It's a monster!
No, it's a alien!
No, it's a dinosaur!
No - it's a shapeshifting alien monster dinosaur which can morph from humanoid form to large reptile in a matter of moments! Logic be damned! This is Saurian by William Schoell...
Published during the golden (if I can call it that) era of mass market horror paperbacks in the 1980's, Saurian takes the creature feature sub genre to the extreme, with Schoell throwing every bat sh!t crazy idea he can think of at the wall to see if it sticks and by the looks of it, said wall ended up pretty damn poop-smeared once all's said and done.
Tom, the sole survivor of a 'natural disaster' (if an alien monster dinosaur attack can be considered a natural disaster), has minimal to no recollection of the extinction level event which crippled his childhood beachside slum. As an adult he knows something wasn't right about the terrifying event, his nightmares are proof of that! Glimpses of a large predatory eye, sharp teeth and a massive bulk which darkened the sky haunt his nightly slumber. There's just got to be more to the story...and there is.
Enter the society of crazy people who believe in these alien beings. Together with Tom, they hatch a plan to unveil the shapeshifter to the world to prove they've been right all along!
You really need to suspend your sense of reality with this one. Morphing aside, the fact that the authorities or anyone for that matter doesn't cotton on the strange happenings is a but of a stretch but then again, these books are meant to be read with plausibility in mind.
Overall, Saurian is a fun creature feature which doesn't take itself seriously. I'd recommended picking this one up if you come across it in the wild.
Thanks for your write-up on this old book which is still in print after all these years! Glad that you thought it was fun whatever its imperfections. I had fun writing it!
ReplyDeleteHey William! Thanks for commenting on the review :-). I had a blast reading it!
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