Slimer

By: Harry Adam Knight, John Brosnan, Leroy Kettle

Narrated by: Hannibal Hills

Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

When a yacht being used to smuggle drugs sinks, the six smugglers must seek refuge the only place they can - an abandoned oil rig in the middle of the sea.

But there's something strange about this oil rig. For one thing, it looks more like a scientific research facility. And for another, there are no people - only piles of clothes with no bodies in them.

It soon becomes clear that something is loose on the rig. Something deadly. It's stalking them, one by one, but it's not just a horrible death they have to fear - it's what comes after....

The basis for the cult film Proteus, Harry Adam Knight's first novel, Slimer (1983), is a wild thrill ride that mixes creature feature horror, fast-paced action, and a dose of black humor.

©1983 Harry Adam Knight (P)2019 Valancourt Books LLC

Classic 80's Horror

This story has all the hallmarks of 80’s horror. Gratuitous violence, sex, drugs, and gory monsters created by science. Definitely has a The Thing From Another World and somewhat of a Invasion of The Body Snatchers feel. For fans of this genre, this is a perfect B grade 80’s horror story that will keep you listening with a huge grin the entire time.

The plot isn’t anything too unique and does seem to borrow quite heavily from The Thing From Another World, AKA The Thing. Even has flame throwers and character impersonation. This doesn’t have the dogs though, since it is on an oil rig it is a shark. Comparisons aside, It is a lot of fun and is intense all the way to the end. It is a fairly short listen, so we are dropped into the life raft and it is all oars in the water at ramming speed.This is a graphic story, so you will need to put your big boy pants on as there are scenes that are a bit disturbing, but it wouldn’t be 80’s horror without them.

The six main characters are totally forgettable, save one. You have the typical 80’s crew complete with a junkie and a sex crazed psychopath. I enjoyed each of them, although I really didn’t like any of them as a person. Alex was a great character in that he was the perfect bad guy in a group of fairly innocuous people. He is an awful person, but I loved hearing how crazy he could get and wondering what nefarious act he would do next.

As always, Hannibal Hills does an impeccable job of narrating the story. You can hear the energy he puts into each character’s voice and his performance is first class. His voice definitely lends to the feeling of being alone and scared on an empty oil rig in the middle of nowhere. Now I’m off to go watch Proteus.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

the thing

this book reminded me of john carpenters 'the thing'. the setting is on an abandoned oil rig in the north sea

Loved it

Another 80s classic brought to life
Isolating creature feature that holds up very well
Excellent narration from Hannibal once again
Highly recommended especially if you enjoy B style horror
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review

Tries hard but just a bad bad B Movie remake

I got this, as I had expected something along the lines of the Blob but ended up getting a Thing imitator (no pun intended) ha is filled with really poorly detailed characters. That is the weakest part of the book, the characters. They play out as 2-Dimensional caricatures that you will easily recognize as the whore, the addict, the A**hole, the hero, etc That is as deep as these shallow people get. They are seriously stupid and play out every idiot trope you can imagine from fighting among themselves to denying what is going on after they know what is going on.

Hills is easy to listen to, but he does not really have definitive voices for the characters, they are pretty indistinguishable and hard to discern one another from.

The book isn't bad, and would make a great SYFY network movie as it is right up their alley.

The Thing...

On an oil rig! Seriously, it's pretty much the same concept. Like... exactly. But that didn't stop me from loving every single second of 'Slimer!' If you enjoy an action/adventure/body horror then this is right up your ally. I would listen to Hannibal Hills narrate the encyclopedia so... yeah this is pretty much a winner of a book. I'd recommend it to anyone at all who enjoys horror content!

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

LOVED IT!

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This was just plain fantastic 80's horror goodness. It is wonderfully narrated and lots of creepy imagery. I highly recommend to any horror fan!

great story

I really enjoyed the time the author took introducing the characters. I had tons of fun listening to this story. The narration as well as the writing was top notch. I'll definitely be looking for more from both the author and narrator. Beware abandoned* oil rigs. I received this title for free in exchange for an unbiased review.

Old School Horror

This put me in mind of the horror I grew up with, The Thing, The Fog, The Shining, etc. It was slow at first, but when the action picked up, there were enough creepy twists to keep any classic horror fan riveted. Even the ending was both satisfying and as leading as I hoped.

The narration was excellent, clear and easy to understand at all times.

80's Horror

I love 80’s horror and as listening realized I had read the book long time ago. Did enjoy the characters of Mark, Alex, Paul, Chris, Linda, Rochelle, and Shelley. It is about friend on a drug run on yacht when they get ship wrecked and try to get to land in a dingy when they come across an oil rig and meet up with Charlie a mutated shark with slimy tentacles that the scientists created. Amazing heroin may save the world as it kills people you have to listen to see who survives and if creature continues, the narration was good female voices a little funny. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Thank you

Good enough

A pretty standard creature feature. Decently written and good enough to keep me interested. Fairly predictable with no real surprises. Worth the listen.
not outstanding but good enough.
Decently narrated if just a bit overly dramatic, but again good enough.

A fun slice of 80s monster movie horror.

Slimer

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book, free of charge, in exchange for an honest review.

With a name like Slimer, you may be forgiven for expecting a fun story about a bunch of misfit-scientists trying to save New York City from green blobs with an insatiable appetite; unfortunately you would be wrong, very wrong.

Right off the bat I have to say the one thing that I really didn't like about this book, and that was the characters. Not one of the six-person primary cast was likeable nor did I feel any sadness or disappointment when any of them faced certain death.That said, this book was released in 1986 when all protagonists in movies and books were unlikeable and as such I have to accept that their style is very much a product of its time.

While the story is very much a monster book, I did feel that the story had a strong emphasis on the humans rather than the creature as, in reality, the monster gets very little screen-time for the majority of its near-6 hour runtime and most of the book is inter-fighting between this group of decidedly unlikeable characters. The kills that are here are always clever and well described and the monster itself extremely interesting as its methods are very different from most I've seen and the final revelations are ground-breaking in the genre and really did surprise me and this is all presented very well by the Narrator who gives each character a sense of individuality and voice, most of which are decidedly unlikeable.

So in closing, if you're looking for a slow monster story with a sense of atmosphere that encapsulates 80s horror, this is highly recommended.

One final fact is that there were times that while listening that I swore I recognise moments from the story and, only afterwards did I discover it had been made into a horror film in 1995 called Proteus.

boring and predictable

what on earth was that accent supposed to be? Scottish i think but it was awful. That’s the narration done with. The book itself was predictable. Alex especially is just your typical bad guy. You’ll see him in just about every good guy verses bad guy film and Paul is supposed to be the opposite. it’s hard to know how they aver truly got on. I made it to chapter 5 and just gave up on it. Boring, predictable, a waste of time and money or credit.

Great story, awful narration

Great trash horror, but do yourself a favour, buy the book.

This is completely unlistenable.

not worth the price

half decent story but terrible impressions by the narrator kinda ruined it for me. didnt finish.

Fun '80s Scifi/Horror

Slimer is a fun, fast paced scifi/horror gem from the early 80s. Very much in the same vein as Alien or John Carpenter's The Thing.
Hannibal Hill does a great job with the narration.
Highly recommended!

Dialects ahoy

Horror books can be a real enjoyment to read and listen to, often capturing the psychological condition of the characters better than most other media.

This one is not that. It's the equivalent of a 90's low budget horror flick.

The characters are flatter than a carpet, relying on stereotypical tropes. The American character has maybe 2 lines that aren't sexist, relying on plain macho chauvinism. The women are so dumbed down, it's hard to listen too. When not putting up with the aggressive chauvinism, they resort to conplaining about being hungry, tired or cold, or they simply point and say "What's that?" or "What's going on?" and "I don't like it" Don't look here for female agency of any sort.

Now here's the reason I had to stop before finishing the book.
The reader...
Oh lord, the dialects, the dialects.
I think perhaps his native dialect is Australian, which is fine enough. But when he launches into other dialects, they are so overdone, that it would be too much for even a parody!
The American dialect sound like something Fred Armisen would pull off on the Californicans sketches, the british like a poor Charles Dickens play. It makes the dialogue come off even dumber than it is on paper.

His monstrous appendage pulsated with evil!

In which six bungling drug-smugglers find themselves adrift upon a mist-shrouded sea before seeking refuge in a seemingly abandoned oil-rig where they must then fight for body and soul against the protean horror within. All of which, if not exactly original, is a great premise for some lurid pulp-horror hijinks that, sadly, this novel then fritters away. Credited to Harry Adam Knight, 'Slimer' is the debut collaboration between film critic John Brosnan and the Dickensianly-named Leroy Kettle. First published in 1983, the most obvious influence is John Carpenter's classic 'The Thing', which hit cinemas a year earlier. As with the pair's later book, 'The Fungus', this aspires to the killer economy of Carpenter's best works, but where 'The Fungus' succeeded this does not. Despite the relative brevity of the running time this audiobook drags in places worse than the slime monster itself; partly this is the fault of the writing and partly due to some unfortunate choices by the narrator. Hannibal Hills (for it is he) has a voice slightly reminiscent of TV chef, Rick Stein; his omniscient narration is fine, as is the voice used for the main hero; however, many of the other characters' voices are problematic. The vapid drone used for the female characters is uniform and monotonous, an issue compounded by being the same voice he uses for the 'weak' male character, Mark. In fact, the voices of Mark and his girlfriend were so irksome that it jarred me out of the story each time they appeared (presumably they weren't intended to sound as if they had learning difficulties). Similarly awkward on the ear was trite antagonist Alex, whose loud, ball-aching drawl sounded like a bad Rooster Cogburn impression.
Ultimately, a strong set-up let down by the execution and a fatal lack of atmosphere.

Slimer

Stranded in the high seas,a group of young people take refuge on an oil rig.NOT a great decision! This was good,like a B movie.You know what is coming,but still cringe. Excellent narration by Hannibal Hills brings it up a notch. I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

Modern Horror with a classic feel

This was a nice short horror in the style of John Carpenter's The Thing but set in a more modern time. It also reminded me of Helix TV show first season. I had the classic horror elements of feeling trapped in a closed environment with not knowing what is happening. The characters felt quite real as there was one that the author made quite a awful person. There were quite bit of sci-fi aspect but without being bogged down by science jargon.

The narrator gave was good giving all characters distinct voices so it was easy to recognise who was talking. The pacing was good for both the book and the reading speed and appropriate emotion was given in the performance.

The book was a little short but if that's because I was wanting more.

[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]

Horror on an oil rig

When some friend find themselves cast adrift after their yacht sinks, they think they are saved when an oil rig comes into view. As you can guess, things don't go according to plan. There is quite a bit of violence and sexual content in this horror story and for me most of the characters were unlikeable. I still enjoyed the plot though with its twists and turns. It did remind me of "The Thing", so if you like that kind of story then this one might be for you. I thought the narrator did a good job of both the reading and the production.