Scan barcode
vikingwolf's review
4.0
Dr Rayman was given a grant to try and get small copepods to increase in size but when he fails to show progress, his grant is stopped and he loses his office space. He has by accident, managed to grow a sawfish in his care to a huge size. Rather than kill the fish or show it to the research people, he releases the large sawfish into the wild, then watches in shock as the news reports start to come in about attacks on the public.
Elisa's job includes duties like telling Dr Rayman that his funding has been withdrawn and she is pleased to get given his working space when he is told to leave. She witnesses him releasing the fish, filming it because of how strange the incident is and then she challenges him about it. On the spur of the moment, she decides to blackmail him for much needed money instead of reporting him to the authorities.
Dr Rayman is furious about Elisa's actions but is forced to pay her to keep quiet, aware of the consequences if he is discovered to be responsible for the carnage. He sneaks back into his old lab to grow the other sawfish and release them, with the crazy idea of coming forward as an expert to catch them and be the hero. In the meantime his creations are murdering countless innocent people and Elisa sees a chance to get more money from him. Perhaps Dr Rayman needs to take care for her as well as the sawfish.
I like Rick Chesler's books because they are generally entertaining and this one is no different. He doesn't waste time getting over descriptive and just gets right into the story. He also picks some interesting subjects. This is the first time I have read a horror book about sawfish and I enjoyed seeing a new creature being featured for a change. It has the same tension of what is lurking beneath the water that you get in any shark plot and the idea of that saw ripping you apart is as scary as any megalodon! I liked the pacing of the story and the writing was solid.
Ah the characters! Dr Rayman is a bit of a mad scientist with his anger at everyone for losing his job making him place dangerous creatures into the water to go on to kill people. He shows no remorse for those who have been killed or maimed in his stupidity. All he can think about is being famous as the man who stopped the monsters and the resurrection of his career. Elisa's intervention threatens his evil plan. I don't have much sympathy for Elisa. Her first reaction to having video evidence that this man has committed crime and killed people is her own self interest. More people die because of her decision to take hush money instead of reporting Dr Rayman so I was pretty disgusted by her!
It isn't just the actual attacks that are interesting. I very much enjoyed Dr Rayman's hunt the fish operations and the scenes with him sneaking around the labs and scouting where he is to drop off the money. It was a good solid story with a decent amount of horrible deaths to enjoy. If you like your b movie monster stories, you might well enjoy this one.
Elisa's job includes duties like telling Dr Rayman that his funding has been withdrawn and she is pleased to get given his working space when he is told to leave. She witnesses him releasing the fish, filming it because of how strange the incident is and then she challenges him about it. On the spur of the moment, she decides to blackmail him for much needed money instead of reporting him to the authorities.
Dr Rayman is furious about Elisa's actions but is forced to pay her to keep quiet, aware of the consequences if he is discovered to be responsible for the carnage. He sneaks back into his old lab to grow the other sawfish and release them, with the crazy idea of coming forward as an expert to catch them and be the hero. In the meantime his creations are murdering countless innocent people and Elisa sees a chance to get more money from him. Perhaps Dr Rayman needs to take care for her as well as the sawfish.
I like Rick Chesler's books because they are generally entertaining and this one is no different. He doesn't waste time getting over descriptive and just gets right into the story. He also picks some interesting subjects. This is the first time I have read a horror book about sawfish and I enjoyed seeing a new creature being featured for a change. It has the same tension of what is lurking beneath the water that you get in any shark plot and the idea of that saw ripping you apart is as scary as any megalodon! I liked the pacing of the story and the writing was solid.
Ah the characters! Dr Rayman is a bit of a mad scientist with his anger at everyone for losing his job making him place dangerous creatures into the water to go on to kill people. He shows no remorse for those who have been killed or maimed in his stupidity. All he can think about is being famous as the man who stopped the monsters and the resurrection of his career. Elisa's intervention threatens his evil plan. I don't have much sympathy for Elisa. Her first reaction to having video evidence that this man has committed crime and killed people is her own self interest. More people die because of her decision to take hush money instead of reporting Dr Rayman so I was pretty disgusted by her!
It isn't just the actual attacks that are interesting. I very much enjoyed Dr Rayman's hunt the fish operations and the scenes with him sneaking around the labs and scouting where he is to drop off the money. It was a good solid story with a decent amount of horrible deaths to enjoy. If you like your b movie monster stories, you might well enjoy this one.
jaxonleerose's review
2.0
DNF.
I loved the monster aspect. The sawfish and its existence were spot on fun and the throwaway scenes of the victims were my favourite part, but I couldn't make myself like either of the main characters. Not even a little bit. The MC was a sexist prick, which isn't why I didn't like him, it was the stupidity of him, and her too actually.
Couldn't do it. I stopped about 75% of the way.
LOVE the sawfish though. I'd read a whole book of just that guy out causing trouble.
I loved the monster aspect. The sawfish and its existence were spot on fun and the throwaway scenes of the victims were my favourite part, but I couldn't make myself like either of the main characters. Not even a little bit. The MC was a sexist prick, which isn't why I didn't like him, it was the stupidity of him, and her too actually.
