Claw: A Canadian Thriller

Claw, Book 1

By: Katie Berry

Narrated by: Alex Knox

Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Lawless, British Columbia is on edge after a powerful earthquake jolts the region, quickly followed by a string of savage animal attacks. Newly stationed to the area after her predecessor mysteriously disappears, Conservation Officer Christine Moon needs to calm the jangled nerves of the small mountain town. 

Awakened from ancient slumber, something stalks the swirling, grey mists that surround Lawless. A beast with a gnawing hunger that grows stronger by the minute - its only thought, to satisfy its ravenous appetite. 

Rampant corruption at the highest level has targeted Christine to be the next mysterious disappearance. Now, she's in a fight for her life while trying to track and contain the creature threatening to decimate the local population.

©2019 Katie Berry (P)2020 Tantor

Has its moments...

While I enjoyed parts of this book, I was overwhelmed by the plethora of tedious, unnecessary minutia about meaningless characters. If someone we just met is about to be killed off, I don’t need 15 pages on how they became the person they are today.

This book also really has a feminist edge to it as well. And while I don’t have any issues with that, this isn’t something I’d want my daughter to read to bolster her confidence. It is more so a lecture in how stupid, pigheaded, misogynistic, ignorant, greedy and gluttonous men are. And come on, the first hour or so of your reading will consist of so many “come on bro, yeah bro, cool bro” moments it may stop you from going any further.

This is a slow building thriller with very little in the way of payoff at the end. Too many fine details for characters that, frankly, just don’t matter enough for me to care about.

Plenty of gore and a hint of the lost world genre that other authors I enjoy have explored, but this one just misses the mark. It took me several weeks to finish because I just couldn’t find the motivation to press on at times. That being said, I did reach a point where I found myself wanting to know what happens next, which was this book’s only saving grace.

I enjoyed it more than not. The meat of the story probably needed some more fat cut off.

I loved the premise and enjoyed getting to know most the characters and the primal fears and instincts they interact with to contend with their situation (I don’t want to spoil anything because I hope many will give this a chance; it was worth it to me).

With that said:
• It’s my understanding that this novel was published independently and, if that means it was released without a dedicated editor, it does show. There’s consistent indulgence in projection terms and phrases that, at best, feel like “dad jokes.” It’s mostly tied to character dialogue and prose about their state of mind, but it pulled me out of the narrative much more than I’d be comfortable with if I were the author.

My preferences obviously influence this. I may be an outlier…But I doubt it.

The final draft has a lot of fat on it, and would benefit greatly from a third-party editor coming in a butchering it down.

The narrator did a competent, efficient job. Nothing flashy and nothing detrimental to the story.

Hope you’ll give it a chance, readers.
Hope you’ll look into more thorough editing on future stories, author.

Thanks.

Bad Movie

couldn't get halfway through it.. The Narrator reads this thing like an extremely low budget movie.....

Very entertaining book

Good story. Never lagged. Characters mostly realistic. Clean language. Good read overall. About to buy the sequel.

Good thriller!

This was a great story. I liked the character development. The idea of there being underground pockets of animals otherwise thought to be no longer in existence is interesting.

Fantastic story

I absolutely love the story, characters and creatures. Finished the entire story in one go and will listen again soon.

Good story too much cursing

Enjoyed listening to the story but could have had less GD, FU, ecetera. The speaker also spoke too fast in some parts . That's why I gave the story 4 stars

Whaaaaa?????

Terrible narrator. Monotone and boring. Plot concept could have been interesting but isn't. What it is, is ridiculous. Avalanche causes previously hidden pre-historic frozen habitat to come to back to life. Apparently, prehistoric bears don't roar, they howl and bay like wolves. I would recommend skipping. There are better books out there on which to spend your $ or credit.

awesome

another edge of your seat thriller enjoyed it very much
but if the author could refrain from using clip it's a a magazine thank you

One of The Best!!!

I don't care if I had to keep converting measurements from metric, this was hands down one of the best creature features i have listened to in a long, long time. Katie Berry is definitely at the top of her game with this book. I can't wait for more installments.

Long drawn out

The first time with this Author and Narrator and well, I managed to get through it.
The first couple of chapters were gripping with a monster eating people. However the attention to every single detail just got tedious, thought there was going to be more about the corruption of the town but no.
Ended up just being background noise, probably could listen to the last 4 hours and still know what’s been happening.