meh ( )

This was more than your every day creature feature! Sure it started off with big crabs, but then it evolved into something else entirely.

I loved the Lovecraftian feel of the "something else" portions. They were unexpected and fun, and they raised this book from plain B movie cheese to something more long lasting and memorable.

A lot of times these types of stories have the ending where humans conquer all and live happily ever after relating their tale of horror to their grandchildren. Well, not this time. I absolutely loved the ending! I didn't expect it and this was another thing that made this book special.

The only bad thing I have to say about this book, is man...I don't like the cover AT ALL.


To sum up, I had a great time with this story. I regret having waited until this author passed away before taking up his work. Now that I have tried it out and enjoyed it, I will seek out more , starting with Clickers II. RIP, Mr. Gonzalez. RIP. ( )

The publishers of the current edition claim that this is an homage to B horror movies. Maybe that's the case, and I'm just too dense to pick up on the mockery, here. It reads more like a screenplay for such a movie instead of parody.

The book's "Forward" points out all of the trouble the author has gone through with copy editing and grammar in previous editions, yet the current edition of the book and even the very paragraph where he points this out are riddled with grammatical errors.

Given the sloppiness of the book, I can't help but think that the description as an "homage" is really just a publisher trying to come up with a marketing strategy for a crappy book. Maybe I'm too cynical!
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I've been slowing adding Gonzalez to my must read list and this book has cemented him there. Not so much because this was a deep or super scary book but because it was pure fun and nostalgia done right: entertaining, engaging and not too cheesy.

CLICKERS follows Rick Sychek, a horror author who moves to Phillipsport, Maine for some peace and quiet before he starts his next novel; a move the reader just knows is not going to end well. After some time to get to know our characters, the town quickly becomes overrun by giant crab-like creatures that have monstrous razor claws and an acidic stinger to liquefy their prey before eating it. After miscellaneous deaths and fighting off the monsters, the townsfolk realize the "clickers" are really running away from another even more horrible creature called "the dark ones."

Yes, the story sounds like an updated version of numerous creature feature movies but that doesn't take away from the enjoyment of reading it. The gore and thrills and deaths you expect are all there, but so are characters real enough to care about what happens to them. We do get a chance to learn about the characters and feel their pain. It's even made worse when they realize the clickers are simply running from a worse creature and the deaths aren't personal. It's one story that you will definitely enjoy reading. When you finish and want more, there are two (correction, three) sequels you can hunt down to continue the adventures. ( )

Lobstrosities from the second Gunslinger book are being chased out of the ocean by Creatures from the Black Lagoon - while this happens, all of them feel like killing people. This could be fun - and, for a while, it seemed like it would be. But as the plotting, logic, and grammatical flubs mounted, the story lost its way. By the end, I didn't feel anything for the characters, and I was disheartened by the experience.
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