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Snap

by Steven Bredice (Goodreads Author)

4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 · rating details · 11 ratings · 4 reviews

Cryptozoology meets horror on Le Lac Perdu, which harbors a monstrous snapping turtle...

George Mapolis is a biology professor with an interest in cryptozoology who is coping with the disintegration of his marriage and the suicide of a close friend. Hoping to regain his emotional equilibrium, he organizes a fishing retreat with a group of his boyhood friends on Le Lac Perdu...more

Paperback, First Edition, 200 pages

Published January 9th 2012 by Fortean Fiction

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Jun 02, 2012 Lorretta rated it 4 of 5 stars

I received this through the GoodReads Giveaway.

This is a fun book! If you like huge creatures stalking and killing people and avidly watch SciFi movies of giant creatures doing the same, this book is for you.

A group of childhood friends are hoping for some serious away time; a whole week of isolation and good fishing. However, only one, George, truly knows how isolated they really will be. He has organized the trip and there is no phone or any other method of communication to the outside world.

H...more I received this through the GoodReads Giveaway.

This is a fun book! If you like huge creatures stalking and killing people and avidly watch SciFi movies of giant creatures doing the same, this book is for you.

A group of childhood friends are hoping for some serious away time; a whole week of isolation and good fishing. However, only one, George, truly knows how isolated they really will be. He has organized the trip and there is no phone or any other method of communication to the outside world.

He has also neglected to mention to his friends that Lost Lake has several old tales of huge creatures and bad juju surroundng it. He brings a briefcase up with him to do some research and maybe start a new book.

When the group arrives, the first thing they catch is a largish turtle that they kill in a brutal manner and turn into stew. As the tale progresses, George points to this event as the reason they are in the mess they are in; not from anything he has done.

In fact, we can consider George a modern day Iago. He doesn't deliberately lie, but he lies by telling certain facts. He has a drive to further his own ambitions without much care to others. When his roomate is being hauled away by an avenging alligator turtle the size of a VW beetle, George chooses to take pictures first and then half-heartedly tries to save him.

The remainder of the group tries to save Danny on the water, only to be treated to a cruel display of turtle playing with human body. One by one, the group is killed off until only George remains.
He has lost a limb, but manages to stay alive until the return plane arrives. The pilot is horrified by the massacre and assumes that George has been on a spree. The courts agree and he is locked up for life.

There are a few stray elements that hover around the core of the story that give it a bit extra. There is a childhood friend that committed suicide just before the trip, and he makes a few appearances with interesting information.

We are given the tidbit that George's wife had a miscarriage, tried to cope and ended up divorcing George. He then falls into the arms of his research assistant and the first time they do the deed, her cell phone receives a call and is answered by a flinging arm. Instead of letting her know, George erases the number and makes no mention. This shows us that lying by omission is an ingrained personality trait.

In the last scene between George and the other final survivor, we are treated to a conversation about the exsistence of good/evil, God and crabapples.

This is a fast paced read and highly enjoyable. (less)

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Jun 08, 2012 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: gr-giveaways, melissa-2012-challenge, read-gave-away

I recieved this as a Goodreads Giveaways.

Six friends go on a fishing trip in the mountains of Canada that is only accessible by a water plane and has no form of communication with the rest of the world. After catching and eating a snapping turtle on there first night there they discover that the lake is inhabited by a giant turtle. How can that not be an interesting read?

While this book wasn't quite what I expected it still had some interesting parts. A giant snapping turtle stalking 6 fisherman...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Melinda Le Baron rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, different-but-good, adventure, paleolithic, exciting, dramatic, murder, tragedy, beautifully-ended, evil-animals, insane, imaginative, beautiful-3d-characters, beautiful-pacing, beautiful-plot, beautiful-transitions, beautifully-written, twisty-turny-plot, violent, emotional, deep, dream-like, compelling

This was one hell of a novel. It is based on man versus nature. It was put out by the world's biggest cryptozoology society in the world. Crytozoology is the science of studying animals that were considered legend, folklore or myth in a scientific manner. Some of examples of the types of animals they study are bigfoot, the Yeti, the Blue Dog of Texas, The Loch Ness Monster. There are many more besides these. Of course they are able to debunk hoaxes very quickly, through the scientific method of...more This was one hell of a novel. It is based on man versus nature. It was put out by the world's biggest cryptozoology society in the world. Crytozoology is the science of studying animals that were considered legend, folklore or myth in a scientific manner. Some of examples of the types of animals they study are bigfoot, the Yeti, the Blue Dog of Texas, The Loch Ness Monster. There are many more besides these. Of course they are able to debunk hoaxes very quickly, through the scientific method of investigation.

