Joseph J. Curtin Monsterman

Monsterman

Joseph J. Curtin

Five Star, Sept 2006, $25.95, 300 pp.

ISBN 159414365X

On his first day back at Ridgewood High, Sergei "Von" Vonosovich stuns the facility and student body with his new physique. He is well muscled and good looking and once Coach Minot sees what he can do on the football field he puts him in the starting lineup. Minot, who through a high school student, is selling steroids doesn't care if Von is using them as well because he is a powerhouse that could take the team to the championship.

Nobody knows that Von's change from weak geek to sturdy hunk is not the result of exercise or a natural growth spurt. He has found his father's journal that tells him how to make an elixir that gives him an athlete's body, supernatural hearing vision and superior strength. Minot whose busted knee ruined his NFL career begins to believe that Von has a new drug one that he wants and will kill anyone who gets in his way to get it.

MONSTERMAN is a hybrid -science fiction horror thriller that is totally enjoyable because the author changes paradigms midway through the book. Minot is a great villain who starts out as a narcissistic man who wants his team to win at any costs and changes into a killer. Von is an anti-hero, a teen that wants to be a big man on campus and is willing to take the elixir to achieve that goal though the cost is high. With the supernatural added to the mix, Joseph J. Curtin takes readers on a wild over the top ride.

Harriet Klausner