A shocking, violent, chaotic story of a cryptid lurking in the southern Illinois woods
In a southern Illinois town called Makanda in 1973, a string of brutal deaths ravages the area. The local police blame the recent killings on a particularly aggressive mountain lion, instituting a curfew for the town’s residents.
But when the Sheriff’s daughter is found dead and an officer responding to a call about a monster in the woods goes missing, the locals start whispering about the Big Muddy Monster, a cryptid-like creature with a voracious appetite for violence. The killings stop as soon as they start, and the rumors remain just that—rumors.
Skipping forward to 2019, Janice is a crime scene investigator for the local police, responding to a run-of-the-mill call about a hiker’s body that was discovered. It seems to be nothing out of the ordinary to Janice, determining that it must be at the hands of local wildlife. But then a local elderly man goes missing, a strange cocoon is discovered on his property, and more bodies turn up, her resolve in it being standard wildlife killings starts to wane. The excitement for the unfolding mystery and where we’re headed is palpable.
In a parallel storyline, Gladys is a professor at a local college, specializing in cryptozoology. Due to her fierce dedication to expanding academia’s perception on what could exist out there, she’s disliked by her colleagues, including her racist superior Douglas Steiner. Gladys, in a secret relationship with one of her students, Jonas, fights against the status quo by challenging her colleagues and attempting to prove that previously unknown biological creatures exist. After Douglas is overheard calling Gladys a racial slur, he’s fired, but he’s not about to let Gladys and Jonas go unpunished for their actions.
After an encounter in the woods, the storylines converge. Gladys and Jonas meet Janice and her husband Frank, leading to a fast friendship between the two couples. As a result, Janice gives Gladys and Jonas pieces of the strange cocoon found on the missing elderly man’s property, a cocoon they test and find that it’s somehow made of multiple species’ DNA. But before they can share the news, the storylines converge into one big bloodbath.
Those who love their horror with unique, terrifying monsters will be satisfied with the Big Muddy Monster’s construction. It can hibernate for nearly fifty years before coming back for more, lurking terrifyingly in the background.
The characters can be crass, gross, or cruel. The police officer, for example, is annoyed to be responding to a call and only wants to get home for dinner, dismissing the call and escalating tensions with the reporting family. The Sheriff’s daughter is sleeping with a petty criminal who disrespects her and began dating her when she was fourteen. Multiple characters think or talk in horrible ways about other characters’ bodies, especially those who are overweight. Their personalities can be hard to stomach at times with no real redeeming qualities. Perhaps it’s not only the supernatural monster who’s haunting this small town.
Janice and her husband Frank’s friendship with Gladys and Jonas dominate much of the present-day storyline. It’s sweet to see them growing closer and closer as they bond over their different, but similar, struggles in life. Gladys could use a friend or two to back her up, so it’s nice to see Janice being that for her.
However, as a result of the friendship story, the monster and the “discovery” of the DNA play second-fiddle. There are few attempts to stop the creature, to do much to prevent the killings. Both couples, but mostly Frank and Janice, think or talk about or have sex quite often. While this can sometimes clue readers into a couple’s dynamic, it feels overly utilized here.
There may be too many storylines involved as well. For example, a student on the college campus where Gladys and Jonas work is killed when he’s run over by a train while crossing the tracks. This storyline isn’t exactly connected to the Big Muddy Monster or Janice’s investigation into the hiker’s death. Douglas Steiner’s firing, too, is a separate storyline that feels disconnected and adds some unrelated violence where the book may already be violent enough.
The Big Muddy Monster and its fifty-year hibernation makes for an undeniably fun monster, but the disjointed nature of the novel creates some distance. This is a small town scare of a novel with a terrifying beast, full of violence, brutality, and gore.
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