Review: The Fin by Matthew Danza and Adam Horeth

FF’s Star Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

My apologies to fans of the classic horror shark movies like Deep Blue Sea, and The Shallows. I remember those as if watching them just yesterday. “He is a huge fan of the horror genre and hopes that sharks can once again, scare people from entering the ocean”. Matthew Danza usually co-authors horror novels with Adam Horeth. Their teamwork has resulted in the creation of out-of-the-box horror novels and this, their own dose of shark horror takes readers to the splendour of island living and revolves around youngsters enjoying the pleasures of summer break before heading off to college.

Looking at it like a great triumph, high school is finally over for Lee Kager, who lives with his father and brother. He is best friends with Stacey Perkins and Adam Crenshaw. It is summer break on the sunny island that Lee lives on. The first reported shark attack happens to someone called Jake Murphy. Lee, along with his friends head off to enjoy an adventure during the summer on Horseshoe Island. Lee has a plan in development to skip town at the end of summer. But shark attack interrupt their fun, giving them a good dose of terror for the summer.

Danza and Horeth’s character descriptions are pretty basic. Lee Kager, for example, is described as being slightly shorter than average height and having dark green eyes which mutate to a dull brown under a certain light. Other character descriptions like that of Lee’s family and friends are also on the same level, but the authors use this tactic to keep this story fast and gripping. Her father likes fishing and that is how they end up on Horseshoe island where they experience a terrifying shark attack.

I hate swimming as much as the next person who fears the horrible freaks of nature that are sharks. The author has a great way for describing the marine setting, island shapes, and other things in general. Horseshoe Island is also perfectly described as looking like a giant horseshoe. When it comes to the main characters being on a boat or something, you can almost imagine yourself there hearing the waves and the beach life was defined well enough to imagine male and female swimwear everywhere.

What I liked was that through all the shark action, the book had its humorous moments which made me chuckle really loud. “I was able to climb up the deck, exiting through the bridge. The shark continued ramming into the bridge, probably that I was still in there.” It’s pretty amazing how the authors manage to keep readers in fear for the lives of the main and minor characters. Minor characters like Stacey and Adam are loveable because of their own personality traits they have. Adam especially is very funny and he is quite the beach dude full of that surfer attitude if you know what I mean.

Lee absolutely loved her brother because it is proved in one scene that when Lee sees her young brother coming close to loosing his life, she prays to God, showing some religion in her as well. “I saw the shark’s gray dorsal fin slicing through the surface of the water, and I watched as he veered towards the monstrously swimming by the mast.” This is a really scary scene that had me biting my finger nails the whole time. Luckily this was only a close call, showing how God can intervene to save someone’s life. When a fin disappears beneath the surface of the body of water, you feel absolutely relieved, heart-beating and all.

James turns out to be quite heroic later in the novel, utilizing a flare like a true man of action. Solid against dangerous circumstances. The violence in this novel is toned down a bit – not extremely gory, but here readers do get a taste of blood for readers who don’t mind such a thing as well as what to do with your own wounds that have been inflicted on you. And the emotion throughout it all keeps readers on their toes so that they can relate to the dangerous circumstances and be inspired by pure braveness in the end. I learned a couple of amazing survival skills that I won’t forget.

There are some minor editorial errors and the basic character descriptions were also in need of some tweaking. ” I surfaced and saw the (sharks) enormous head smashing against the bridge walls!” The first and third person narration is a bit difficult to pinpoint because the author doesn’t header the names of the characters. There’s a lot of swearing going on, but it works well with the targeted age of the author’s readers which are young people in their late teen years to mid twenties.

The novel is short and can be finished in two to three days’ time. The structure of this novel is exemplary. Readers get time to get to know the characters and where they come from. There is fun at first, but I have to warn readers that if they don’t have a strong stomach for blood, they should pray they get through it in one piece. There is also romance in the novel but not enough to distract from the main storyline. The authors have a penchant for getting real graphic when it comes to characters needing to experience excruciating pain, physical torment, and a character’s savvy to push through an attack and survive.

I recommend this book to all readers in dire need of a good shark scare. There is a lot of action going to keep you entertained throughout the whole book and it’s a sure page turner. The authors have really gone out of their way to their research and make this book as realistic as possible. So get yourself a copy as fast as possible. To quote one of the author’s lines: “Feel free to hit some waves.” Don’t enjoy this book too much, the atmosphere can get real ominous when you least expect it. Don’t be surprised if you look down, imagining yourself to be in the ocean surround by sharks as well.

Kindle Edition:

Publisher: Self-Published Date Published: October 26, 2015 Genre: Horror Pages: 99

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