Wild Hunters by Stuart R. Brogan
A small team of army reserves on a training exercise gets called to assist in evacuation of a flooded area, when they reach the affected villages, they find them empty and a horde of undead creatures from Norse mythology waiting for new victims. As the team of soldiers are fighting through hordes of Norse nightmare creatures, a more human enemy emerges, a shadowy group with an ulterior motive!
For me whenever there is a new Horrific Tales Publishing book to be released, it is Christmas, my birthday and Walpurgis night all combined into one glorious event. So, is their latest publishing venture worth reading? The short answer is unequivocally yes. The longer answer is also yes.
Why you may ask, well, if a book marketed with “what if instead of werewolves in the movie Dog Soldiers, the soldiers fought monsters from Norse mythology” grabs your attention, as it did me, then this is a book for you. I like the film Dog Soldiers. I had to re-watch it before I dug into the book, needed to do some research, and realised it’s been 16 years since I watched it last… gods I’m old. Well, besides being old and decrepit I am also Scandinavian, I appreciate whenever creatures from my homeland appear in works of fiction.
Anyways, let’s go through the checklist of what I expect this book contains and what it does in fact contain:
A team of soldiers in way over their heads: Yep, check.
A horde of evil bloodthirsty monsters: Yep, check.
Featuring evil big shadow organisation: Yep, check.
Lots of gunfights, beheadings, gore and cation: You know what is coming! yep, check, check & check!
Now since this is a Horrific Tales book then you know that you should not get too attached to the characters, humans and creatures die aplenty in their publications. So, for me it is a guessing game, who is to die first. In Wild Hunters, Brogan has done a great job on keeping me on my toes, let me say, it has been a while since a book has kept me guessing as much as this one did! Also, the different ways the characters meet their demise in this book is a sight to behold, it is a gory affair, but then combat situations do have a tendency to be messy affairs, with a stray bullet hitting the wrong target in the right place, to a sweep of an axe out of nowhere hitting smack in a face of an unsuspecting victim. Brogan handles the actions scenes effortlessly; it is fair to say that he has a knack for it! This is quite a fast-paced tale, but Brogan has put in some quiet moments in the story, allowing us time to catch our breath and also providing some needed character development of our band of soldiers. These slow parts are slotted seamlessly into the otherwise fast pace in the book.
Now, it’s not only monsters the soldiers are fighting, they are also up against a shadowy organisation. This organisation is trying to contain the supernatural occurrences in the world by all means necessary. For me this adds another level to this book. It explains why there can be an element of the supernatural in this fictional world, and the reason the rest of the world does not know about it. Put simply; there are groups containing and hiding these supernatural events.
The only criticism I have about the book is that the confrontation between the team leader from the shadowy group and the surviving soldiers, it felt a bit rushed. Had that part gotten a few more pages, then this would be a full 5 star read for me.
All in all, Wild Hunters is a great fun read, full of action and gore! To be honest, what more can one ask for in a book?
I give this 4,5/5 ancient spearheads.