I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Bats by William W. Johnstone Published by Lyrical Underground on September 27th 2016
Pages: 352
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Wings of Death
They’d flown north from Central and South America, appearing one day in the southern wetlands of the U.S. like ominous ink stains in the twilight sky. With each sunset, more appeared, first hundreds then thousands. Massing into a great black cloud of terror, the vampire bats were beating their wings in time with the panicked heartbeats in the towns below.
No one knew how to stop them as they fell onto their prey like dark, deadly shadows. But someone had to find a way. Because somewhere in the night, they had become a threat to more than wild animals and livestock. Somewhere in the night madness took hold as these vampire bats developed a taste for human blood.
And the feasting had only just begun.
Bats is about a small town overwhelmed by hyper-intelligent bats with a taste for human flesh. Ex-spy Johnny teams up with local law enforcement to protect the local populace from the bats. Meanwhile, other districts in the area are affected by attacks as well and over time a pattern of attack emerges. Gearing up, Johnny and the local enforcement get ready for the biggest and final attack on their town when a savior in an unexpected form arrives.
This is your typical 90s novel complete with stereotypical characters, slightly offensive assumptions and poor dialogue. The result is a novel that has plenty of promise, but is lacking in a lot of places. I couldn’t really take this novel seriously with all the racial slurs, relentless “idiot” remarks and lack of empathy for victims. To be fair, the 90s were less about victim rights and understanding differences than more recent years, so I can’t really be too harsh about the cultural aspects of this novel. Bats is a product of it’s time with simplistic and sometimes offensive writing, but nevertheless a decent novel about man-eating bats.
Bats is exactly what it promises to be: a uncomplicated novel and bats attacking people and the people who struggle against them.
Obviously, Bats is not an award winning piece of literature headed for it’s own movie, but sometimes you are looking for something that you can turn your brain off while reading – Bats is exactly that type of novel. The characters are not complex and the story isn’t particularly shocking. The tale gets a bit outlandish at some points: the bats’ intelligence evolve past even slightly believable and the concept that small town folk would actually be apathetic to the threat of flesh eating bats..well, that doesn’t seem realistic, but maybe I am just naive. However, the story isn’t terrible either, keeping you entertained throughout and wrapping up in a happy ending.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a whole lot to say about this novel. It’s a classic creature feature that fits in with the 90s literature scene and isn’t terrible. It isn’t good, either. I was able to put the book down and leave it for several days without thought and I didn’t feel the pressure to continue reading that come with all great novels. Once the novel was finished I didn’t feel particularly strongly about it’s story.
This novel will appeal to readers who enjoy homicidal creature novels and uncomplicated plots. Bats is a novel for people who miss the popular fiction of the 90s and want to read a re-release of a “classic” monster story.
About William W. Johnstone
William Wallace Johnstone was a prolific American author, mostly of western, horror and survivalist novels.
Born and raised in southern Missouri, Johnstone was the youngest of four children. His father was a minister and his mother a school teacher. He quit school when he was fifteen and worked in a carnival and as a deputy sheriff. He later served in the Army and, upon returning to civilian life, worked in radio broadcasting for 16 years.
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