Floaters is an incredibly well-written creature (monster) horror novel that dips into the subgenre of mythic (aka dark urban fantasy). How can it be all these things and be good? Because Kelli Owen is that good of a storyteller. She has taken a real place, real events, and real lore and woven a dark and terrifying story that plays out with far too much realism for comfort.

Owen’s characters are very believable and engaging. The writer uses subplots and vivid character interaction to bring her characters to life without overwriting. I really enjoy the way the regional dialects and mannerisms come across without being overpowering. Alas, as with all well-written horror stories, the excellent characterization makes the horror that much more horrifying. You know these people. You empathize and sympathize with them. You experience the terror.

In addition to the fantastic characterization is, of course, the fantastic story itself. The story is engrossing, engaging, entertaining, well-paced, and almost too suspenseful for my poor middle-aged heart. The tension was exquisite. And while Owen does not venture into extreme horror with this tale, she easily could have by using different verbiage. The story is intense and has its share of just beyond-mainstream gore.

It also has a special little reference to a previous problem with “critters” in the neighboring community of Mackinaw. I did the research. Although these books are not part of a series, the critters referenced appear to be in Kelli Owen’s previous novel Live Specimens, which just made my TBR list.

Floaters is officially a Templum 5-star shelf-worthy read. ( )

'Floaters' is a slick, engaging, don't-go-near-the-water creature feature book that avoids groan-making clichés while delivering the mix of gory action, slow-reveal plot, ancient monster and a modern heroine that a really good creature story needs.

Most of the book reads like a good police procedural, which somehow makes the floating coffins, the desecrated Indian burial grounds, the strange slices on the bodies of the dead and the deadly tentacles that the police don't know about at first, seem both scarier and more believable.

The creature attacks were set up with a nice mix of human interest, tension and sudden violence. The disturbingly well-described damage to the victims at the crime scenes and on the autopsy table brought with them the threat of something old, powerful, lethal and very unhappy.

The detective's personal life was a mess but I never became truly engaged with that trauma, possibly because it was one she was trying to drink herself out of.

The end is violent and plausible but surprisingly low-key.

I thought this was a solid piece of entertainment. I'll be looking for more of Kelli Owen's books.
( )

Review copy

Two quotes at the start of Floaters set the tone perfectly for the story which follows.

America is not a young land: it is old and dirty and evil. Before the settlers, before the Indians...The evil was there...Waiting — William S. Burroughs

Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful. — Mary Shelly, Frankenstein

Kelli Owen's new book starts out looking like a police procedural involving flood-waters causing a river-side graveyard to lose a number of its residents, including several Native-Americans. It's all fairly straight-forward, until BAM...tentacles.

In the words of Detective, Carly Greene, "Old Indian legends and myths and monsters and — oh my god, I need a drink."

They say, the devil is in the details and Kelli has provided plenty to chew on in Floaters.

There's the strained relationship between Detective Greene and Parker, a reporter for the Evening Telegraph, masterfully addressed, not forced, but allowed to come through naturally in Kelli's writing.

Another gem of a character in the story is Granny Two Fingers, the matriarchal leader Detective Greene is working with to decide what to do with the bodies belonging to the tribe.

In her post-story notes, Kelli Owen mentions that much of Floaters is based on facts. Floaters are real, as is the story of the graveyard releasing a number of bodies when flood-waters rose, but the rest is the work of an overactive imagination.

Floaters is available in both paperback and e-book formats.

Recommended.

Kelli Owen was born and raised in Wisconsin and now lives in Pennsylvania. Kelli has attended countless writing conventions, participated on dozens of panels, and spoken at the CIA Headquarters in Langley, VA. ( )