Psycho Hose Beast From Outer Space (Gale Harbour, #1) in The Insecure Writer's Support Group Book Club

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Psycho Hose Beast From Outer Space (Gale Harbour, #1)

C.D. Gallant King

Start date: March 1, 2022

Finish date: March 31, 2022

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Jul 26, 2020 Damien Larkin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Psycho Hose Beast from Outer Space is a riveting, fun, and entertaining read for fans of Stranger Things, the Goonies and IT.

Set in the early 90s in Newfoundland, Canada the story follows best friends Niall and Pius and his cousin Harper in the last week of summer. While navigating the pitfalls of pre-teen life, they'd rather be playing video games, watching movies or anything that doesn't involve a lot of effort. Everything changes as their sleepy town is shattered by a string of unusual events ...more

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Mar 26, 2022 Sahreth Bowden rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

With this kind of title, you鈥檇 expect the story to be super fun and you鈥檇 be correct. I had a blast reading Psycho Hose Beast from Outer Space! Granted that I鈥檓 not Canadian and therefore cannot comment on the accuracy of that culture, the author perfectly captured the atmosphere of the 90s as I know it. Admittedly, 80s/90s themes are a soft spot for me and the book definitely read like the many adventures from that era that I鈥檝e always loved, though鈥erhaps darker than some at points.

We are fir With this kind of title, you鈥檇 expect the story to be super fun and you鈥檇 be correct. I had a blast reading Psycho Hose Beast from Outer Space! Granted that I鈥檓 not Canadian and therefore cannot comment on the accuracy of that culture, the author perfectly captured the atmosphere of the 90s as I know it. Admittedly, 80s/90s themes are a soft spot for me and the book definitely read like the many adventures from that era that I鈥檝e always loved, though鈥erhaps darker than some at points.

We are first introduced to Niall and Pius through references to iconic 90s films and video games. From the start, the author implements comedy by making use of the awkwardness of the two nerdy boys鈥� transition in teenhood. This includes the introduction of the athletic Harper, Pius鈥� older female cousin, that Niall has so great a crush on that he would neglect everything just to be around her鈥ven though she couldn鈥檛 care less.

The book switches 3rd person focus from what is happening with the kids to what Harper鈥檚 father (Dick) is up to. After finding a corpse under mysterious circumstances, his investigation winds up crossing paths with the kids who have also been witness to some severely strange and terrifying things. A red-eyed woman randomly appearing and disappearing; mysterious drownings; insane nursing home patients鈥�

I thought the merge of the adult world with the kids鈥� world was a nice touch. It felt natural and believable, rather than forced in order to keep children as the main characters (which I鈥檝e noticed happens a bit in these sorts of stories). Seeing Dick and the kids join adventures while taking the normal precautions of a parent made it all the more suspenseful when things still went wrong.

Without spoiling anything, the lore of this book is quite cool. It draws on a mix of the supernatural and real-life history and even plays on actual medical conditions (dementia) as something more than what we see. I also loved the emotional aspects of the story, particularly Niall鈥檚 relationship with his grandmother and the school bully redemption arc. C.D. Gallant-King has infused a perfect balance of heart and horror in this fully immersive tale. I don鈥檛 normally think of something in the comedic genre as a 鈥榩age turner,鈥� but this one was. ...more

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Mar 28, 2022 Toi Thomas rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: funny, rated, mystery, reviewed, sci-fi, children-teen, horror

This was an IWSG Book Club read for the month of March '22 and I am so glad it was selected. I really enjoyed this book and have already pre-ordered the next in the series.

In our discussion, we talked about the genre of this book, and while I got a definite coming-of-age vibe, horror or dark science fiction also stood out. I love these kinds of stories for kids who want to read something dark without it being inappropriate. I think the next book may have a more YA feel to it, but I'll just have ...more

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Aug 11, 2020 Patricia Lynne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Hot damn, this was a good read. I've read work by this author before and enjoyed it, and this new book is just as fun of a read. He nailed the kids on bike trope that you see in a lot of horror. I loved all the 90s references being a 90s kid myself. I also liked how involved the adults were. The adults weren't absent and were active in the plot. I enjoyed the kids as well and could easily visualize them.

As for the horror aspect, it was subtle. There were also subtle paranormal and sci-fi element ...more

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