Customer Reviews

Monstrosity

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The premise for Edward Lees book Monstrosity is filled with promise. Lee begins his book with an archeological dig of a Ponoye Indian site. What is found within the dig is gruesome and bids the reader wonder what happened all those years ago. Also, could such a thing happen again?

Lee then switches to the storys main character, and the reader is introduced to Clare Prentiss, a homeless woman totally down on her luck. Clare used to have a promising military career, but she was setup within the machinations of a sex scandal. Enter a man who simply introduces himself as Dellin with a lucrative job offera totally too-good-to-be-true job offer.

Meanwhile, people are mysteriously dying in macabre fashion. For example, Caleb stared right back at herCalebs severed head, that is. The head had been dropped in the area of leafy space between Kari Anns spread legs.

Lee weaves a tapestry between the mystery of the archeological dig and the present day murders. Clare Prentiss finds herself mired in a gruesome mystery heavy with sexual overtones.

Unfortunately, the conclusion of Monstrosity seems quite contrived and fails to meet its original premise of greatness. Instead, the book seems to run out of steam and takes on an assembly line approach to literary creation. The books outcome is predictable and disappointing. Monstrosity is an okay read, but there are far better horror and suspense books available for a discerning reader.

1) The cover is misleading.

2)The archeological story thread has little to do with the rest of the story.

3) The chronology of the story threads is awkward, at best.

4) A clunky lead weight of a sentence like this: "She preferred to think of herself, instead, as a passionate woman who pursued her physical desires in a feminine natural way, not a societal urchin hopelessly addicted to variant amphetamines and subsequently given to rampant sexual excess due to a subjugating environment and a connected dependency to the unnatural stimulation of certain chemical receptors in her soon-to-be-if-not-already damaged brain."

5) Potentially interesting characters soon devolve into juvenile stereotypes.

6) The heroine stumbles onto clues too conveniently and predictably.

7) Minor characters routinely and predictably become monster food.

8) The novel is populated only by relevant characters (Where is the rest of the staff of the facility? Or other people from outside the community?)

9) The ending is predictable (the mastermind who feels he has to explain everything at the climax), farfetched (a minor character brought in from left field at the end), and dull (evil govt research, genetic mutations, yadayadayada) in about equal parts.

10) Everything is wrapped up too conveniently, except for the archeological part, which is

11) one of the many things left unexplained.

12) There are logical implausibilities (Why leave Clare on the streets for so long?)

13) Why go through the ruse of hiring for a job? Why not just arrange a disappearance and hold the individuals prisoner at the facility, where they can be better controlled and analyzed?

As a fan of extreme horror, I was looking forward to this book after I picked it up and read the jacket blurbs. I was disappointed, alas. There were some genuinely creepy moments, but it didn't hang together, either plotwise or logically. There were so many unbelievable coincidences and inexplicable motivations and cliched characters and situations, I just couldn't suspend my disbelief. The ending was so rushed and predictable, it was hard to care who was killing who. This was the first Edward Lee novel I'd read; he has a good reputation, so I plan to give him a chance and try one more of his works before writing him off as a semi-hack. But based on this one book, I'll take Bentley Little, Graham Masterton, or Stephen King any day of the week.

Ed Lee's latest tour de force is "Monstrosity," which is a significant departure from last year's "City Infernal." With his newest book, Lee returns to ground he covered in "The Bighead," one of the most unsettling horror books ever written. While this book does not engage in antics Bighead did, it still packs the usual Lee punch by providing generous amounts of queasiness, eroticism, and hillbillies. After reading this book, it appears Lee is moving towards a synthesis of sorts by supplying answers to some of the questions left over from "The Bighead." This budding synthesis is not nearly as complex as Stephen King's grand "Dark Tower" series, but Lee does not have the number of novels King has, either. Having said that, "Monstrosity" works as a stand alone book that reads quickly while serving as a good introduction to the entertaining world of Edward Lee.

The book opens with an archeological expedition in Florida, where a university professor and his mouthy graduate student unearth an extremely rare underground Indian temple. Several questions arise during this exploration: why are there mutilated remains of Indian priests near the altar? And what's up with that hand sticking out of an entrance to a lower level? Lee occasionally revisits this expedition throughout the course of the book, and cleverly ties it in with the larger story about a young, down on her luck woman who gets what seems to be the dream job of a lifetime.

Clare Prentiss's life has gone steadily downhill since her dishonorable discharge from the United States Air Force. Shooed out on a trumped up charge in order to keep a possible scandal under the rug, Clare is now homeless. She makes money by working as a test subject for cosmetic products, ever hopeful that she will earn enough scratch to buy some food. In the meantime, her life is one miserable day after another with no hope in sight. Just when things seem to be at a nadir, Clare catches a lifeline thrown to her by Dellin Daniels, a scientist working at a top-secret military installation in Fort Alachua Park situated on the Florida coast. Dellin offers Clare a cake job as head of security at this laboratory. She gets a car, a big salary, start-up money, and a great house right on the shoreline if she accepts the job. Clare jumps at the chance and begins working right away. There are a few annoying problems to contend with: locals occasionally poach on the property, there is a huge stock of medical drugs to guard, and an obnoxious park ranger keeps turning up like a bad penny. Despite these drawbacks, Clare likes her job and quickly becomes friends with Dellin and her two exuberant co-workers, Joyce and Rick.

