Hung over, feeling rough and not looking forward to a better day, Dave Hooper is flown out to his job as a safety supervisor on an oilrig, arriving just in time to witness blood curdling chaos. Boarding the rig, the survivors tell him that monsters are currently attacking the crew. Severely aggravated, Dave takes off to find out what is happening only to be confronted by the horrific visage of the invaders leader who attacks him. Hours later Dave wakes up in hospital a very changed man...

Dave vs. The Monsters: Emergence (2015. 381 pages) is a humorous/horror/thriller novel from John Birmingham, who also penned the Disappearance series of novels looking at a world following the disappearance of much of America.

Dave is an everyman character, hard drinking, a disappointment to his ex-wife and kids, who spends the majority of his down time trying to avoid responsibility. His encounter with the first monster, there are many in the book, creates a radical change in him, providing him with great speed and strength. How this happens is never really explained in the book, except to point towards his increased metabolism. Whilst this may give him muscles which work more efficiently, the book avoids noticing that many of the actions which Dave subsequently engages in would break every bone in his body.

The plot of the book is pretty straight forward; one could also say that the title encompasses much of what happens. Dave is transformed, meets a whole bunch of people and goes off to fight more monsters. Oddly enough, whilst entertaining, these sections were not as interesting as seeing the conflict from the monsters perspective as they are not mindless purveyors of evil, rather they are a culture which has been cut off from the planet’s surface for a million years. They possess a hierarchical, marshal society, led by a queen which quite resemble a nest of ants, which have unfortunately been disturbed by mans deep drilling.

The book will rise or fall on how you view Dave himself. As a character he has few redeeming qualities. He’s a foul mouthed misogynistic drunk who prefers to spend his time with two hookers and a bag of coke rather than his family. He turns from a bum to a hero only by an accidental act, although I suspect his redemption will continue through the series of other books. This may not happen as the book is squarely aimed at the male market, with its descriptions of sexuality; the females seem only to exist to excite Dave’s genitals, and the acquisition of powers of comic book proportions.

It may seem weird after having said all of that to confess I quite liked the novel. It’s not Proust, but then there is always a place for books about ball kicking demons. The book is written with it tongue in its cheek and I can’t believe the author meant for it to be anything other than escapist fantasy.

So, it’s a bit of escapist fun, but probably only if you are male.

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Charles Packer