Tuskers by Duncan McGeary

I can't remember what I first read of McGeary's, but I remember it making me a fan.  Whatever it was, I'm sure I'll come across it again.  Tuskers, however, I'll never forget.

I've heard it's campy.  It's comparable to a B movie.  If you ask me, it should be a cult classic and I'm anxious to get the rest of the books in the series.

Killer pigs.  Sounds pretty simple.  The only flaw I found in the book is the short back story explaining how they came to be.  I really wish the explanation had been left out because I found it lame in comparison to the great stuff in my imagination.  It wasn't necessary.  Moving on!  A small town is overrun with javelins, which are a type of pig.  However, there's a new breed in among them that's intelligent and has a vengeance towards humans.  Things are about to get ugly.

This book reminded me sooo much of the first time I watched Tremors!  If you haven't seen it, go watch it and then come back.  If you have seen it, go away and buy the book.  We have this great small town with a varied cast of characters.  Some are likable, some are jerkholes.  We get a nice little smattering of people that attempts to band together.  We have killer pigs on the loose and nobody knows what they're capable of, but nearly everyone is underestimating them.  The best part, nobody is prepared.  It's mostly a bunch of young kids and retirees.  Anything can happen!

McGeary's storytelling is fun and brisk.  It's difficult to walk away from the book when reality calls and really easy to pick it back up.  The sheer amounts of research done for this book astonished me.  Duncan, if you didn't do research, my hat is off to your insane amounts of knowledge.  I don't wear a hat because I look terrible in them, but you get the picture.  As I was reading, I found myself nodding.  "Yep!  That's exactly how it would work!"  There's plenty of suspense and action and a little bit of gore, but a lot is left to your imagination.  It's not pages of detailed intestine ripping.  Instead, it's the short version of what happened so that you can move on to the next action-packed scene.

If you love a fun read, with lots of thrill and suspense, pick this one up.  Sure, it's a little gross in some parts but nothing even close to squeamish.  It's about as gross as Tremors is.  It's also just as fun!  The character studies are fascinating.  McGeary answers the 'what if' perfectly.  Of course, I wouldn't suggest this for small children, but it's a great fun scare for everyone else!