Book Review: Monsters Among Us by J.H. Moncrieff
Title: Monsters Among Us
Author: J.H. Moncrieff
Release date: August 28th, 2024
J.H. Moncrieff returns with a new monster tale and with this new one, we get a mash-up of two of her most popular characters from previous books! In this new novel, Moncrieff unites Nat from ‘Return to Dyatlov Pass’ and ‘Shadow of the Sasquatch’ with Flora from ‘Monsters in our Wake.’ I was super excited when this was announced, because I love the Nat character and Flora was solid working tentatively with Nokken the sea monster in ‘Monsters in our Wake.’ As with most Moncrieff books, the environment is at the heart of this one and humans destroying it is central to the plot.
What I liked: The story opens up with Nat having returned to her popular podcast and trying to move on physically and emotionally from the damage she suffered in ‘Shadow of the Sasquatch.’ Now, you don’t need to have read any of the previous three books that the two M/C’s have appeared in (though I highly recommend it!) as J.H. does a great job of summarizing the events from them throughout. On the podcast, a call comes in – a small island is being picked off by sea creatures and they believe Nat can help. When Flora hears this, she contacts Nat and they head to the island, joined by Nat’s producer, Flora’s son, and Archie, the only other survivor from the boat Flora was on in ‘Monsters in our Wake.’
At the island, events heat up and Moncrieff goes into Moncrieff mode – plenty of emotional tug-of-wars, creature carnage and the discovery of what is behind the creatures return. The islanders rely on fishing to survive and with their boats being destroyed and the people doing the fishing being killed, they want to fight and take back what they believe is rightfully their place to fish, even after Flora contacts the sea creatures and learns the ugly truth.
The last quarter of this novel is truly discovery. We learn something about Flora, something about Zach and we see Nat and Flora – and a despicable journalist – having to find a way to co-exist and survive. Moncrieff ups the stakes when a secret government aspect becomes involved and everything is turned up another notch.
The ending was solid, filled with sorrow, but also optimistic, and leaving the door open for further adventures from an main character.
What I didn’t like: Personally, I never found that Nat or Flora had time to have their own bigger, longer moments. The book couldn’t decide which one to really focus on, so their time was split, but never really got as deep and introspective as when they were on their own. It works, to tell their stories together, but I wish we could’ve had more time to really delve deeper, especially with some of the revelations.
As well, the secret government aspect will either work for readers or it won’t. I can’t go too far into it – spoilers and such – but I thought it was fun, if not slightly off the main path the story seemed to be following.
Why you should buy it: If you love big, fun, action-filled creature thrillers, this one’s perfect. If you’re a Moncrieff fan, you’ll be all over this. And if you love environmental impact based stories, this one features that aspect at its core. Moncrieff delivers a home run with this one, whether you’re a fan of Nat, Flora or creatures, and I for one, can’t wait to see what’s next.
5/5
