As per usual, I'm going to be upfront and brutally honest with you. This book doesn't deserve half the credit I'm going to give it in this review. The writing's clunky, the action is repetitive (everybody has their face bitten off, so much so that I was expecting some explanation as to why everyone suffered that specific injury, like, maybe the sea serpents didn't like the way people looked at them or something, anything, but nope, nada), and the entire book is idiotic in the best possible way. For instance, there's one scene where the author describes a human face draped over a parking meter, as if these ravenous, carnivorous beasts with an insatiable hunger for man meat stopped what they were doing to peel off someone's face and decorate a parking meter. Fuck off, book. It's funny as balls, but still, fuck off.

This is all part of the book's charm, though. It's written in such a way as to feel like an R.L. Stine book for adults. No, not Stine's garbage-ass attempts at writing adult fiction (Red Rain and Superstitious), but like Goosebumps with a heavy helping of blood, guts, and ass strewn all about. Speaking of ass, that toga party was big fun.

Just Add Water is a much cleaner reading experience than Hunter Shea's Sinister Grin outing We Are Always Watching. Even if some of his prose rates slightly lower than even James Patterson on the technical side of things, the book was, as far as I could tell, relatively error-free. Of course, I was enjoying the hell out of all the mayhem, so I might have missed something, but when I think about it, this being cleaner isn't all that surprising. It's a quarter of the length of We Are Always Watching, so it would have been much easier (and quicker) to do multiple read-throughs for errors. Either that, or Lyrical Underground (this book's publisher) gives far more of a fuck than Sinister Grin does when it comes to providing quality editing.

One thing is for certain, you can feel Shea's love of the b-horror-film genre pouring off every page. And like everu good low-budget horror movie, it doesn't overstay its welcome. If this were a movie, I'd say it would clock in well below the 90-minute mark. Hell, had I had the time, I probably could've read it in under two hours. The horror is in-your-face gory, the dialogue is a cheese-fest, and the action is damn near nonstop. The book's also sillier than a clown orgy, with the monsters' "kryptonite" serving as the catalyst to many of my laughs. Every time the boy's hit them with it, I chuckled. It was just so stupid, but totally hilarious, in a Dumb and Dumber horror kinda way.

I don't know if the backstory for the monsters can actually be found in Chinese lore, but Shea made me believe it could. If the "kryptonite" is part of the possibly real lore, that's even fuckin funnier.

In summation: Just Add Water is a helluva good time, with enough carnage and cheese to delight any long-time horror fan. There's zero emotional depth and the writing is middle-grade simple, but that all adds to the fun of the book. If you're in the mood to turn your brain down and tell the outside world to fuck off for two hours, this is definitely the book for you.

Final Judgment: "Made in China" finds a whole new low.

Oh, and I got this book for free in exchange for this review. smooches

Short and sweet and fantastic fun. Gruesome and funny in equal amounts.

David and Patrick are teenage friends and big comic collectors. When searching for their latest purchase in a store, the only comic that they don't have is a Wonder Woman one so they buy it.
At the back in the ads section there's an ad for "Amazing Sea Serpents". Only $5, you get a tank and everything.

So the guys order it for the laugh and a few weeks later the parcel turns up. They follow the instructions, fill the tank with tepid water, add the sachet of seeds that contain the sea serpents. The instructions say leave it a week to add the food sachet. After a couple of days there is no sign of life so they decide to add the food early. After a week, all they have are what look like moth balls at the bottom of the tank and they stink like hell.
Fed up with the whole thing the boys dump the contents down into public drains, disappointed that they have been duped.

A few days later and they start to notice a lot of signs for missing pets in the community. Yes the Sea Serpents have grown in the sewers, feeding on the rats and now they've escaped the sewers and are on the rampage! Can the two boys right the situation before the whole town is eaten?

This is a novella rather than a novel. It doesn't overstay it's welcome but gets the job done perfectly. It's like old school monster horror and gore with splatterings of humour. It's just great fun. Very gory but fantastically entertaining and funny. I lapped it up and had a blast for the duration of this short read.

Thoroughly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley, Kensington Books and Hunter Shea for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

OMG!! I can't believe someone hasn't taken this idea and made a movie! It would be such a classic. Most of us grew up with the ads in practically everything showing how much fun sea monkeys were. I even had some! Such a disappointment, but thankfully they didn't turn out like these!!!

I was given an eARC by the publisher through NetGalley.

The only thing I can really complain about was the length. I do like Hunter Shea, and have not been disappointed in his work yet, and this one is no different. The story moves along quickly and is very quirky including how to battle these cute little sea serpents. Well not so cute, or so small as we find out. Entertaining as hell, wish it was longer though.

