The Montauk Monster

Montauk is tourist central during the summer, but it’s also home to some very curious urban legends surrounding the neighboring Plum Island and the reports of strange creatures washing up on the town’s shores over the years. Unfortunately for the police and residents of Montauk, those urban legends are real, and they’re stalking the peaceful seaside town. Vicious, fast, and ravenously hungry, they’re unlike anything you’ve seen before, and when they’re near, you’re unlikely to see anything ever again.

The Montauk Monster is a straight-up b-movie in novel form, pitting an unprepared town against a monstrous threat with all the expected trappings. Government conspiracy, partying kids, ineffectual local police, even the worldly street dweller who knows what’s really going on… all the cliches are here, with a few updated wrinkles (like the reality show housewives that turn up later).

A little grosser than the usual monster fare, The Montauk Monster is nonetheless frothy and soapy in the extreme, and the last 150 pages don’t lack in gore, but definitely lack in surprises. The monsters themselves are impressively realized and suitably horrific, but they’re not enough to elevate this beyond “casual beach read” status.