What do you think?
Rate this book
Apex Predator
In a world destabilized by soaring inequality, climate change, and war the deaths of several high profile bankers leave national security experts scrambling for answers. A disgruntled and discredited FBI Agent striving to bring to justice the corrupt individuals responsible for wrecking his community is instead ordered to protect those same Wall Street power brokers. In the postindustrial wasteland of a bankrupt Detroit he stumbles onto a lead capable of not just cracking the case, but with potentially explosive ramifications for the future of mankind. Meanwhile a team of historians investigating a mysterious Second World War era mass grave make a startling discovery in a medieval village located deep within a foreboding Ukrainian valley. Brought together they face an ancient terror in a global adventure that forces them to confront the tragic history of Eastern Europe’s blood lands. There they struggle to reconcile their findings with the evidence that a mythic evil is possibly real, and murderously intent on keeping its existence a secret until able to set in motion events that could change human history.
- GenresWerewolvesHorror
250 pages, Paperback
Published December 16, 2016
71 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 29, 2017
2.5 stars
there were aspects of this book i really liked - the sprawling plot, the werewolf depictions, the historical research and a few of the characters. it's a timely story involving corrupt politicians, greedy bankers (the 1%) while also exploring werewolf origins. where the book lost a star for me were the representations of women, which I did feel improved a bit as the story went on. however I would want more from my female characters, and have them not just be objects for sleazy men/werewolves. as far as indie books go, this was better than I expected and definitely a new spin on the werewolf genre. for fans of indie horror, werewolf stories and historical fiction-horror, i recommend it.
there were aspects of this book i really liked - the sprawling plot, the werewolf depictions, the historical research and a few of the characters. it's a timely story involving corrupt politicians, greedy bankers (the 1%) while also exploring werewolf origins. where the book lost a star for me were the representations of women, which I did feel improved a bit as the story went on. however I would want more from my female characters, and have them not just be objects for sleazy men/werewolves. as far as indie books go, this was better than I expected and definitely a new spin on the werewolf genre. for fans of indie horror, werewolf stories and historical fiction-horror, i recommend it.
March 4, 2017
The cover of Apex Predator is very nice looking. The wolf against the castle and the blue and black tones mingle well together. The title stands out nicely. The food descriptions were quite mouth-watering if a little unnecessary at times.
I also do appreciate what they're trying to say about how Detroit got screwed over with the auto crash and resulting unemployment rates and mortgage fraud. We hardly spend any time there though, before all of the action moves to Eastern Europe.
Unfortunately, that's about all I can say for Apex Predator. The writing was stilted and didn't flow smoothly. The author tries to work in just about every current issue in massive expository info-dumps. It makes the dialogue in the book awkward and unnatural. None of the issues are gone into with any depth nor are they worked naturally into the plot of Apex Predator. There's also a several page Q & A between the Wall Street savvy FBI Agent Brody and a character designated the idiot for plot convenience so Brody can tell us all about the fascinating details of how exactly the mortgage scams worked. Obviously us 'Everyday Joes' are just too dumb to figure that out by themselves. It's as thrilling as it sounds.
There are also alternating chapters in Apex Predator from the Big Bad Banker Villain of the book which, frankly, are disgusting and crude. One of those lovely little chapters insinuates that a woman deserves a forced blow job because she's showing a bit too much cleavage. In the middle of a bank office no less. There are also other sexual assaults, abuse of a baby (non-sexual but still disgusting) and each chapter ends with some variation of "Life is good/great/awesome". It gets repetitive and tiresome.
The female characters in Apex Predator would be a joke if they weren't such unamusing stereotypes. There's Tanya, the stereotypical Eastern European femme fatale. Cindy, the archaeologist, isn't given a whole lot of page time. There are a few others that are there as well but they are not given nearly the depth (such as it is) of the male characters.
That brings up another complaint of mine with Apex Predator. There are a ton of characters introduced. Some of them seem important at the beginning then are never heard from again. Others who aren't very important to the plot are given more page time than they deserve.
With the aforementioned problems it commits the most egregious error a book can. Apex Predator is quite boring. Every now and then there's a tidbit of action to go along with it but not nearly enough. I'm not even a reader who typically enjoys oodles of action There's a lot of sitting around, being all expository and dull.
Oh yeah, and there's werewolves that are eating corrupt bankers. Speaking of the werewolves (which are described surprisingly well) there's a professor at the University of Michigan who, rather than even having the slightest professional curiosity about the fang found in a victim, retreats entirely and cuts himself off from any more inquiry about it. So, in the author's eyes, Detroit is a burnt out wasteland (all of it apparently) and the University of Michigan is staffed by unprofessional professors who run at the first sight of something a little weird.