Somebody get me some salt. A lot of salt. Wait...those aren't slugs. Sh*t. Get me the salt anyway.

Patrick and David are best buddies. Loves them some comic books. They order some Amazing Sea Serpents! from the ad in the back of a Wonder Woman comic because honestly, who doesn’t want to order Amazing Sea Serpents! from the back of a comic book? Turns out it was a bad idea. Really bad.

A super-fast and bloody monster romp. Maybe too fast. While good and enjoyable, I wanted a little more depth. Not a bunch, I get what this was, but a little more would have been nice. Still a good little horror quickie.

Just Add Water is the kind of pulp, trashy, exploitative horror that only Hunter Shea can deliver. It shouldn't be so much fun to witness so much carnage, to watch as so many people meet a bloody, grisly end, but it is. It really, truly, is.

It all starts on a warm summer afternoon in 1980 when a couple of boys order a pack of Amazing Sea Serpents from the back of a Wonder Woman comic. They arrive, they hatch, they swim, they stink, and they get dumped in a sewer when they prove to be a disappointment. Within days, however, those tiny creatures have grown large enough to feed on the rats within the sewers, and before long neighborhood cats and dogs are going missing.

Where the story kicks into high gear, and where I made the decision to devour this in one sitting, was with the neighborhood key party. If you don't recognize the reference, just know that it involves a dozen nearly-naked swinging couples, an outdoor pool party, and the panicked frenzy of "Bulbous heads that were seemingly all mouth sat atop almost human bodies, with the exception of a thick tail that raked back and forth."

Once Just Add Water has set up the story, it wastes no time getting bloody. The second half of the book is some of the most fun I've had in years, an old fashioned monster tale that just keeps piling up the bodies. It's a well-written, imaginative, gory bite of cult fun.

In 1980 all David and Patrick can think of is how cool it’s going to be spending the summer watching the Amazing Sea Serpents they just ordered out of the back of a Wonder Woman comic. Unfortunately things don’t end up being quite as impressive as they hoped. When the tank starts to reek, the boys know they have to say buh bye to their new pets pronto . . . .

“So long, Amazing Sea Serpents. It was smelly and nasty while it lasted.”

Lucky for us, their loss is our gain and we readers get to experience a creature feature that, if you are of a certain age such as myself (*cough dinosaur cough*), might bring back some fond childhood memories such as the "Movie of the Week" known as ALLIGATOR.

Featuring super nasty baddies, parents who seriously like to par-tay, a neighbor it’s probably best to steer clear of, a quick stop by the local Benihana and the fate of the human race resting in the hands of a couple of nerds, Just Add Water was a gruesomely great escape from watching the takeover of ‘Murica by our new Russian overlords.

I discovered Hunter Shea thanks to my buddy Dan lending me a copy of They Rise. When I saw Char reading this title I knew I would be jumping on the bandwagon and was beyond thrilled when I saw advanced copies were available for my instant gratification. Even my librarian has taken a break from ordering all the porn I request and has a Hunter Shea selection available. I’ll definitely be checking out more of his stuff in the future.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!

I always know I am in for a treat when I pick up one of Hunter Shea's books. "Just Add Water" was exactly what I expected.
David and Patrick are two typical young boys who decide to buy one of those "just add water and see creatures grow" ads. It turns out to be a fake product so they decide to just dump it into the sewer. Wait a minute! Those eggs were not lemons at all but were glorious Sea Serpents. Well maybe not glorious but very hungry sea serpents. Now the boys in the race of their life as they try to fix the horror they have brought upon their town.
This book brought back memories of the ads I used to see about growing unusual creatures in your own home at a low price which were usually aimed at children. I found the book to have a tongue in cheek humor with a pinch of campy horror which suited the book very well considering the story line. It was a fast-paced and fun read.
Highly recommended.
I received a copy of this book from Kensington Books/Lyrical Underground via Netgalley for free in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the crap out of this and I'm gonna ramble. (Like normal)

First of all this is not Wonder Woman's fault! Wonder Woman is freaking the most awesomeness of all the awesome of the world. I'll tell me friend Erica on you if you don't agree..and you can see here what happens when you mess with Wonder Woman.

Second of all, my stingy parents would never let me order these:


How could you not let your comic book kid loving kid have a set of these? I just knew I was missing out on the greatest thing ever. I would have had my own little family of cuteness. But no, I was deprived.
Just look at the cuteness.


