Camouflage

  

Have you ever wondered if there's something out there? In the woods or the wild places of the world, or even maybe closer to home? For many people the wilderness isn't far off- even in very settled areas there are state parks with lots of wild land, places where not a lot of people go. This book is about what might happen if something was out there- and how people might react. 

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.  

The authors have a quick note in the beginning that this story was inspired by a New England forest, and the questions that arose- such as what if there was something in there, and just as importantly, what would we do about it? Would we protect it or destroy it? That's the theme of the narrative here- something is found, and a small New England town has to deal with the ramifications. I actually thought this was going to be more a case of raptors or some other predatory creature stalking humans, but it surprised me with the direction it went in. 

Sean is the police chief in town and Vanessa is the owner of a stationery store, and this tale is as much about them and their burgeoning relationship as it is about monsters in the woods. They're brought together through a missing persons case, which is the catalyst for police investigating a remote state park and finding something that shouldn't be there. Sean has to juggle public safety and the thorny question of how much to protect creatures that no one has seen before, all while navigating a jurisdictional minefield with the state police. 

As I mentioned above, this didn't go in the direction I thought it would- I was almost expecting a horror element or creature feature story, but in reality this was more an examination of how we as people would handle a situation like this. That was a refreshing take, and to be fair there are moments of terror and carnage- after all, prehistoric creatures and humans don't generally mix well. I was also surprised how much I enjoyed the relationship between Sean and Vanessa and towards the end I was actually enjoying that storyline more than the monster stuff!

There were a few realism issues for me, especially the explanations for how creatures like this could survive to the modern era. And that's the problem with stories like this- it almost makes more sense for me to have a supernatural explanation, since no matter what you do the thought of something large surviving for millions of years, but not being discovered previously, seem so incredibly remote and farfetched. So I had to bypass my skepticism there, but otherwise this was a fine story with a surprisingly satisfying and effective human angle.