Perhaps with some heavy editing and more fully developed characters there's some room for improvement. A lot of room. Developing the characters would improve it a lot, as would streamlining a lot of the unnecessary details and people.
I'll wrap this up with a few suggestions to the author. I would definitely reconsider putting the names of real musicians in the book. Particularly in the contexts they are in (a juvenile joke about Nicki Minaj and Beyonce performing at a Trump-esque bankers birthday party). I'm not sure about the legality of it but at the bare minimum it will end up dating the book in the long run.
I honestly can't recommend Apex Predator, not without some heavy rework, a good editor and another run through a proofreader would be a wise idea. I noticed a few typos here and there. Nothing to make it unreadable but it does make it look a bit unprofessional. Another proofread or edit would also smooth out some of the awkward sentence structure.
I also do appreciate what they're trying to say about how Detroit got screwed over with the auto crash and resulting unemployment rates and mortgage fraud. We hardly spend any time there though, before all of the action moves to Eastern Europe.
Unfortunately, that's about all I can say for Apex Predator. The writing was stilted and didn't flow smoothly. The author tries to work in just about every current issue in massive expository info-dumps. It makes the dialogue in the book awkward and unnatural. None of the issues are gone into with any depth nor are they worked naturally into the plot of Apex Predator. There's also a several page Q & A between the Wall Street savvy FBI Agent Brody and a character designated the idiot for plot convenience so Brody can tell us all about the fascinating details of how exactly the mortgage scams worked. Obviously us 'Everyday Joes' are just too dumb to figure that out by themselves. It's as thrilling as it sounds.
There are also alternating chapters in Apex Predator from the Big Bad Banker Villain of the book which, frankly, are disgusting and crude. One of those lovely little chapters insinuates that a woman deserves a forced blow job because she's showing a bit too much cleavage. In the middle of a bank office no less. There are also other sexual assaults, abuse of a baby (non-sexual but still disgusting) and each chapter ends with some variation of "Life is good/great/awesome". It gets repetitive and tiresome.
The female characters in Apex Predator would be a joke if they weren't such unamusing stereotypes. There's Tanya, the stereotypical Eastern European femme fatale. Cindy, the archaeologist, isn't given a whole lot of page time. There are a few others that are there as well but they are not given nearly the depth (such as it is) of the male characters.
That brings up another complaint of mine with Apex Predator. There are a ton of characters introduced. Some of them seem important at the beginning then are never heard from again. Others who aren't very important to the plot are given more page time than they deserve.
With the aforementioned problems it commits the most egregious error a book can. Apex Predator is quite boring. Every now and then there's a tidbit of action to go along with it but not nearly enough. I'm not even a reader who typically enjoys oodles of action There's a lot of sitting around, being all expository and dull.
Oh yeah, and there's werewolves that are eating corrupt bankers. Speaking of the werewolves (which are described surprisingly well) there's a professor at the University of Michigan who, rather than even having the slightest professional curiosity about the fang found in a victim, retreats entirely and cuts himself off from any more inquiry about it. So, in the author's eyes, Detroit is a burnt out wasteland (all of it apparently) and the University of Michigan is staffed by unprofessional professors who run at the first sight of something a little weird.
Perhaps with some heavy editing and more fully developed characters there's some room for improvement. A lot of room. Developing the characters would improve it a lot, as would streamlining a lot of the unnecessary details and people.
I'll wrap this up with a few suggestions to the author. I would definitely reconsider putting the names of real musicians in the book. Particularly in the contexts they are in (a juvenile joke about Nicki Minaj and Beyonce performing at a Trump-esque bankers birthday party). I'm not sure about the legality of it but at the bare minimum it will end up dating the book in the long run.
I honestly can't recommend Apex Predator, not without some heavy rework, a good editor and another run through a proofreader would be a wise idea. I noticed a few typos here and there. Nothing to make it unreadable but it does make it look a bit unprofessional. Another proofread or edit would also smooth out some of the awkward sentence structure.
November 30, 2018
I'll start by quoting another reviewer (GracieKat) as the last paragraph of their review sums up how I felt about this book. (Which, I regret to say, I couldn't finish).
"I honestly can't recommend Apex Predator, not without some heavy rework, a good editor and another run through a proofreader would be a wise idea. I noticed a few typos here and there. Nothing to make it unreadable but it does make it look a bit unprofessional. Another proofread or edit would also smooth out some of the awkward sentence structure."
