‘Slimer’ – Harry Adam Knight (Valancourt Books)


Page Count: 161 Pages

Another fairly recent read from the HBR pile… 😉 Things being a little on the hectic side just recently (okay, more like chaotic…) I’ve naturally been gravitating towards the shorter reads and as you can see, ‘Slimer’ fits comfortably in that category. I hadn’t originally planned to buy this but it kept popping up, every time I looked at buying ‘The Fungus’, so in the end I took the hint and here we are.

I’ll be honest, this isn’t going to be a massive post; yesterday was one of those days and today looks like it’s going to be one of those days as well. Also, there’s only so much you can write about shorter books because well, you know… 😉 And ‘Slimer’ is a little difficult to sum up, I’ll try and explain.

 

When a yacht being used to smuggle drugs sinks, the six smugglers must seek refuge the only place they can - an abandoned oil rig in the middle of the sea.

But there's something strange about this oil rig. For one thing, it looks more like a scientific research facility. And for another, there are no people - only piles of clothes with no bodies in them.

It soon becomes clear that something is loose on the rig. Something deadly. It's stalking them, one by one, but it's not just a horrible death they have to fear - it's what comes after . . .


Can a book be an ‘easy read’ and a ‘hard to get into read’, all at the same time? Normally, I’d say it’s one or the other but in the case of ‘Slimer’… Yes, it’s absolutely both. Without going into the detail too much, I loved the concept and the way it’s set up for a ‘hunting and being hunted’ journey through an abandoned oil rig. And those moments where the creature may or may not be hiding in plain sight but our players don’t know one way or the other…? It’s really creepy and watching the creature moving in for the kill is a more than satisfying payoff. If only we saw more of this…


Because that’s the thing. Our group of survivors somehow manage to not have a single redeeming feature that makes the reader (well, this reader) want to root for their continued existence. They’re unlikeable for a reason (who doesn’t like watching bad people get their comeuppance?) but the focus on them, over the course of the plot, doesn’t work as there’s nothing more to connect with. A little bit more of the monster could have solved this issue (especially as we find out more about it) but that doesn’t happen and as a result, things felt like they dragged a little.


But at the same time, when it all kicks off, ‘Slimer’ is a lot of fun to read and it has led me to find a copy of ‘Proteus’ (the film of the book) to watch so the time spent reading definitely wasn’t wasted. ‘Slimer’ is a book that I’ll happily return to for a re-read, just maybe not for a while.

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