Oh F*ck! Dinosaurs!

by Dave Bruno

WHO WILL SURVIVE A NIGHT OF MESOZOIC MAYHEM?

Deep in the mountains, there is a House that time has abandoned to rot.
Its carcass remains as nothing more than a bad memory of a horrid nightmare.

Inside its labyrinthine halls stalk primeval terrors the Earth has not seen in 66 million years.
Their talons sharp, their teeth sharper.
Their appetites hungry.

This Hell is their Home.

And their Guests have arrived...

A mismatched group of college graduates has stumbled upon this horrible place in hopes of a having a fun, celebratory weekend. That is, if they can get over their personal issues as well as survive a night against bloodthirsty Cretaceous Creeps.

Azi Midas (he/they) is a spoiled rich brat who has recently landed themself in a host of issues thanks to their terrible decisions. He slept with his best friend's, Stella Alvarez's (she/her) boyfriend, Cameron Akagi (he/him) so that he could break up with his ex, Ellis Wheeler (she/they.) Azi will have to face all this drama while having dinosaurs biting at his heels.

Bernard Armester (he/him) and Chad Buffton (he/him) used to be best friends growing up, but college life had torn them apart as one sought to become the life of the party and the other sought more solitude in familiarity. In the middle of this is Frankie Bucek (he/him), a loose cannon who's toxicity becomes dangerous when pushed to his limits.

Can they survive a night of primeval terror?

Genres: Horror

309 pages, Hardcover

Published March 19, 2025

Reviews

[Sean Randall · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a splatterfest, this worked well. People get munched on by big scary monsters, and it's really cool to see how the author took a gaming campaign and stretched it into a novel.

I really struggled with the pronouns: perhaps I'm a person of his generation, or I've not read enough nonbinary stuff. But moving between he or she and they without any recognisable pattern was jarring to my fingers. Not a gamechanger by any stretch, but certainly a new experience for me.

There were also a few departures from the English language which made me doubletake, but I wasn't invested enough to worry about them either. Not a book to revisit, but fun at the time.

[Bo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dave Bruno’s Oh Fck! Dinosaurs! is a wild, blood-soaked thrill ride that blends creature horror with messy human drama—and it’s exactly as chaotic as its title promises. A group of college grads heads to a mysterious compound for a weekend of celebration, but the fun quickly devolves into a nightmare when they find themselves hunted by ravenous, resurrected dinosaurs.

The novel’s strength lies in its unapologetic tone: gory, snarky, and emotionally raw. Bruno wastes no time plunging readers into chaos, where razor-toothed velociraptors aren’t the only predators lurking—betrayals, secrets, and toxic friendships threaten to tear the group apart before the dinosaurs do.

Bruno leans into B-movie absurdity with clever dialogue, fast pacing, and just enough character depth to make the emotional beats hit between dismemberments. Its Jurassic Park meets Reality Bites with a touch of The Breakfast Club—if everyone had unresolved trauma and a death wish.

Oh Fck! Dinosaurs! is a viciously entertaining romp that balances carnage and catharsis in equal measure. It’s loud, gory, and surprisingly heartfelt—perfect for horror fans who like their creature features with bite.

[Gevera Piedmont · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun romp

Classic monster tale: diverse college students, clever exotic dinosaurs, greedy scientists and corporations, and a perfectly ambiguous ending. Worth the read.

[Jim X Dodge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was totally hooked before the dinosaurs showed up and the carnage that ensues when they arrive on the scene... oh yeah. This is a great cast of characters and it hurts to see some of them get killed, especially so brutally. Others you cheer for when they disappear down the gullet of an enraged beast. The thing is, it’s fun to read either way. If you love action, drama, comedy, dinosaurs, and violent death, Oh F*ck! Dinosaurs! is right up your alley. -Jim X Dodge, author of Erogenous Jones: Private Dicktective

[Suzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! This was a well thought out bloody adventure. Has 12 flawed college kids going hiking & camping. (Luckily, page 6 has a sketch diagram of each character, which I repeatedly turned to in the beginning.)Some friends, enemies, bullies, and nerds. You feel their personalities before the dinosaurs show up so you know who to root for and who deserves his end. The explanation for the dinosaurs' existence is way scarier than manufacturing them from fossils.
They are brutally terrifying, and I was shocked by one super intelligent one. And another with parroting abilities. There's a glossary at the end and some sketches throughout to deepen the terror. The fight for survival and death scenes were engrossing. The ending and epilogue perfection. Tho I kind of hope a 2nd book explores more of this world. All in all, it's a great debut.

