After a meteor crashes near Vincennes, Indiana, a cockroach-like, gigantic kaiju crawls out and starts causing mayhem; the U.S. military dubs it the Palmetto Bug Monster. A second behemoth soon appears in Alaska\u2014a massive creature akin to a gecko, which surfaces in a dormant volcano. It\u2019s the latter kaiju\u2014regrettably referred to by authorities as \u201cHe-Knew-Pat-Sajak,\u201d an ignorant mispronunciation of an Unangax\u0302 term\u2014that catches the attention of TV news reporter Eve Sanderborn, self-proclaimed cryptozoologist Usotsuki Shirinigatsuku, and retired U.S. Army Gen. Buchanan Richardson. The second kaiju heads towards an unpopulated peninsula; it will soon face the Palmetto Bug Monster, which flies to Alaska, intent on battle. An alien android comes to Alaska in a silver droplet-shaped spaceship, claiming that the titanic lizard is a specifically designed \u201ccountermeasure.\u201d These aforementioned Earthlings, along with local innkeeper Gustav Bishop and teenage bellhop Bugsy Morton, can help the android establish a link with the creature and take down the other kaiju. Sumac\u2019s tongue-in-cheek story tends to focus on the cast\u2019s quarrels and heated discussions. The various characters are an unusual bunch: Eve\u2019s cameraman, Bernie, may have a drinking problem; Usotsuki, who has ties to organized crime, likely derives his expertise from Godzilla movies; and Bugsy fights off bullies with his martial arts skills. Even the giant monsters prove distinctive, as one is ridiculously ferocious while the other, which ultimately has a voice (of sorts), may be the humans\u2019 ally. The satire, though overt, is never overwhelming, with barbs that target a largely incompetent U.S. military and presidential administration. The unraveling story takes some surprising turns, including an unexpected character death and a surprising missing-person subplot.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After a meteor crashes near Vincennes, Indiana, a cockroach-like, gigantic kaiju crawls out and starts causing mayhem; the U.S. military dubs it the Palmetto Bug Monster. A second behemoth soon appears in Alaska\u2014a massive creature akin to a gecko, which surfaces in a dormant volcano. It\u2019s the latter kaiju\u2014regrettably referred to by authorities as \u201cHe-Knew-Pat-Sajak,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}