The Hungry Monster Book Review
Project Terminus follows a well-prepared family through a post-apocalyptic world that has to face nuclear war, the collapse of the US economy and a deadly plague. The place where this well-prepared family decides to settle is Project Terminus. This is however is the beginning of their concerns as they also encounter a couple more visitors, including a member of a cannibalistic group called the Light.
In the beginning of the book I was a little turned off by the description (felt that it went a little overboard), but quickly warmed up to the book with Bill's humor and view of the world (which matches politics out of sync with the world going completely downhill). What I found a bit unnerving with the characters, however, was the way the characters just blindly accepted this reality (and Wade's direction to build a survival bunker) so easily. Even when things are at the worst, people like many of the characters in the book, still hold onto some hope of a better world. The characters in the book kind of agreed with the 'military dude who hates the state of the world' and starts working on Project Terminus. My question, throughout the beginning of the book was, why is everyone so quick to believe that the 'end of the world' is going to happen so quickly?
The economy does end up completely falling and martial law enacted, but I still kept wondering how it all happened. The other issue was the fatigue. There was little time between one amazing catastrophe after another. First, the economy tanked, then there was a war with nuclear weapons, then an airborne disease that was like Ebola. All of this is going out without the family missing a beat.
Things got a little more interesting with the introduction of Gator and the Light. These were the first non-stereotypical characters in the story. Gator introduced a whole new level of danger to the story. It also slowed everything down a bit as well, along with giving the book more of a Mad Max or Thunder Dome feel to it.
The character of Saadeh and the other bad guys also added a new element to the story. Compared to Bill and Wade's families (and the military group they worked with), this group was the complete opposite. The people in Project Terminus were methodical, resourceful, and helpful to a fault. The bad guys were manipulative, parasitic, and self-destructive to their demise. Of the bad guys, Nina is the most interesting. She is the wildcard (Sara is a nice counterbalance).
After the first attack against the Light, the plot took on a more adventurous tone, compared to the quiet lull of the first part of the book. Several characters came into play and their interaction with Nina, who is still spiteful over her last loss, allows readers to see just how much of a wildcard she is.
Overall, the book had a slow start, but once I got into it, it turned out to be an interesting little thriller. Once the world behind Project Terminus grew to include the character of Nina, things became a lot more interesting as the story blossomed from a story of a survivalist family into a clash between human and megalomaniacs. The mystery that showed at end of the book definitely piqued my interest into what happened after Olivia arrived.
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