My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Wild Thing was slightly toned down from Beat the Reaper, in a way that worked well for me. It’s still very funny. It still has crazy adventure– chases, mysteries, multiple bad guys, and some really crazy stuff I didn’t expect going in. It just doesn’t take it quite as far, particularly where the ick factor is concerned.
Pietro Brnwa (aka Lionel Azimuth, aka Peter Brown) is going to be odd man out anywhere– a former mafia hit man who left (or is that ran away?) to become a physician just doesn’t have an easy to find peer group, particularly when the mafia is trying to hunt him down. Seeing him as junior doctor on a cruise ship put me in a good mood at the start, but that’s not where this book was going.
Some random millionaire asked the right questions to the right people, and found just the person he needed to go monster hunting. This doctor has the knowledge and skepticism to spot a fake, and he isn’t afraid to say what he thinks. Just as importantly, he has the skills necessary to stay alive in a variety of challenging situations. More monsters than expected are found, of course, and it was tremendous fun to watch Peter deal with them while figuring out how much of himself he could afford to share with the beautiful paleontologist sharing the assignment.
There’s nothing deep about this book. It’s just fun. Luckily, it doesn’t get quite as icky as the first book in the series, and isn’t quite as intense. It was a very enjoyable read.
Thank you to Little, Brown and Company for sending this book for review.