Couldn't do it. I stopped about 75% of the way.
LOVE the sawfish though. I'd read a whole book of just that guy out causing trouble.
jaxonleerose's review against another edition
2.0
DNF.
I loved the monster aspect. The sawfish and its existence were spot on fun and the throwaway scenes of the victims were my favourite part, but I couldn't make myself like either of the main characters. Not even a little bit. The MC was a sexist prick, which isn't why I didn't like him, it was the stupidity of him, and her too actually.
Couldn't do it. I stopped about 75% of the way.
LOVE the sawfish though. I'd read a whole book of just that guy out causing trouble.
I loved the monster aspect. The sawfish and its existence were spot on fun and the throwaway scenes of the victims were my favourite part, but I couldn't make myself like either of the main characters. Not even a little bit. The MC was a sexist prick, which isn't why I didn't like him, it was the stupidity of him, and her too actually.
Couldn't do it. I stopped about 75% of the way.
LOVE the sawfish though. I'd read a whole book of just that guy out causing trouble.
lilyn_g's review
2.0
I knew there was a chance that I would be disappointed when I decided to purchase Sawfish, given what I've read from the author in the past. However, I really like his ideas, and this sounded like the perfect sort of relaxing monster novel to listen to. It's been a while since I had one of those, so I decided to give Mr. Chesler another chance.
I wish I hadn't.
Sawfish has a great concept. It sets up perfectly to be this rip-roaring, monster-of-the-deep sort of novel. It had the potential to be so-bad-it's-good. Instead it was just bad. The sawfish was cool, don't get me wrong. The problem is that the author spends way too much time on the two main characters. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, except in this case both of the main characters are unlikable idiots!
For fans of The Walking Dead, Raymond is an evil Eugene. At least that's how I pictured him in my head. It didn't help that the narrator had that sort of nasal tone which built the ticked-off nerd image in your head. (The narrator was a perfect choice for this book, actually. I think it made it feel a bit more believable being told in that particular tone.) He wants revenge and then he wants to get back the attention he feels he rightly deserves. He's a toe rag.
But I will give Rick Chesler this: Even though Raymond is a douche, I still found myself rooting for him. When he's going up against the sawfish, I was hoping he'd win. He's not a likable character by any means, but you do find yourself cheering for him occasionally.
Elise is worse than Raymond is, and that's saying something. It's been a while since I disliked a female character as intensely as I disliked her. At least he had intelligence going for him, even if his personality and ego often overruled it.She knows there's killer sawfish in the water - monstrous ones - and yet she takes her son out on a boat? What kind of parent does that? And then her first instinct after a bad event happens is to try to blackmail Raymond even more? There's a certain point at which any sane person goes to the police and tells them what they know to try to stop things from happening! I spent too much of the book actively hoping something gruesome happened to her.
My favorite chapters were the sawfish attacks. The characters in them were often throwaways, but I didn't care. Those were the sections of the novel that I wanted to read more of. Anything so that I wouldn't have to listen to Raymond whine, boast, and plan.
Most of the ending was pretty good. The location and how things got rigged up was unique. The author did a great job of painting the scene in my mind. But the last few pages ruined it for me. My opinion already wasn't high on the book, and then we have something completely unbelievable happen from one of the characters. The twist wasn't believable. Not even a little bit.
Overall, it was a great concept and was voiced by a good narrator. I just didn't care for the actual execution or the characters. Can't recommend it.
I wish I hadn't.
Sawfish has a great concept. It sets up perfectly to be this rip-roaring, monster-of-the-deep sort of novel. It had the potential to be so-bad-it's-good. Instead it was just bad. The sawfish was cool, don't get me wrong. The problem is that the author spends way too much time on the two main characters. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, except in this case both of the main characters are unlikable idiots!
For fans of The Walking Dead, Raymond is an evil Eugene. At least that's how I pictured him in my head. It didn't help that the narrator had that sort of nasal tone which built the ticked-off nerd image in your head. (The narrator was a perfect choice for this book, actually. I think it made it feel a bit more believable being told in that particular tone.) He wants revenge and then he wants to get back the attention he feels he rightly deserves. He's a toe rag.
But I will give Rick Chesler this: Even though Raymond is a douche, I still found myself rooting for him. When he's going up against the sawfish, I was hoping he'd win. He's not a likable character by any means, but you do find yourself cheering for him occasionally.
Elise is worse than Raymond is, and that's saying something. It's been a while since I disliked a female character as intensely as I disliked her. At least he had intelligence going for him, even if his personality and ego often overruled it.
My favorite chapters were the sawfish attacks. The characters in them were often throwaways, but I didn't care. Those were the sections of the novel that I wanted to read more of. Anything so that I wouldn't have to listen to Raymond whine, boast, and plan.
Most of the ending was pretty good. The location and how things got rigged up was unique. The author did a great job of painting the scene in my mind. But the last few pages ruined it for me. My opinion already wasn't high on the book, and then we have something completely unbelievable happen from one of the characters. The twist wasn't believable. Not even a little bit.
Overall, it was a great concept and was voiced by a good narrator. I just didn't care for the actual execution or the characters. Can't recommend it.
More...