An old man waiting by the Loch side for something to rise from the depths of the loch. Four campers choosing the wrong night to get back to nature. A storm in the scottish night…

Yes this is a horror story set by Loch Ness. Well-written, with decently developed characters, and some set-up, it has one major problem: it used almost every single trope and cliche for the monster/slasher genre, played straight. From a dark and stormy night, sex=death, drunk teenagers in the wrong place, a lone guardian, and even splitting the party, it plays out as expected. The gore is surprisingly subtle and reminded me of Peter Benchley’s Jaws, with victims trying to touch limbs that are no longer there, suffering from shock that prevents them immediately knowing the damage. One thing that threw me initially was the measurements of the creature. For once it is actually not that big if you start working out sizes like bite radius. It is still an effective killer, however and this works as it explains why people don’t hear it coming.

For readers of the monster or horror genre this might tread ground that’s a little too familiar to be scary. That’s not to say it is badly written, however, as the writing flows, the impressions created are vivid, and several of the encounters are genuinely atmospheric. The flaws aren’t the author’s, more that Nessie and lake monsters are a popular topic for fiction and in a short story there is little an author can make his own to make the book stand out. I’d like to see what he could do with a longer book.

The only bit I’ll fault the story on outright is forgetting basic water safety and sending someone to the water’s edge, in the dark, during a rain storm, alone. That was close to a book-against-wall moment.

It is a three. Its a fairly standard entry into the Monster/horror genre, but might be of interest to anyone trying to get a feel for the author’s writing.