I love scary monster stories...always have! Movies, television, books, audio plays....if it has a monster in it, I'm going to watch/read/listen happily.

Hunter Shea is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. He delivers my absolutely favorite sort of mind-candy horror story again and again. He has scared me with man-eating fungus, rampaging dinosaurs, giant rats, multiple cryptids, and just about every other sort of monstrous creature I could ever want to imagine. :) Love it!

I also love books about mountain climbing, the Arctic, and Antarctica. Shea's new book, Antarctic Ice Beasts, combines two things I love -- cold, unforgiving places and monsters! Yay!

The basics: A skeleton crew of workers are left at an Antarctic outpost to winter over. A storm hits with raging winds and blinding snow. They're hunkered down inside, relatively safe....until.... (There is always an "until,'' right?) A strange earthquake shakes the outpost. Then, they begin seeing strange creatures gathering outside in the snow. Where did these humanoid creatures come from? How are they not freezing to death? And what do they want?

Since it's a Hunter Shea book you can guess the strange creatures aren't stopping by for tea and a nice chat. The action and suspense get started quickly and ramp up throughout the story. It definitely kept my interest from beginning to end. I did not expect the ending....it was a pleasant surprise (for me, not for the characters, of course.) All in all, another creepy-cool monstrous story from Hunter Shea! ( )