J.H.Smithson’s DEADMAN opens with a local bit of British Columbian lore about Deadman Lake, a remote, rural village that usually experiences seasonal weather to which its small group of inhabitants have become accustomed. Except this year an early blizzard has dumped two feet of snow on the area, completely cutting off the population. Concurrently, a fierce, rare, and humongous man-eating Siberian tiger is captured from the jungles of India and airlifted to Deadman’s Lake, where a group of billionaire “sportsmen” plan a competition to hunt and kill the animal. But when the plane carrying both the hunters and the hunted crashes in the blizzard, the heartless billionaires–together with the salt-of-the-earth residents–must defend themselves against a vengeful killer beast.
There are not a lot of deep themes or complex characters in J.H.Smithson’s DEADMAN, just well-told action-based entertainment. There’s the crazy old lady who predicts doom for the townspeople, the same way the crazy old man foretold disaster for the lusty teens in “Friday the 13th.” There’s a burly sheriff straight out of “Stranger Things.” Bad guy Ben is the same greedy bloodsucker we’ve seen in “Jurassic Park,” “Alien,” and a thousand other “man vs. beast vs. corporate villain” thrillers. All of these recycled ingredients should result in a bland dish. In fact there’s little no reason for DEADMAN to be so enjoyable. The plot is far-fetched, and the characters–as noted–are not quite original. But the book winds up an excellent read, due in large part to the author’s skill of writing with enthusiasm and flare which are evident right from the prologue. In the end, the epic sweep of his language–coupled with a down-home narrative style–makes the pages fly by.
Smithson treats the trite like a master chef, turning DEADMAN into a tasty thrill ride of a novel. The first few chapters are slow as the author sets up the Rube Goldberg-like plot. But once the pieces start falling into place—and the tiger attacks begin—it is hard not to get drawn into Smithson’s roller-coaster narrative. DEADMAN shares DNA with B-horror films, as an unstoppable beast picks off characters one-by-one. Bad guy Ben’s girlfriend Morgan makes an excellent “final girl” matching wits with the fearsome tiger.
J.H.Smithson’s storytelling skill, compelling narrative style and swift pacing help turn DEADMAN–which features a somewhat familiar plot and two-dimensional characters–into a thrilling page-turner.
~Rob Errera for IndieReader