This book destroyed my dream. Sea Monkeys didn't turn out like the comic book ad said they would. They turned out very boring. And stanky. So the two boys in the story take them to the sewer and just dump those smelly suckers in.

Then pets in the town start to go missing.
Then a sexy time party ends up going way different than sexy times.


It's a bad time in this town.

You would think I would learn my lesson wouldn't you? Nah, I'm a cool mom so a few months ago I got the dino loving boy child something really awesome.



Guess what we are doing!!

Don't worry. If it goes wrong we can always find an alternative use for them.



Now I see that Hunter Shea is doing a little preview at the end for some of those X-ray glasses into a story. Yes, please! I would have taken over the world with a pair of those. Thanks Mom.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

This was a quick, creepy read that once again takes my mind back to classic 80s horror, and I loved it. Having previously read The Jersey Devil by the same author I was hopeful that Just Add Water would be a ridiculous amount of fun to read, and I was not disappointed.

I still remember all those ads in comics and magazines for "sea monkeys" (which were total duds by the way) that showed fantastic tiny sea families frolicking in their little cities. Apparently Hunter Shea remembers them too. Here we have not sea monkeys but sea serpents that will hatch with very little care.. just add water. Of course it doesn't work out that way at all and soon the neighborhood is over run with vicious hungry monsters that eat everything in sight.

Though this book may be categorized as being for "YA", it was an absolutely fun roller-coaster ride for me, too, and I'm most definitely not "YA". Maybe it's because of all the potatoes I stuck toothpicks into where the lower half was in water, and you could watch the roots grow? Or possibly those stupid Chia Pets? At any rate, I would most definitely have been one of the kids sending in a coupon for these dragon balls! And once they start growing... heh heh heh... let the fun begin. Loved this nasty little gem!

Roaring good fun! The best elements of youthful nostalgia, summer fun, and 80s horror movies combine into a few hours of a really good easy to consume monster fest. While the adults run and scream and get eaten by sea monsters run amok, a pair of brave youths seek out the local Hibachi Master to help them figure out how to end the scourge of toothy man eating lizards. Definitely worth a read!

I don't like to say that he's my favorite 'mindless read' because it sounds borderline offensive, but Hunter Shea has quickly become my go-to for when I want a well-done monster flick in the form of a book. He pulls of a fast-paced, creature feature in a way that not only makes it seem damn near plausible but that you morbidly almost want to happen.

As someone who liked to repeat the same mistake with AMAZING LIVE SEA-MONKEYS! Or in my case, amazingly dead brine shrimp... Just Add Water was right up my alley. I felt the same excitement with their AMAZING LIVE SEA SERPENTS! and same letdown when they also succumb to false advertising... Or do they? When neighborhood pets start go missing and then neighbors, it doesn't take long for the 'why' to rear its ugly head. An ugly head--and body-- that look amazingly similar to their would-be pets...

This was a short but fun read that was everything I could have hoped for and more. I'm told this is the first in a series of amazing 'back of comic goods' stories and cannot freaking wait for the next ones. So no, Hunter Shea isn't mindless, but he is fun and a nice break from reality with some wicked-nasty monsters up his sleeve.

I received this e-ARC from Kensington Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hunter Shea's latest novella is an 80's creature-feature that put me in mind of the great "B" horror movies--action packed, with page after page of nonstop gore. In short, just the type of book to pick up when you want to escape reality for a while and just "enjoy" the ride.

Young comic book enthusiasts, David and Patrick, go into a store intending to purchase some new editions to add to their already considerable comic collections. Disappointed to find that the only one out that they haven't already read is a Wonder Woman, the best friends buy it to avoid going home empty handed. While ultimately disappointed with the book, they spy an advertisement in it for "Amazing Sea Serpents". Intrigued by the pictures of an underwater community, they cut out the ad and send for them.

Let down by the few sperm-like creations that actually hatch, and disgusted by the noxious smell coming from some black balls that have settled to the bottom of the small tank, the boys dispose of the sea "serpents" by dumping them down the sewer grate--which smells almost as bad as its latest treasure. Lesson learned: ". . . And no more Wonder Woman . . . "

Only the sludge in the sewer seems to bring life out of the little black balls . . .

"The black wads of snot from the Amazing Sea Serpent tank were no longer lifeless balls . . . "

From that point on, Shea ramps up the action with hideous, fast growing creatures and racks up the body count all over the entire town. A race for survival brings the boys to a fast food restaurant chef that translates the foreign inscription from the sea serpent package.

