Subhuman

Unit 51, Book 1

By: Michael McBride

Narrated by: Neil Hellegers

Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's Summary

They are not human.

At a research station in Antarctica, five of the world's top scientists have been brought together to solve one of the greatest mysteries in human history. Their subject, however, is anything but human....

They are not natural.

Deep beneath the ice, the submerged ruins of a lost civilization hold the key to the strange mutations that each scientist has encountered across the globe: A misshapen skull in Russia. The grotesque carvings of a lost race in Peru. The mummified remains of a humanoid monstrosity in Egypt....

They are not friendly.

When a series of sound waves trigger the ancient organisms, a new kind of evolution begins. Latching onto a human host - crossbreeding with human DNA - a long-extinct life form is reborn. Its kind has not walked the earth for thousands of years. Its instincts are fiercer, more savage, than any predator alive. And its prey are the scientists who unleashed it, the humans who spawned it, and the tender living flesh on which it feeds....

©2017 Michael McBride (P)2017 Tantor

Science, Sound and Secrets

Mr. McBride just keeps getting better...and he was pretty good from the start. His latest work, Subhuman, takes place in an Antarctic research station. The story relies on science more than characters but the atmosphere of wonder and terror develop grow steadily. There are several nods to sci-fi classics which made the listen even more enjoyable. I took off points on the performance because there are several audio glitches, several audi, several audio glit (sigh) throughout the narration. There aren't enough to completely spoil the experience and I would certainly listen to Neil Hellegers again without hesitation. I just wish someone had given the final recording a listen to edit out the boo-boos.

Intense and fast paced!

This was so well paced I could not believe I had finished this book already.

Alien vs. The Thing

A good story. Elements of “Alien”with “Who goes There” set as in “The Mountains of Madness”. Plot ran decently, characters were not the classical caricatures of the usual sort of brilliant misfits. You know, the people you usual say “Fine. He’s the best, but people don’t hire him cause he’s a dick.”

With out giving away too much of the plot, the overall premise was pretty good. I agree, that could be the way a bunch of ET’s could view us.

A great audio book

The book was ok it didn't have me to hooked but I would listen to book 2 when it comes out.

Good!

The story is good, but it didn’t capture your attention. I often found myself drifting off and having to rewind. It focused on the group in a sort of disjointed way, resulting in a few instances where something emotional was going on and I found myself not caring because I didn’t know the characters well enough TO care. The premise though is great and I’d definitely listen to the next book in the series.

I almost didn’t get through the prologue due to the performance. The Neil Hellegers has a great voice and does well differentiating voices, but he puts long pauses between sentences and after commas. This drove me insane until I got used to it! Once I got used to it I stopped noticing it as much, so I gave his performance 4/5 stars.

Great read

I enjoyed listening to this book and look forward to listening to Forsaken, the second part to this book. I'm not a huge sci-fi fan but this borders on the line of sci-fi and reality. It's actually believable. The author definitely does his research before he writes a book and that helps a lot. I would definitely recommend.

An invasion of a different sort

This book takes a, I believe unique, variation on the ancient aliens idea. Mix in crop circles, elongated skulls found around the world, the 1940's Operation High Jump...add an alien agenda and a remote Antarctic research station, and you get this book.

I believe that this book was written primarily to kick off a series, so expect it to be long on questions and fairly short on definitive answers.

Even so, the book is entertaining and the characters drawn pretty realistically. The book, in my opinion, does suffer a bit from the setup format, but not fatally so. The narration is a bit stilted and feels very much like someone reading versus performing the story. Yes I know that sounds odd since it's an audiobook and someone reading it is kind of the point. It just felt like it needed something.


Will I get the next book in the series? Yes, I think the story needs a chance to show what it can do, now that the setup is done.

I give it a better than average recommendation.

Takes a while to get into a groove

Opening exposition is a bit difficult to get through but the pace then picks up for an interesting take on origin and evolution.

Antarctic Creature Feature that kicks butt

A fantastic blend of science and supernatural terror, the narrator delivers each moment fantastically!

Alien meets, Descent, meet Dracula, meets the Walking Dead, meets The Thing.

In spite of being a total smorgasbord of sci fi and horror classics, it’s still pretty entertaining.