Warning, Y’all!
Live Specimens is Extreme Horror.
Yes, extreme horror from the talented and versatile Kelli Owen.

Live Specimens is a creature horror story. It is an extreme horror story. It is a story about good people and bad people and the evil that people create. It is a beautifully written relentless horror fest, and I had a really hard time putting it down.

Since Live Specimens has been out for a while—originally published December 2012—I would like to a bit of comparison and contrast with a few Amazon reviews that caught my eye. Just for clarity, of course.

First, a few early readers clearly dove into this book without knowing they were about to be neck deep in an extreme horror novel. So, let me say again: This Is An Extreme Horror Novel.

Of course, it is possible one or two did not know what extreme horror is, so allow me to clarify that as well. Extreme Horror is graphic. It is impolite in its presentation of violence and subject matter. That is why it is called “extreme” horror. It is extreme. On purpose. If one is not inclined to enjoy such things, one will probably be too distracted by the extreme nature of the story’s presentation to follow and enjoy the story itself. Judging from some of the comments, a few people experienced just that.

Now on to review comments of a different nature, without calling anyone out of course. Live Specimens is a quality story, pure Kelli Owen, just unfiltered. There is depth in this story just as in all of Kelli’s books, but you have to read ALL the words to see it because its organic. It comes from the characters. The characters and character interactions are vivid and compelling and define the storyline under the violence and gore assaulting both the characters and the reader.

If you prefer your gory extreme horror without an abundance of depth, fear not. Kelli Owen does not overwrite. The story is fast-paced and, again, relentless. The life elements and graphic sequences blend seamlessly in this brilliant horror story. Perhaps that is why it’s easy to miss the deeper substance.

As a final thought, I would be interested to know if anyone else verbalized an expletive at the end as I did. No spoilers here, you have to read it to understand why I dropped a verbal F bomb to an empty room at the end. ( )

To say I'm a fan of Kelli Owen would be an understatement. To say I'm a stalker, might go a bit to far. Who has time for stalking?

I first met Kelli either at Horrorfind Weekend, a couple of years ago, or at Horror Saturday at the York Emporium. Either way, I found her to be charming, small of stature, (but big of heart) and somewhat unassuming.

In the last couple of years I've caught up with her writing and it's all been good stuff. At last Summer's Horrible Saturday at the York Emporium, Kelli read a snippet of her current work in progress and I was suitably grossed out. What she read for us was pretty much the opening sequence for her current novel, Live Specimens.

Juliet has finally left her abusive husband, Bill, taking her little girl, Mandy, with her, from Pennsylvania to her parent's place in Michigan. They're almost there when Mandy see a lost puppy by the side of the road. Given the weather, 43 degrees and a big Snow Storm on the way, and much to Mandy's delight, Juliet does a good deed, wrapping the puppy in a blanket and placing it in the backseat with her daughter. What a heart-warming story. Wrong!

The opening chapter packs in more raw action and intense drama than many horror stories do from cover to cover and that is just the beginning. Kelli went all out in this story. It's literally a cornucopia of gruesomeness. As in real life, no one is safe.

I don't want to get into a lot of details on the story, because I'd hate to spoil the fun. It reminds me of the kind of horror movies that used to play at the Drive-Ins I used to frequent back the the '60s of my youth. Or maybe a really good SyFy Saturday night movie.

Live Specimens, is entertaining start to finish. Another work that is not a literary masterpiece, but is certainly a good read for the horror enthusiast. I'd even go as far as to say it was more fun than a basket of puppies ;-) ( )

I've read nearly everything Kelli Owen has released so far and have been looking forward to reading Live Specimens for a while now - especially after she said that it should be gorier than he normal works.

The story takes place in a small town preparing for an upcoming blizzard; when people start dying from vicious animal attacks - although these are not normal animals - these are genetically altered killing machines - smarter, faster and deadlier. Who, if any, will survive the blizzard and the attacks.

The character in the book are good and the story is fast paced from the beginning with plenty of action and death all of the way through which made this a real page turner for me. Over the years I've read a fair few 'monster/animal on a rampage' books but this has to be one of my favourites as I really enjoyed the uniqueness of the animals.

Overall if your a fan of the horror genre and would like to read something with plenty of mayhem and action then you will enjoy this. 4.5/5

The novel was received in exchange for an honest review ( )