I have to confess that I am getting a little fed up when 'discovering' new books only to find that they've been through no editorial process. I guess they are usually, or perhaps always, self-published titles because this could obviously never happen if the book was published 'conventionally' through a publishing house.
This title is by no means the worse I've encountered, in this respect, not by a long shot and it's such a shame because the reading experience could have been improved ten-fold had it received attention even from a proof reader alone.
Most of the writing is very good but some of the clumsy sentence structure, lack of punctuation, incorrect or inappropriate words used (by that I mean unsuitable for that precise context) and typographic errors interrupts the flow and spoils the reading experience. There was even one occasion in Chapter 1 where the author wrote, "... his boss was ladling heaping bellyfuls of it onto is plate." I guess in an early draft the author couldn't decide whether to use "ladling" or "heaping" but both words remain in the published book.
I've said it before, in similar situations, where authors seem not to have taken their book through any kind of interim or final editorial process, but in my humble opinion, S.M. Douglas has done himself and his readers (existing and potential) a great disservice by not intercepting and amending these mistakes prior to publication. I can’t understand why a proofreader, at least, was not employed, preferably in conjunction with an editor or copyeditor (the latter obviously being a less collaborative, less ‘invasive� process, if this is something the author had concerns about).
I do find it particularly sad and regrettable when a published author (albeit self-published) appears not to recognise how important it is to maintain basic standards of literacy, regardless of how many readers may enjoy their work. They assume a huge responsibility because, as we all know, the act of reading improves our ability to communicate, increases our vocabulary, enhances our language skills and develops fluency, allowing us to express our thoughts and ideas better.
"I honestly can't recommend Apex Predator, not without some heavy rework, a good editor and another run through a proofreader would be a wise idea. I noticed a few typos here and there. Nothing to make it unreadable but it does make it look a bit unprofessional. Another proofread or edit would also smooth out some of the awkward sentence structure."
I have to confess that I am getting a little fed up when 'discovering' new books only to find that they've been through no editorial process. I guess they are usually, or perhaps always, self-published titles because this could obviously never happen if the book was published 'conventionally' through a publishing house.
This title is by no means the worse I've encountered, in this respect, not by a long shot and it's such a shame because the reading experience could have been improved ten-fold had it received attention even from a proof reader alone.
Most of the writing is very good but some of the clumsy sentence structure, lack of punctuation, incorrect or inappropriate words used (by that I mean unsuitable for that precise context) and typographic errors interrupts the flow and spoils the reading experience. There was even one occasion in Chapter 1 where the author wrote, "... his boss was ladling heaping bellyfuls of it onto is plate." I guess in an early draft the author couldn't decide whether to use "ladling" or "heaping" but both words remain in the published book.
I've said it before, in similar situations, where authors seem not to have taken their book through any kind of interim or final editorial process, but in my humble opinion, S.M. Douglas has done himself and his readers (existing and potential) a great disservice by not intercepting and amending these mistakes prior to publication. I can’t understand why a proofreader, at least, was not employed, preferably in conjunction with an editor or copyeditor (the latter obviously being a less collaborative, less ‘invasive� process, if this is something the author had concerns about).
I do find it particularly sad and regrettable when a published author (albeit self-published) appears not to recognise how important it is to maintain basic standards of literacy, regardless of how many readers may enjoy their work. They assume a huge responsibility because, as we all know, the act of reading improves our ability to communicate, increases our vocabulary, enhances our language skills and develops fluency, allowing us to express our thoughts and ideas better.
August 15, 2017
An FBI agent is ordered to investigate the killing of a banker in Detroit, part of a series of mysterious killings of financiers, though he finds quickly that the trail leads to a small village in the Ukraine...
Hey! You got my werewolf book stuck in my screed about late-stage modern capitalism! No, I got my screed about late-stage modern capitalism stuck in your werewolf book!
And this does feel like two books awkwardly melded together to try to form a collective statement about humanity, past and present. But if that's the case, it got a bit stuck in the Ukraine ().
It's not a bad book, especially if you can tolerate the straw-man argument on modern capitalism. But I don't think I'd read it again, and not because of its political views.
Hey! You got my werewolf book stuck in my screed about late-stage modern capitalism! No, I got my screed about late-stage modern capitalism stuck in your werewolf book!
And this does feel like two books awkwardly melded together to try to form a collective statement about humanity, past and present. But if that's the case, it got a bit stuck in the Ukraine ().
