The Beast of Barcroft by Bill Schweigart
In this book, we met for the first time Ben Mckelvie who together with his fiance moved to the Barcroft, a suburb in Washington, D.C. However, what they didn't know that they would be neighbours with crazy raccoon-loving Madeleine Roux. Everything just gets worse with Ben's fiance leaving him and his poor dog gets killed. But, it even gets worse than that when the predator that killed his dog seems to start to kill his neighbours one by one...
I read Northwoods and absolutely loved the book so I had to get The Beast of Barcroft that is the first book in the series. And, this book is good, not amazingly good as Northwoods, but still pretty darn good and I especially liked getting to know how Richard Severance, Ben McKelvie, Lindsay Clark, and Alex Standingcloud first met. And, now everything I read about Barcroft in Northwoods makes much more sense. Ben McKelvie is a normal guy and he never expected to have to deal with a supernatural predator that seems to be targeting his neighbours (and him), but thankfully with some help from new "friends" will he try to save the neighbourhood (and himself). And, it's action, some gore and even some humor in the book. Just the way I like it!
I'm a big monster fan. I just love those X-files episodes with monsters in the woods, etc. So, reading books like this, well-written and interesting and intense is pure happiness for me. The Beast of Barcroft is thrilling to read, but it never gets as fascinating and heart pounding to read as Northwoods did. I guess partly because I was more worried about whom would live and who would die in Northwoods, but also because I found the story in Northwoods with its monster more exciting.
So, if you like monster books, then I recommend this book to you and after you read it should you definitely go for Northwoods. Me? I'm waiting for the next book to be released"
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