This is a vintage horror from way back in 1993 when the creature feature was still the rage. William Johnstone has long since passed and his books were out of print for years. Many of them have been re-released for Kindle and I grabbed a few plus some used paperbacks from the thrift store.

Our hero is some kind of former spy CIA guy or some such special ops thing that you will probably picture as Liam Neesan or at least I did since he is described as solid and fit but not too good looking. Luckily he pretty much already lives in a fortress since his retirement so his house is the safest place in town.
Some of the language is a bit cringe worthy, and I don't mean swearing. I was a bit put off by the number of derogatory terms the author chose to use because I don't think that was cool even back in 1993. If you can look past that, it's a decent classic horror about giant vampire bats swarming a town, with a high body count, lots of gore and chewed up eyeballs. If that's not enough they've also been spreading rabies to the local wildlife and to the crazy group of satanists too who think these giant bats are the answer to their dark prayers. All in all a it was a pretty good read if you're in the mood for a horror from days gone by.
4 out of 5 stars. ( )

I received an advance review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

William Johnstone was a staple for pulp horror lovers in the 80’s. Lurid paperback covers and often even more lurid stories within made him a pretty safe bet for your money. “Bats” is no exception. I am sure that I read this one back in the day and I am just as sure that I loved it.

It is a little harder to be as enthusiastic now. The characters are interesting and often funny and Johnstone clearly doesn’t take himself too seriously, which is definitely a plus. He is a seasoned writer if not a great one. If you are a fan of pulp and of Johnstone in particular you expect religious characters to prevail and those with an off kilter moral compass, who for some reason in Johnstone’s books are always Satanists, will receive their punishment. I do roll my eyes a bit as it seems from his novels that every town has its own Satanist group, and even more interesting, everyone knows about them and doesn’t care that they hold relatively important positions in the community—until, you know, when bad stuff starts happening. What were they expecting?

The bats are quite nasty and the confrontations are well done. The plot is a bit long and repetitive and the “plan” being followed by the super intelligent, super large, super vicious, and practically demonic bats, when finally revealed, struck me as a bit odd. It didn’t really bother me that much because this a pulp horror novel about giant vampire bats after all and it plays for fun—and delivers. Johnstone is more Edgar Rice Burroughs than Michael Critchton.

Many people have commented about the heavy handed politics in Johnstone’s work, which is about as prevalent as the apparent high incidence of Satan worshipers hiding under ever rock. I knew about the political agenda going in so I wasn’t really bothered. Anyone who has ever read a Dean Koontz novel knows the drill—whenever characters sit around a table with cups of coffee just feel free to skip to the end of the chapter, you won’t miss any of the action.

Johnstone is vintage 80s horror pulp and “Bats” is a good example of his work.

Really 3 stars but I rounded up to 4 just because I like his books for the nostalgia they bring.
( )

2.5 stars!

Bats is a re-release:it originally flew free back in the 90's and that's one of my favorite periods for the horror genre, so I requested it from Net Galley right away. I'm sad to report that I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped.

You can probably guess from the title that this is a creature feature, so you know going in that's it's most likely not going to be a literary classic. (Which was fine with me, sometimes that's exactly what I want.) However, I do expect the writing to be of a certain quality, and I'm not talking Cormac McCarthy level here, but I wouldn't think that a James Herbert level would be unrealistic. Unfortunately, I don't think the Herbert level was reached here.

That aside, the story itself was a lot of fun. Most especially because these weren't just normal bats, they were mutants. Incredibly large with huge fangs, they were also capable of immense intelligence. That's all I can say, because this is where all the fun of the book is and you should read it for yourself. One thing that bothered me in the narrative itself, was the repetitiveness of "stupid people deserve what they get" mantra. Alright, we get it, they're too stupid too live. Move on.

Overall, Bats did deliver on the FUN its cover promised, but the writing itself and repetitive nature of a few viewpoints soured me on the book as a whole.

*Thanks to Kensington/Lyrical Underground and Net Galley for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review! This is it.* ( )

Received via Zebra/Kensington Books and NetGalley in exchange for an completely unbiased review.
Also posted on Silk & Serif

Bats is about a small town overwhelmed by hyper-intelligent bats with a taste for human flesh. Ex-spy Johnny teams up with local law enforcement to protect the local populace from the bats. Meanwhile, other districts in the area are affected by attacks as well and over time a pattern of attack emerges. Gearing up, Johnny and the local enforcement get ready for the biggest and final attack on their town when a savior in an unexpected form arrives.

This is your typical 90s novel complete with stereotypical characters, slightly offensive assumptions and poor dialogue. The result is a novel that has plenty of promise, but is lacking in a lot of places. I couldn't really take this novel seriously with all the racial slurs, relentless "idiot" remarks and lack of empathy for victims. To be fair, the 90s were less about victim rights and understanding differences than more recent years, so I can't really be too harsh about the cultural aspects of this novel. Bats is a product of it's time with simplistic and sometimes offensive writing, but nevertheless a decent novel about man-eating bats.

Bats is exactly what it promises to be: a uncomplicated novel and bats attacking people and the people who struggle against them.

Obviously, Bats is not an award winning piece of literature headed for it's own movie, but sometimes you are looking for something that you can turn your brain off while reading - Bats is exactly that type of novel. The characters are not complex and the story isn't particularly shocking. The tale gets a bit outlandish at some points: the bats' intelligence evolve past even slightly believable and the concept that small town folk would actually be apathetic to the threat of flesh eating bats..well, that doesn't seem realistic, but maybe I am just naive. However, the story isn't terrible either, keeping you entertained throughout and wrapping up in a happy ending.

Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot to say about this novel. It's a classic creature feature that fits in with the 90s literature scene and isn't terrible. It isn't good, either. I was able to put the book down and leave it for several days without thought and I didn't feel the pressure to continue reading that come with all great novels. Once the novel was finished I didn't feel particularly strongly about it's story.

This novel will appeal to readers who enjoy homicidal creature novels and uncomplicated plots. Bats is a novel for people who miss the popular fiction of the 90s and want to read a re-release of a "classic" monster story. ( )

Despite the horrible formatting in the copy I received from NetGalley, I stuck with it (only because I was able to play with and fix the formatting for my devices) and enjoyed it. It is summer reading at its finest- light reading for the fun of it.

Great plot and characters though I hesitate to recommend purchasing because I am not sure if the copy you would get for your devices would be similar to the one NetGalley provided. If you know how to reformat, or know someone who can, I highly recommend picking up a copy. ( )