( If you look up the Mythos mystery society on youtube, there is an animated clip of the first Dinosaur attack!)

[Leigh Reads Horror · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will be 100% honest....I originally bought this purely because of the title. That being said this was another very fun book. How can you go wrong with a house full of dinosaurs and a group of flawed characters who have to face their faults while a dinosaur is stalking them through the halls while talk to them in their own voices. This is a good book to read to have a little bit of a gigglefest. especially if your weirdo like me who is oddly obsessed with dinosaurs. If this got turned into one of those movies with terrible special effects and acting, as long as it follows this book I would kick back with some hot chocolate and have my little feet kicking with joy watching it.

[Glenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun romp. You know exactly what you're getting into with a title like this. The artwork was a good addition to the book as well.

My only nitpick is that the changing pronouns tied to a couple of the characters became a bit of a distraction for me (I don't mind the different pronouns themselves, but alternating pronouns for the same characters, sometimes within the same sentence, lead to more than a few instances of confusion where I had to do a double take on what I'd read, in order to figure out who was being referred to).

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty fun

[T.A. Bruno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grade A Dinosaur Horror with a diverse cast of characters, (and dinos!)

I was really impressed with Bruno's ability to flesh out his characters. I found myself do entertained by their inner circle drama that he could have left out the dinosaurs entirely and I would have still liked it!

BUT DINOSAURS THERE ARE! And boy, are they freaky! Think more like the Jurassic Park novel then the film. There's an interesting selection of dinos in this, and if you have the physical edition, there's cool drawings of each in the glossary. Very well done!

Highly recommended for fans of dinosaur horror, or anyone looking to jump into the genre!

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Giveaway win) liked the book, carnage and mayhem in the form of dinosaurs was great.

[Laura Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounding up.
This was a quick fun read. Horror isn’t usually my genre, but the character drama kept me invested (Dino-shaped inciting incidents notwithstanding). The character arcs for the main POV characters were satisfying. The POV bounces around between characters in different scenes, to keep track of different campers while they aren’t all together. This gave the action sequences a bit of a cinematic quality that I enjoyed. Also, I kind of loved Stella by the end.

I thought the eventual explanation of how the whole set up came to be was pretty good: light fantastical world-building + a whole lot of corporate malfeasance. The concept of the genetically engineered dinos inheriting characteristics from the donor species was a highlight. (Is that aspect of the science at all realistic? No idea. It is however a Very Cool idea, so it gets a pass from me.

Nitpick: I think Anne should have been a major POV character. I would have liked a scene where she goes from being annoyed at being trapped in an embarrassing situation to worried/angry at how long it’s been since Scott or anyone has comeback to help or at least check in. And Then she overhears Brett & Frankie as it’s all going down. She’s desperately trying to breakout and help while hearing Brett begging for rescue and Frankie committing murder by proxy. That scene would be harrowing. Up to that point she is not aware of the dinos at all and suddenly she’s trapped with an unknown monster and another camper who’s ready to kill. This somewhat spoils the later reveal, but given what the reader has seen of the characters involved it’s more of a surprise to the characters than the audience already. Also, from a structural standpoint, I think most of Bernard’s early POV scenes could be shifted to Anne by dialing back her shyness around Bernard just slightly(she still hasn’t made a move in 4 years, so it’s still an issue, but not so bad that she runs away from a conversation): she could act as a sounding-board for Bernard’s fears that he hasn’t made the most of his college experience and his misgivings about interacting with Chad again, and she could introduce Ed. I think this would make her feel more connected to the plot. This would make Bernard a bit more of a side character, but since both he and Chad are pretty self-aware of how their own failings lead to the conflict between them having both sides described in POV is less valuable than it is for the Ellis/Azi conflict.

[Jeremy Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey Michael Crichton.... THIS is how you write Dinosaur Horror!

What fun! A bunch of young, sexy college kids on a camping trip in a remote valley? Of course you expect them to be chased around by some maniac slasher! You don't expect that slasher to be 66 Million years old! Such a hoot!

On to the next one!

[Courtney Pityer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this in a giveaway. i'm not into stories such as this.