water bullets or supernova-hot air blasts!

When they are normally 1 inch long this isn’t really an issue. However, when they are 13 feet long this can cause quite the ruckus.

The writing can be rather corn-ball at moments. But, when the book reaches chapter 27, it’s the top of the rollercoaster… and it’s all screaming excitement after that.

The narrator is superb when sped up to 1.2 and he’s only reading the narrative.
When he reads dialogue every one sounds like a gruff heavy drinking sailor-man with a 4 pack a day habit - and that’s the female voices.
The male characters sound harsher.

However, it’s one of the better “monster” tales out there.

Armed and Dangerous

Pistols by Michael Cole is an amazing on the edge of your seat creature feature. The overall plot keeps the Listener/Reader engaged from beginning to end. The characters were well written as well as engaging. I found two characters in particular great because while I liked one and hated the other by the end of the book those roles completely changed. I also really enjoyed the human drama of Pistols. The relationship between father and son was really well done. As for the creatures well Michael Cole has done it again. He has turned a creature I would never have thought to be as dangerous as it could be into one. After reading this I started looking up everything I could on Pistol Shrimp. Their ability to shoot like they did was impressive. The ending was great it really sets up well for a sequel. The narrator Tom Taverna did a fantastic job telling the story and bringing the characters to life. All in all I would recommend Pistols by Michael Cole to anyone who likes a excellent deep sea thriller.

Good story, interesting premise

Could have had a better reader. The story was very interesting and creative. One if Coles best

Way too much boring talking .

I'm disappointed . I'm hoping action will start happening.
I was expecting a lot more exciting fish stuff !
Also the narrator was not good . He made every character sound the same .

OK story

The story was ok, Not as good as his other books. The narrator was awful. Should have used someone younger. The younger characters sounded like 70 year old men, the female voices also sounded like men. And unlike the authors other books the ending sucked. I probably wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

Not a lot. The story was a bit too technical for me.

I did not like the fact that the story left too many unanswered questions. To me, the storyline was all over the place.

Pistols

Interesting story, typical of Michael Cole except this one had a different ending then the others I listened to. I think it is worth listening to though, I enjoyed everything this author has written so far

The story

The story was great, but the performance was not as good sometimes you could not tell when one character ended and another started. But overall I enjoyed the story