THE PLOT: It is a tale of a crytozoologist who takes his five best friends on a vacation to a remote lake in the Canadian mountains to go fishing, What he does not tell them, he has been studying up on this lake before the trip. In fact, he picked this lake, especially because of the stories that surround the monster that is supposed to inhabit the lake. The monster is extremely large because it is extremely old. It has been there for hundreds of years untouched by man. It is supposed to eat people. The Crytozoologist wants to find the monster and discover it and get credit for the discovery. Little does he know what will happen, after an unfortunate event occurs shortly after they arrive, it will set off a course of events that leave five people dead and one severely injured both mentally and physically. Then, he has to face the world again after the fiasco at the lake. Will anyone believe him? Will they think he his a serial killer? Will he be in jail for life? Will he be executed? Will he be exonerated and become a famous scientist after all? Things start to speed up after their first event on the beach. One of them goes fishing early, and pulls in a huge alligator snapping turtle. The chef of the group, after it is cleaned, begins making turtle soup in a pot over the fire on the beach. After the group goes to bed, strange sounds can be heard from the water outside of the cabins. Something breaching like a whale then slapping the water, like an orca, hitting a cement wall, then breaching again. It is too dark too see anything. They talk for a little more about what it could be, then go to bed. The next morning the split up and go fishing. Then the fun starts to happen. Some animals, like to taunt their prey before they kill them, like cats, who torture mice before they kill and eat them at the end. Well this is what happens in the next 85% of the book. There is taunting and teasing. There are traps and capsizing. There are body parts, and bodies bit in half. There are body's pulled out of bed, and put into the monsters mouth and then toyed with, like flipped through the air and either caught, or let fall into the water, from over 20 feet up. There are also people who are bit in half and left to die on shore as a trap to others. One is dismembered. One is bit in half on a boat and then the boat is capsized, leaving him in the bathroom with a life jacket on. One by one they go as if they are five sacrifices, though the monster does so in creative, cunning ways. Ever stalking, never ceasing, always looking for payback because there was a deadly insult to the monster that is only figured out half way through the book by the Cryptozoologist. He tells no one. The monster will not stop, will never stop. It is motivated by something primal. It will wipe these boys out until they are only smears if the monster has anything to do with it and even that won't be enough for the crime that they have committed. The plot is amazingly tight and has many reversals. Told from the POV of the Cryptozoologist - a man ready to sacrifice five people so that he can become famous, for his job had to be difficult. How do you write someone who has thoroughly justified his actions that are so sick and twisted they kill people, and yet to him they seem logical and even smart. That is hard to do. Of course the sick and twisted one is the only one to survive at the end, due to his survival skills from his fieldwork in Cryptozoology. How ironic! A dirty little twist I'd say. There are many reversals in the plot that will have you seeing stars by the end. A twisted plot if I've ever seen one.

THE CHARACTERIZATION: The characters in this book, other that the Crytozoologist, were just regular people. They were written so well, those five guys at the lake, that they could have been from anywhere, could be your Uncle, your cousin, your brother, or your best friend. The author did such a good job with these characters using back story, attributes, humor, damage, wins, losses, foibles, characteristics that they could be anyone's buddy, husband, friend, or relative. They are so human, you'd expect to meet them at the grocery, or at the movies, or at the local pub for a drink. The Crytozoologist was creepy, I mean creepy. His self justification was so thick, it could blanket an Innuit village and keep them warm all winter. Hearing it all in his head, all those justifications, makes you believe that there are many more people out there and mental illness is more rampant then ever believed. Self serving S.O.B. that he was, he was dedicated to his job, Shunned by the academic community for doing what he did, he needed a big score and this was it. He was going to prove to those old fogey's that he was right, even though it cost him his five best friend's lives. What a way to do it. The author did a marvelous job with him. How to write a crazy person as the narrator, inside his head, even. That would be so very hard, yet he does it, and does it very well. Right from the start you get a creepy feeling about him which just grows stronger as the book progresses. A+ for this one.

THE PACING: You first start by flying into the isolated region of the Canadian mountains, untouched by man for centuries - not since the Northwest Passage was discovered and trappers used to roam the hills, had people been up here, until the builder built the cabin. You are awed by the beauty, the untouched nature, the spectacular skyline. It's paradise for someone - though not in winter. No way in or out except seaplane. Nothing around it for hundreds of miles. No radio for help. They are truly stranded for a week. This gets you hook, line and sinker (no pun intended), yet you have to read more. What will happen to six guys in paradise that could be a problem? Well, we already went through that. By the time the noises start, and the taunting happens, you are so hooked, the pages fly by all by themselves. By the time the blood flows, you are immersed, nothing will stop you, as you don't even notice fingers turning pages, you just eat the book as if it were a meal in itself. Even after the fiasco, you still keep eating to see what happens because there is so much at stake. Does he win? Does he go to jail? Is he famous? Will the monster become public? Will the lake be invaded by media? All these questions and more flood your brain as you keep eating the book, wanting to know what happens, it all flashes past like an Express Train. Finally, he is picked up by the seaplane. He is stranded in a boat with the engine dead - the only evidence of the monster, some body parts on a beach on the shore of an island in the middle of the lake.

THE ENDING: The ending of the book came as a complete surprise to me. By this time, you do not know if the monster is real, or if it is just in the head of the Crytozoologist and he if is a psychopath for real. They have psychoanalyzed him up one side and down the another. He sticks to his story of the monster with an iron clad will. He talks to a dead friend from the past who he plays checks with every day, so he's not altogether there. You know, he's the type of guy who follows the shade around the house. But psycho? Is he really a Psycho? Did he just snap and kill all those people himself and make up the monster due to a previous trauma? By the time the book is just about over, you really are not quite such whether up is up, or down is down. The author did a good job at this. I hated feeling so insecure about the whole blasted thing. At the last moment, something happens. The ending is perfect. Enough said. It couldn't have ended better in my honest opinion. The dead friend thought so as well.

The Upshot: It is a slim book, but if you're ready for an emotional roller coaster, and a great thriller,a perfect ending, then this is the book for you. I gave it five stars for the execution of the excellent writing, the plot, the characterization and the way the author made me feel before the ending as well as the ending itself. A+ all around. What a book! You'd don't find many like this one very often. (less)

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Jun 29, 2012 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars

Snap is a mystery page turner filled with interesting north canadian lore. It would make a block buster summer movie!

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May 12, 2013 Mary rated it 2 of 5 stars

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