I’ve read a few books by Paul Mannering and he does this sort of action/horror fiction, often set in the middle of some ocean better than most. Both his previous books, ‘Hell’s Teeth’ and ‘Eat’ were great, fun reads, filled with gore, humorous dialogue and lightning fast pacing. ‘The Trench’ follows a familiar storytelling path. This time, marine biologist Michael Armitage and fellow scientist Nicole Saint-Claire are drafted in to investigate a strange video message received from an underwater submarine docking station. Once they arrive at the docking station they soon realise that all is not well. Things go from bad to worse in a very short space of time and the body count soon spirals out of control. The crew is disappearing then reappearing but acting rather strangly…
I’m a bit of a sucker (hahaha) for monster stories. Paul Mannering’s ‘The Trench’ went by in a flash and certainly delivered more than enough John Carpenter like thrills . It doesn’t pretend to be anything other than thoroughly entertaining in a kind of SyFy, straight to video sort of way. The cast of characters (marines and crew members of the docking station) are largely just fodder for what lurks under the water though Armitage and Saint-Claire bounce off of each other well, and there is certainly some witty dialogue between the two. The pacing is fast and furious as things sour quickly and there are a couple of unexpected surprises towards the end of the book.
If you’re a fan of Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ and maybe ‘Invasion of the Bodysnatchers’ then ‘The Trench’ should be right up your alley. The final confrontation was a little rushed, I felt, but it didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the story. If you like previous books from Severed Press then this is another one to add to your collection. F.U.N
4/5 Jellyfish
Pick up a copy from here.
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