It's not a bad book, especially if you can tolerate the straw-man argument on modern capitalism. But I don't think I'd read it again, and not because of its political views.
January 5, 2018
An amazing book!
It was a stroke of genius to use the Apex Predator, the Werewolf, to assist in being part of the solution, of gross excesses of a system that preys on the weak. That part of the powers that be that become richer, as the poor get poorer, as we see happening to the middle class. Soon you will have a population of rich and poor with nothing in between. As power is concentrated on the 1% with all the money, the excesses will be more and more. The ending was a surprising twist. The book is well-written and a very enjoyable read. I also learned a lot about a part of the world I knew really nothing about, and the historical context of what happened during WWII and afterwards.
It was a stroke of genius to use the Apex Predator, the Werewolf, to assist in being part of the solution, of gross excesses of a system that preys on the weak. That part of the powers that be that become richer, as the poor get poorer, as we see happening to the middle class. Soon you will have a population of rich and poor with nothing in between. As power is concentrated on the 1% with all the money, the excesses will be more and more. The ending was a surprising twist. The book is well-written and a very enjoyable read. I also learned a lot about a part of the world I knew really nothing about, and the historical context of what happened during WWII and afterwards.
October 29, 2019
Where was the editor?
Interesting concept, not your typical werewolf story.
However, in many places there were errors: “phase� should have been “faze�, incorrect punctuation, even a character’s name substituted for another. Yes, I’m picky, but the errors took away from understanding in many places, breaking the flow of the story.
The political overtones were too much, in places creating confusion. That angle of the story could have been achieved more cleanly. Also, the jumping around on time could have been executed more neatly, in a less confusing way.
All in all, I didn’t hate it, but was way too aware of the book’s flaws, to where it interfered with my enjoyment.
Interesting concept, not your typical werewolf story.
However, in many places there were errors: “phase� should have been “faze�, incorrect punctuation, even a character’s name substituted for another. Yes, I’m picky, but the errors took away from understanding in many places, breaking the flow of the story.
The political overtones were too much, in places creating confusion. That angle of the story could have been achieved more cleanly. Also, the jumping around on time could have been executed more neatly, in a less confusing way.
All in all, I didn’t hate it, but was way too aware of the book’s flaws, to where it interfered with my enjoyment.
July 13, 2018
Very good werewolf story
A good read, flows and setup well. I do have mention that being born in Detroit myself I really enjoyed the description of Southeast Michigan the Detroit area and the mentioning of Sir Graves Ghastly who I also watched every Saturday. Looking forward to the sequel.
A good read, flows and setup well. I do have mention that being born in Detroit myself I really enjoyed the description of Southeast Michigan the Detroit area and the mentioning of Sir Graves Ghastly who I also watched every Saturday. Looking forward to the sequel.
October 25, 2017
Werewolves!
This book was a great read.it's a great mix of historic event s and really good fiction.it has some disjointed spots,but I enjoyed the book,it's a great werewolf storey,give it a shot.
This book was a great read.it's a great mix of historic event s and really good fiction.it has some disjointed spots,but I enjoyed the book,it's a great werewolf storey,give it a shot.
Read
February 7, 2021sorry to say i found this book a chore to finish the constant bouncing from time and locations tedious and confusing to keep up with. As a reader of horror of books for well over 60 years i found this handling of the werewolf theory hard to believe .
i had a hard time finishing this book
i had a hard time finishing this book
December 17, 2018
Awesome
About werewolves and a FBI agent tracking own or main one who started it all back in the year of 1944 where soldiers were brutally murdered
About werewolves and a FBI agent tracking own or main one who started it all back in the year of 1944 where soldiers were brutally murdered
January 5, 2019
Werewolves
A very good read i loved it one of the best werewolves books I've read. I recommend this to anyone
A very good read i loved it one of the best werewolves books I've read. I recommend this to anyone
February 13, 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Having always been a werewolf fan, this was an interesting twist on the tale. The characters are complex and endearing enough that you find yourself drawn into their world.
The action is fast paced and keeps you reading page after page to find out what happens.
Really looking forward to any other books in the series.
The action is fast paced and keeps you reading page after page to find out what happens.
Really looking forward to any other books in the series.
July 7, 2019
I truly enjoyed the story line along with the history and shifters involved. This book really allowed you to not only enjoy the creativity of the story and characters but also to see the corruption that we face in the world. Very good read.😊
January 20, 2017
Good
If you like werewolf stories it was different from the few others I have read even though I am not a fan
If you like werewolf stories it was different from the few others I have read even though I am not a fan
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.