Review copy provided as part of the Savages blog tour.
From the beginning of Savages I could tell I was in for a hell of an adventure. A group of seven out on a boat in the south pacific have to abandon ship. The boat sinks and nearly everyone made it on the life raft. This alone is a terrifying thought. Worse is to be lost at sea and drifting for three days while sharks circle the raft, and then too finally wash ashore on an unknown island adds a real sense of desperation. One of the party, Andre, was lost when everyone jumped overboard, and then Natalie dies shortly after reaching land. This was only the beginning and it’s all down hill from here.
With no idea where they are and no provisions the situation will push them to their limits. Gino an adrenaline junkie and adventure enthusiast quickly becomes the leader of the group. While out gathering coconuts Quinn has the distinct feeling she is being watched, that is always creepy! She is sure someone is just beyond the edge of the woods watching her. After exploring the jungle to find who was looking at them they find Andre, or at least part of him, and now the chances of survival feel very slim. They also find buildings on the other side of the island. Someone had been here, the island isn’t undiscovered after all, bad news for someone! Upon returning to the beach they find Harper in shock and captain Murdock dead. Someone is on the island and they aren’t friendly and all hell is about to be unleashed.
The buildings appear to be an old Japanese outpost where medical experiments occurred. After this discovery things are stranger than ever. Dark rituals, the occult and other crazy experiments were going on on this island. I loved the characters but was afraid to become too attached for fear they wouldn’t live through the next chapter. The way Greg leaves most of the description of the ‘monster’ up to the reader’s imagination is what terrified me the most. He gives a general description and lets us, the reader, fill in the blanks. Savages scared me more than I can remember being scared in a while. I loved Quinn, she was an excellent, strong and kick ass female protagonist. She was nearly destroyed mentally and pushed to her limit physically ,but she never gave up. I lovethis type of character in a horror story, the one person who fights against all odds and never gives up. Savages was an excellent read and thrilling from beginning to end. If you love horror and none stop thrills then Savages is a must read.
Book Info
Length: 168 Pages
Publisher: Sinister Grin
Release date: September 15, 2016
To Purchase Savages Click Here
It began as a vacation to the Cook Islands. But when seven friends are lost in the South Pacific after their boat goes down in a storm, they must survive at sea for several days in a small raft. Blown miles off course from their original position, and deep into open waters, they eventually encounter a small uncharted island.
Grateful to be alive, they begin their quest for survival, hopeful they’ll be rescued sooner than later. But the island is not the paradise it appears to be. Instead, it is a place of horror, death, torture and evil, of terrible secrets thought long buried and forgotten.
And they are not alone.
Something guards those horrible secrets, something evil and relentlessly violent, an ancient horror born of rage and vengeance, a blood-crazed predator that lives to kill and will stop at nothing to protect the island from those intruding upon its dark legacy.
The savage is loose, and there is no escape.
Praise for Greg Gifune–
“A masterful tale of love, loss, friendship, pain and suffering… a tale that will eviscerate you emotionally.” – Peter Schwotzer, Famous Monsters of Filmland on House of Rain
“Another masterpiece of a tale of love and loss as Gifune delves to the heart of a topic that he seems to know so well.” – Josef Hernandez, Examiner on House of Rain
“Equally comfortable with suggestive, quiet terror and the pleasures of graphic exaggeration, Gifune has assembled a sensitive and entertaining collection, merging the pleasures of a good surface read with themes startling in intellectual scope…In Gifune’s world, nothing is safe…and even the best intentions are a weak defense against shadows.” – Cemetery Dance on Heretics
“This quietly powerful short novel should bring much deserved attention to Gifune, who succeeds in imbuing what could have been a clichéd and formulaic noir premise with haunting emotional depth.” – Publisher’s Weekly on Saying Uncle
Greg Gifune, Biography-
Greg F. Gifune is a best-selling, internationally-published author of several acclaimed novels, novellas, and two short story collections.
Called, “The best writer of horror and supernatural thrillers at work today” by New York Times best-selling author Christopher Rice, “One of the best writers of his generation” by both The Roswell Literary Review and author Brian Keene, and “Among the finest dark suspense writers of our time” by legendary best-selling author Ed Gorman, Greg’s work has been published all over the world, translated into several languages, received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus and others, is consistently praised by readers and critics alike, and has garnered attention from Hollywood.
His novel The Bleeding Season, originally published in 2003, has been hailed as a classic in the genre and is considered to be one of the best horror/thriller novels of the decade. In 2016 his short story “Hoax” was adapted to film and is now available on Amazon. His story “Plant Life” is also under development for film.
Also an editor with years of experience in the field in a variety of positions, Greg is presently on hiatus from his position as Senior Editor at DarkFuse, and at work on several projects.
He resides in Massachusetts with his wife Carol, a bevy of cats, and two dogs, Dozer and Bella. He can be reached online at gfgauthor@verizon.net or on Facebook and Twitter.
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