'Crabs On The Rampage' – Guy N. Smith (Black Hill Books)

And so, one of the most fun readalongs that I've ever done keeps on trucking. Or scuttling, given the subject matter... Either is good. When you see the front cover of a Guy N. Smith 'Crabs' book, you know exactly what you're going to read and what's inside those covers is exactly what you thought it would be. Giant crabs eating people and, when they're not eating people, generally causing as much havoc as they can. I love it, the subject matter may not have aged well in places but it's unpretentious fun and that's what I'm after these days; just a little something to take my mind off working from home and trying to teach the girls stuff (they told me what a grapheme is and I still don't get it...)

Is it possible to have too much of a good thing though? I'm already rationing my 'Crabs' reading to one every few weeks but having read 'Crabs On The Rampage' yesterday, it looked like that might well be the last book in the series. Or was it...?

One man only saw them and him they killed, hunted him down through the dense reed beds, trapped him, drove him mad with terror before they pulled him to pieces and ate every bloodied shred of his body. And then it was quiet again - for a little while, until they came ashore again. And again. And again...

But something is wrong with the crabs, something that is leading them to acts of ever greater violence before they die out for good. Cliff Davenport faces his greatest challenge yet but will anything be left by the time he works out what is happening...?

The big question then is this, when is the last book in a series not the last book in a series...? When it's the 'Crabs' series, and I bought the next three books after finishing this one, of course. Which is welcome news, for this reader, although it does make me wonder how Smith intends to carry on the series. Good job I bought those three books, wasn't it?

Onto the book itself... 'Crabs On The Rampage' doesn't do an awful lot that is new. Actually, it doesn't do anything new really and not only that, it falls into the trap of becoming a series of vignettes, where people are introduced then swiftly dismembered by crab attack, that join together a plot that is essentially people feeling that they should do something while they wait for the crabs to die out. Don't get me wrong, there are some moments that get the blood pumping (Guy N. Smith knows his giant crabs by now and can write a scary scene with them) but if a chapter starts with someone's name, you know what's coming and that takes the edge off.

What saves the book, a bit, is that Guy N. Smith is never afraid to put his main characters in harms way and face consequences for their arrogance. It's Davenport's turn now and it's a little bit of a masterstroke, on Smith's part, to take the focus off Davenport (just after he is attacked by a giant crab) and leave the reader wondering as to his fate.

The energy that Smith brings to the book also does a lot to keep it on the right side of readable. It's still fun to watch Smith throw giant crabs up against pretty much everything (and watch them tear it down) and it's also fun to see a familiar face make a cameo appearance right at the very end. Does that balance out the negative points of this book though...? I don't know, I need to think about that a bit more.

If you've read this far then of course you're going to read 'Crabs On The Rampage' and you'll probably read the rest of the series too if you're anything like me. 'Crabs On The Rampage' though... Here's a book that reads like Smith didn't have his eye on telling a story like we all know he can. I don't know if he was keen to draw a line under the series, or if it was something else, but it shows here and that's a bit of a shame.

Oh well, hopefully the next books will be better.