I loved it!
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Contrary to the other review here I thought this book was excellent.
I actually bought this is a 2nd Hand shop and it sat on my shelf for a couple of years waiting to be read. Eventually I decided to read it when I was trying to thin out my book collection (the idea being, that if I didn't like it I would give it to charity).
However, I couldn't put it down and read the whole thing in 2 days.
I DIDN'T think the characters were one-dimensional; and while I would agree that you have to suspend disbelief a huge amount I found this easy to do because the author made everything plausible with scientific explanation.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Jaws or who just wants to read a fast-paced thriller. Then hunt down 'Vespers' - the author's first book.
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A good idea that fails to deliver
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The premise for 'Fatalis' is a good one - a group of sabre-toothed cats, Smilodon fatalis, have been deep-frozen in a cave since the end of the Ice Age, only to thaw out and begin wreaking havoc in present-day California. Unfortunately, the book promises interest and excitement it does not deliver.
Though the author attempts to give the characters some depth by roughly sketching out their backgrounds, they come across as fairly one-dimensional - they are easily predictable and their motives are clear. Sheriff Malcolm Gearhart sees the cats only as a threat and is determined to kill them, feeling that if he can protect the public he will have made up for his perceived failure as a soldier in Vietnam. On the other hand, anthropologist Jim Grand, grieving for his recently-deceased wife, wants to save them at any cost, thus alleviating his guilt at not being there for his wife when she died. Journalist Hannah Hughes seems to have been tacked on simply as a possible new love-interest for Grand, and the numerous other characters are largely superfluous to the plot - many of them are introduced only to be killed off moments later by the sabre-tooths.
The cats themselves, when they eventually appear, are vastly oversized, and their behaviour varies from the unlikely to the just plain ridiculous - at one point they leap into a helicopter from the branches of a tree, at another they take to the sea and attack a boat from underneath. They seem to prey solely upon human beings, killing far more of them than they could possibly eat for no apparent reason, and in the end pay the price for their bloodlust when they are machine-gunned out of existence (though they do take almost everyone but Grand and Hughes with them).
As an epilogue, Grand discovers six sabre-toothed cubs hiding in a cave. Four of them he hands over to the authorities to be displayed in a zoo, the remaining two he sets free in the wild, secure in the knowledge that he has 'done the right thing' and 'given them a chance'. How the creatures are expected to survive without adult guidance or protection, in a world very different from the one they are adapted to, and how the species is supposed to continue with only these two representatives who, being siblings, cannot breed, is not discussed.
In conclusion, if you approach this book with low expectations you may enjoy it as a completely implausible, straightforward, no-surprises man-versus-beast sort of tale, but if you are hoping for a realistic insight into the possible interactions between humans and prehistoric beasts, full of intrigue, plot twists and memorable characters, you will be disappointed.
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