Review of "Jurassic Swamp" by Ethan Richards

Score: 92/100 (9.2 out of 10)

Remember what Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans in 2005? Can you believe it has been over 20 years? Yet the memories of the horror still linger like it was just a few years ago. That's how deep this single event--this disaster--scarred us.

The flooding. The destroyed homes. The collapsed infrastructure. The stranded civilians on rooftops. The desperation. The violence. The feeling that an entire major American city had suddenly become something unrecognizable.

Now imagine that was only the beginning. Imagine that, beneath the floodwater, something massive had been awakened. Something ancient. Something armored. Something impervious to bullets. Something that seems unstoppable, unkillable.

Imagine a massive prehistoric force that did not care about rescue efforts, government statements, criminal gangs, military patrols, or whether anyone believed it was real. All that it cared about was hunger and blood. Well, and maybe one other thing...

That is the nightmare at the center of Jurassic Swamp by Ethan Richards!

In Jurassic Swamp, Hurricane Elena transforms New Orleans into a flooded nightmare where the usual dangers of a natural disaster are already bad enough. The city is dealing with destruction, looters, armed criminals, ruined infrastructure, and terrified civilians.

Then people start disappearing. Boats are overturned. Bodies are found torn apart.

And a name begins to spread through the swamp like a warning nobody wants to believe: Rougarou.

This is not simply a story about a big alligator. It is a military creature feature, disaster thriller, swamp-horror novel, and surprisingly heartfelt story about ordinary National Guard soldiers trying to adapt when the rules of reality stop making sense.

Perry Martin, a hesitant reporter for the Atoka Sentinel, embeds with Oklahoma Army National Guard unit Aztec Company as it deploys for disaster relief and security. At first, Perry is an outsider who wants to observe rather than participate. Under the hard-but-fair mentorship of First Sergeant LeMay, however, he begins to understand the soldiers, their routines, and their sense of duty.

Then the company encounters Rougarou. Small-arms fire barely affects it, and the monster kills Specialist Morrison while severely injuring others. Footage later confirms that the creature is far larger than any known alligator. Perry’s reporting becomes crucial because the military and civilians need someone willing to record the truth, even when the truth sounds impossible.

The company traces clues to Lil’ Dwayne, a wealthy celebrity whose abandoned estate contains illegal exotic-animal holdings, secret laboratories, containment systems, and evidence of biological experimentation. Rougarou appears to be a resurrected or engineered Deinosuchus-like predator that escaped during the hurricane. The estate also contains a gigantic liger, which kills Sergeant First Class Falkenberg before it is brought down.

Meanwhile, Louisiana official Cleo Fredericksburg tries to minimize the crisis, blame Aztec Company, and protect his own authority. He insists the danger was only a large nuisance alligator. But, c'mon, who's gonna buy that a 20 foot alligator did all of this?

His cover-up collapses when Rougarou attacks his helicopter in spectacular fashion. Freed from political restraint, Captain Shawnee Smith leads Aztec Company to track the wounded creature back to its den beneath Lil’ Dwayne’s estate.

This book actually has a lot going for it. First and foremost, it has a premise that seems grounded--ironically--despite the absurdity of a prehistoric monster terrorizing a city. So, it's not hard to buy into and understand. We already talked about how this scenario reminded us a lot of the real-life Hurricane Katrina catastrophe and subsequent crisis.

Another thing that this book has going for it are the action scenes. The Rougarou's attack on the helicopter is one of the most satisfying moments in all of Richards's works. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. It's also so cool to see conventional weaponry go up against this monstrosity. They eventually have to step up their game and use heavier and heavier weapons. It's such a testosterone-filled thrill!

We also loved that there are aspects of this book that actually seem genuinely human, which is nice to see in a book as wild and absurd as these tend to be. For example, it is interesting that many characters still refer to Rougarou as an “alligator” or "giant gator" even after it becomes obvious that it is something far larger, older, more dangerous, and much different from any crocodilian they've ever encountered.
That might seem like a small thing, but it is actually one of the more human parts of the story.

People need names for things. They need categories. In a way, the word “alligator” becomes a signifier: a label that gives people the illusion that they understand the danger in front of them. If Rougarou is just an alligator, then there is a familiar playbook. Call animal control. Stay out of the water. Bring bigger guns.

But Rougarou is not just an alligator. It is larger, older, more armored, more intelligent, and far more destructive than the word can contain. The moment the soldiers and civilians realize that their label no longer fits the creature, they are forced to confront something much scarier: They may not be in control.
That is part of what makes the monster effective. It does not just threaten their bodies. It breaks their understanding of the world around them.

One of the bigger twists in this book is a little cliche for a monster/kaiju story these days, especially considering that it was also a twist in the awful 1998 American Godzilla movie and the much improved 2014 Gareth Edwards Godzilla movie. At the same time, it makes the Rougarou seem more like a real creature with biological drives and needs rather than a mindless monster. That's actually one of the things we loved the most about Terror in Big Bend, when it was revealed that the first monster actually had a partner/mate whom it mourned.

This is a solid book in Richards's kaiju fiction collection.

Check it out on Amazon!