"You do not understand. What you have hatched were Hakuri, the demon lizards of Hatsukaichi . . . "

With a blend of dark comedy, Shea leaves the two young boys to survive on their own, while simultaneously allowing the black creatures to thrive by eating every living thing they encounter.

Once again, a "fun gore-fest" with a twist on the "sea monkey" kits marketed today.

Recommended!

Amazing sea monkeys!! Remember those ads in the back of comic books? Didn't you always want them? I know I did. But my mean smart parents never let me order them because they were a "waste of money." That's what David and Patrick's parents told them too, but they ordered them anyway. Just Add Water is the story of what happened next.

This novella read so fast and was so much fun that I almost read it all in one sitting. It's exactly what a creature feature fan wants in a story. Lots of action? Check! High body count? Check! Lots of blood and gore? Check! This tale has the added bonus of being set in the 80's, and 80's nostalgia works for me.

All in all, I say "head's up" creature feature fans! This one is not to be missed! I highly recommend it!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin/Random House for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review. This is it!*

When I'm in the mood for some fun, creature-feature horror, Hunter Shea has become my automatic go-to.

Just Add Water is the first in a series of novellas by Shea from Kensington Publishing revolving around the concept of those items for sale at the back of comic books from back in the day. Stuff like automatic muscles, space rockets, and X-Ray eyes. In the first of these Mail Order Massacres, Patrick and David, flush with pocket money, decide to ignore their parent's warnings of ordering rip-off junk from the funny pages and splurge on a set of Amazing Sea Serpents. What arrives in the mail is far cry from what they had expected.

This is a brief novella, and Shea rockets the reader through from beginning to end. He doesn't waste much time getting the monsters rampaging through a sleepy Manhattan suburb, and the crazy goes full tilt in short order. There's plenty of violence and mayhem as things ramp up, but the main focus here is on fun.

Set in 1980, Shea's story recalled for me a lot of those fun, youth-driven monster movies of the era, stuff like Gremlins and The Monster Squad. This sucker is just pure, smooth entertainment from start to finish.

[Note: I received an advanced copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley.]

When I first saw the cover, I had a strange feeling of déjà vu, as it looks just so similar to the cover of a book I've only recently read titled 'Keep in a Cold, Dark Place'.

But let's get back to 'Just Add Water' and its nasty and very deadly variation of the gremlin theme. Ever heard of those little sea serpents (maybe better known as sea monkeys)? You get an envelope with little flaky stuff which you put in water to grow some little fish-like creatures? I remember them being advertised in the YPS magazine when I was young, and how I loved their funny looks (no, sadly I never actually had some myself). Well, if you know what I'm talking about, you may reconsider reading this book, as it will shatter your cute memories to pieces and reassemble them into a nightmare...

The author wastes little time on the introduction, but goes straight to the core and gore of it. This would make an awesome B-movie, with lots of screaming and blood-splattering and just a little humor to lighten the mood. A fast read which fits the pace of this highly entertaining story perfectly. Got to go now - see if those sea monkeys are still available somewhere...

Lessons from this book: it's all Wonder Woman's fault and 80s kids rock (I already knew that because I am an 80s kid but now we have proof) since they aren't such dependent whiny asses like the kids nowadays - 80s kids get shit done! WASABI!!!

Seriously, anyone who ever enjoyed any monster movie will love this novella about how an innocent little purchase with a comicbook coupon went completely wrong.

I loved the kids (they were full-on comicbook nerds and it was delightful; also, they didn't just take old people's money, they really wanted to earn it!); the town had the right kind of 80s feel to it; and the blood and gore was EXCELLENT! :D

The only thing I would have wished for was a sentence or two more as an ending (it was very abrupt and left me with some questions).
Nevertheless, I had enormous fun reading this and will definitely check out more stories by this author - monsters for the win!!!

Very good story.....Would recommend. Looking forward to reading more by this author.

Just Add Water by Hunter Shea
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

OMG this was some hellishly wicked fun horror, like straight out of 1980's B-Movies with kids as protagonists and creepy crawlies ALL OVER SUBURBIA eating EVERYONE.

I mean, seriously, back in the day, I'd have gone NUTS over this if I'd watched this movie. So much blood and guts and sly humor and light commentary, this is pretty much a CLASSIC that brings me back to the goriest of all the cheese of my youth.

Classic, I say. :)

It's short and sweet and I'd go total cult-classic all over this if it had been made into a flick. Seriously. :)

For all you people who wanted something kinda like Stranger Things only turned into a straight alligator in the sewer story that eats practically everyone, STOP LOOKING. It's here! Have fun! :) :)

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC!