Bet you think we’re gonna do a “Halloween” post today, huh? Nah. Her Royal Momness and I? We’re not big Halloweeners. But we are big Frank Peretti fans. Ever since This Present Darkness.

So when we found a copy of an old Peretti novel we hadn’t yet read at a library book sale the other day, we scooped it up like The Kimster after a T-bone steak. We’re talkin’ nano-second here. Especially since it was a hardback book. For like, a quarter. Oh yeah.

The 4-1-1

Anyway, here’s the 4-1-1 on Peretti’s thriller novel, Monster:

More terrifying than any nightmare, something has scathed a very real path thru the Idaho hills, paving it in blood and echoing screams. It lives, it hunts, and it’s just getting started.

This time, the monster is real.

It’s also not what you think.

Now. Don’t go all spooky-wooky-kooky on us, okay? Cuz Monster isnt’ that kind of a story. At least not in the ghostly or ghoulish sense. Altho you may want to check your pacemaker before diving in. Just sayin’.

This story is about more than a Monster stalking hikers in the hinterlands of Idaho. Much more. Like, What does it mean to be “human”? 

And that’s all we’re gonna say on that. You’ll have to read the book yourself to fill in the blanks.

Mom and I thought we had a line on where this story was going. Just shows you what we know. It has more plot twists than the tilt-a-whirl at the county fair.

We also thought we’d just stick a toe or two into a coupla chapters. Just to test the water, so to speak.  Next thing ya know, we were reeled in hook, line, and sinker. Halfway through and turning pages so fast, one of us got paper cuts!

Turns out Monster is one of the most gripping and unexpected thrillers we’ve ever read. It surprised us. And that’s no mean feat, if ya know what we mean.

Our Rating: 5.0