Clare's biggest problem is that she cannot stop digging her nose into increasingly obvious problems on the site. Questions arise that have no easy answers: why does a hysterical local turn up claiming that monsters are chasing her through the area? What happened to the former head of security and why did she disappear so fast? Who is Dellin Daniels and what exactly does he do in this medical facility? Why are mutated animals turning up in the area? There are few satisfactory answers to these questions, and the answers that do emerge reek of danger. As Clare digs deeper and deeper into the mysteries of Fort Alachua, she discovers an unpleasant secret from her past come back to haunt her. In typical Lee style, the whole thing explodes into a raucous, frenzied free for all in the last forty or so pages.

One of the problems I had with "Monstrosity" involved the flatness of the characters. Only Clare receives adequate attention from the author, and that is due to her importance as the main character. Maybe I expect too much from a horror novel, but once in awhile it is nice to see both major and minor characters with multidimensional personality traits. Some horror authors do a great job with this, especially Stephen King. King always spent a lot of time polishing minor characters, even if their only purpose was to die immediately in a horrible way. Oftentimes, the horror increases exponentially if the reader knows something about the victims because the empathy factor kicks in. Nobody experiences remorse over the death of a cardboard cutout.

What does work well with Lee is his ability to create cringe worthy scenes, and "Monstrosity" is no exception. In fact, this book may contain one of the most "shudderific" incidents I have seen in this author's canon (at least those I have read). Witness the demise of the turtle egg poacher and you will understand what I am talking about. I literally had to put the book down after reading these excruciating pages. Good job, Mr. Lee! I suspect the author had a huge amount of fun writing some of the scenes in this book. The dedicated horror fan will have an equivalent amount of amusement reading them.

While I don't think Ed Lee is the best writer in the horror field, it always surprises me how much I look forward to reading another one of his books. Let's hope that some of his older stuff finds a mass-market reprint soon. Hopefully, Leisure will acquire the rights to Lee's back catalog and start churning these babies out. Give it up for Ed!

A very down and out Air Force dischargee is given a chance of a lifetime. Having been dishonorably discharged after being raped by the Colonel's son and now homeless, Clare is offered a position as security chief at a small quasi-government lab in the wilds of Florida.

Add to the mix an archeologist trying to prove the existence of a lost Indian tribe that practiced human sacrifice, add a dash of Lee's unbridled ability to show the dark side of human nature, then a good dollop of mutations and you have a gripping horror novel not for the faint of heart (although true fans of Edward Lee could hardly be described as faint of heart).

I won't give away the ending, but if you like Edward Lee, you are going to love this one.

The cover makes no sense, there is a silly subplot which is totally unnecessary, sometimes it reads like adolescent fiction. Those are the negatives, for sure. However, this was a fast entertaining read and as long as you don't expect something brilliant you might like it. I loved it, but I really love this author. He is a fun author to read. This is by no means his best book, but for fans of Lee or hardcore horror in general I suggest you read it ( it will only take a few hours). If this is your first Lee book please try some of his other books as well. I guess it is pretty obvious I really like this author.

Just finished reading this one. Synopsis: a woman kicked out of the Air Force in disgrace after being raped by a colonel's retarded son finds a job as head of security at a small, cancer research institute funded by the government and set up on an island off the florida coast. Soon, she finds herself constantly in a state of sexual arousal as she develops, bit by bit, suspiciouns about the institute's staff. Meanwhile, mutated island fauna surface while the local, trailer-trash residents start disappearing.

If you're a B-movie fan, you'll love this one as it has slimy critters, retarded sex-killers, and a mad scientist. The novel starts out excellently and flows well, keeping the reader's interest as the mystery unfolds. Unfortunately, as one approaches the climax, the characters revert to stereotype and the final scenes, though chockfull of action, are sheer hollywood summer blockbuster material, completely at odds with the more thoughtful build-up. It's as if the author suddenly found the deadline for the book around the corner and panicked.

Why the 5 stars? I was originally going to give it 4, but I realized that I had thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel far more than any other in recent months, and I've read Douglas Clegg, Richard Laymon, James Rollins, and of course, Koontz and King. Only Laymon was as fun. Let me point out that I'm a B-movie fan, and this book reads like some of my favorite flicks (the Thing that Wouldn't Die, From Beyond, etc.). I feel that some of the other reviewers were unfairly harsh to this novel. I decided not to be anal about literary conventions and instead, rated it sheerly according to the entertainment derived from reading it. Ultimately, that's all that's important.

Curiously, I didn't find this disturbingly grisly as I'm told Lee writes, though the millipede scene wrought a warm chuckle. Though no less eloquent than most other modern authors, I found it an extremely easy read; an avid reader could finish this book in 1 or 2 sittings if he has nothing to do.

An incurable monster-phile, after finishing this one, I went and bought "the Golem" and "House Infernal" by the same author.

Though it gets off to a fairly promising start, Edward Lee's Monstrosity ends up a preposterous load of hooey that becomes more unbelievable and ridiculous as it goes along. The protagonist is Clare Prentiss, a former Air Force officer who has not only suffered the indignity of violent rape (at the hands of her own colonel's deformed son, no less!), but to add insult to injury, has been drummed out of the service with a dishonorable discharge after a rigged hearing.

Clare is rescued from a life of homelessness by dashing young Dellin Daniels, a former serviceman himself. He offers her a plum, high-paying job as security chief at a remote Florida lab where he claims a cure for a particularly deadly form of cancer has been found.

The whole situation seems too good to be true, and naturally, it is. What exactly is Dellin not telling Clare about her employer? And why does everyone on site (including Clare) seem to have a libido that's going haywire? Of course, as a reader, you will have even more questions. For instance, why would a top secret research lab full to the brim with highly potent drugs be built within a stone's throw of what we're informed is the most densely concentrated population of crystal-meth addicts in the solar system? And why hasn't any of the horribly malformed and growth-mutated creepy-crawlies populating the surrounding swamps managed to find its way out of the immediate vicinity and into the nearby town, which is apparently a five-minute drive away? But these are just some of the many silly plot contrivances at work in Monstrosity.

Lee doesn't scare you; he just throws gore at you. Granted, often it can be entertaining to read, but "gross" has nothing to do with "frightening" or "suspenseful".

Convenient plot devices abound; e.g., Clare finds a missing videotape right at the point the story needs her to. And a character is given the personality quirk of having ridiculously excessive genital piercings...for no reason other than that they can contribute to his amusingly ghastly death. Lee telegraphs all the plot's surprises well in advance, and even an intriguing framing story involving an archaeological dig ends up marching merrily to the beat of cliché.

Apart from Clare, none of the characters is very interesting. For monster food, Lee peppers his story with a collection of loathsome dopehead white-trash stereotypes. And, despite the whole elaborate set-up of the secret lab and its experiments and everything, the story finally turns out to be a typical revenge yarn after all. The climax is just dumb from the ground up and dumb from the roof down on the other side. I defy you not to laugh; it's Mad Scientist drivel right out of Ed Wood!

Don't be fooled by the evocative, zombie-horror cover, gang. If this were a movie, it'd be Joe Bob Briggs material all the way. Which isn't to say it wouldn't have SOME entertainment value. But there's no way you could call it GOOD.

Well, I was cruising the aisles at [a local store]the other day, looking for a decent horror novel, and was in no mood to read any of the latest mediocre shlock by King or Koontz. I discovered this book; the premise intrigued me, as did the cover design, so I decided to take a chance. I am glad I did! Edward Lee is a highly gifted writer, and this book is a fun, chilling read. Previous reviewers have condensed the plot, so I will not repeat their efforts here. However, I will say that the various plot threads are wound skillfully together for a most satisfying conclusion at the end. Also, there are some elements of dark humor, very lightly tossed in, which give the story great local color. I dinged it one point because I thought that the sex and violence aspects were a tad too graphic, but this book is far from being "splatterpunk." As a great, fast-paced story for horror fans it can't be beat.

Summary:
After being raped by her CO's son and dishonorably discharged from the Air Force, Clare Prentiss ends up homeless for more than a year. Then someone handpicks her for the job of the century. She's made head of security at a cancer research company in Florida, where she gets a great salary, company car, and a house on the beach. Naturally, nothing this good comes without a hitch. Almost as soon as she gets there, creepy things start happening. A crackhead is found raped and brutalized in the surrounding woods. Clare learns the entire security team (three people) mysteriously vanished-opening the job for her.

Pros:
Edward Lee is a great story teller. He manages to keep the suspense up through the entire novel. There is a second story running concurrent with the first. I admit I kept wondering how Lee was going to connect the too. I was surprised. I'll also say I was surprised by some of the twists Lee threw in.

Cons:
While the ending surprised me, it came more like an "info dump" than an illumination to me as the reader. In that respect, I was a little disappointed. It felt a bit like Lee was getting near the 90,000-word mark and said, "Well, I better wrap this up."

Could go either way:
This was not Edward Lee's best work. For those looking for "erotic horror" like Lee's "Flesh Gothic," this will
disappoint. This book was good, but not great. Overall, I'm glad I read it. It was worth the money and time invested. And I'll definitely keep Edward Lee on my list of authors to look for.