I really liked this novella very much. Great characters, superb scary plot and a realistic ending. Highly recommended.

One Size Eats All #3
WHAT HAS LONG PINK FINGERS AND SMELLS LIKE ROTTING FLESH?
It is a slime-covered fungus known for its pinkish red tentacles and pungent odor. It is indigenous to Australia but has spread to North America. Its Latin name is Clathrus Archeri, also known as Octopus Stinkhorn. Most people call it The Devil’s Fingers . . .

I DON’T KNOW BUT IT’S GROWING ON YOUR NECK.
Deep in the woods of Washington, botanist Autumn Winters stumbles onto a field of the luridly colored fungi. Two of her fellow campers make the mistake of touching it. Now it’s growing on them. Fleshy gelatinous pods. Sprouting from their skin. Feeding on their blood . . .

AND IT’S STILL GROWING.
Autumn watches in horror as her friends are transformed into monstrosities—grotesque, human-fungal hybrids as contagious and deadly as any virus. Autumn knows she must destroy these mutations before they return to civilization. But if there’s one thing that spreads faster than fear,
it’s The Devil’s Fingers . . .


My thoughts
rating: 4
would i read any more by this author: yes
Hunter Shea is a go to author of mine ,even if his a hit or miss for me, and I can't believe that it took me this long to read this , because after reading this I'm not going outside at all. There's no way that I want a fungus to take over my body. And not just any fungus but a fungus that could kill you, and has no problem in do so, just like the first 2 books in this series , there is a touch of what you would see in the old black and white movies which I love to watch , in fact I would say that this would have been a good one to watch if it was a movie from the 50s or 60s ,because they knew how to make movies back then, I'm not sure if they could do it today or not with out missing the up the story. With that said I want to say thanks to Netgalley for letting me read and review it exchange for my honest opinion.

The minute I read the summary for <a href="https://amzn.to/2CbZ3h4"><em>The Devil’s Fingers</em></a> I was intrigued. Having read it, I can honestly say it didn’t fail to deliver. The book starts off like an epic horror movie form the 80’s. A group of friends are out in the woods on a camping trip, to spread the ashes of their friend’s deceased father in his favorite place, a lake where he loved to fish at dawn.

While making the hike to their campsite, they encounter an unusual field of fungus. The botanist in the group, Autumn, tells the others how unusual it is to see the plant in their location and never in this large of a number.
Autumn takes a sample and recording to bring back to her teacher. Did I mention her parents also happen to be scientists, one even works with infectious diseases? In horror movie speak, that means she’ll either die first or be the lone survivor I won’t tell you which happens by the way. For that knowledge, you’ll have to read this gem yourself. Shea does an incredible job of giving you all the information you’ll need later, dropping clues, distracting you, and then delivering the blow.

The group of friends is tight, and there to support their friend, Seth emotionally, so you’ve already got the warm and fuzzies. Add in two devoted couples, childhood friends, and the loveable conspiracy theorists, and you’ve got a wide range of emotions, point of views, and skills to play off.

I don’t want to give away a moment of this book, so I’ll speak in broad terms. This was a fast-paced, creeptastic, horror story with heart, a big nod to science, and plenty of adventure.

The third installment in the 'One Size Eats All' series is about a very deadly type of fungus called 'The Devil's Fingers'. The nasty thing about it is that it's airborne, meaning you can't escape or fight it the way you might a walking creature. This horror specimen really gave me the creeps, however the characters did not, and while I did enjoy the story, it was not as entertaining as the previously featured Iguanas or the rats (my personal favorite). Maybe that was due to the slightly serious undertone referring to some chemical pollution that may have caused the fungus to mutate. But mostly I did not care for the characters, who felt like a list of stereotypical dummies but not much like real people. On the upside, I wasn't too sorry for them to fall prey to the Devil's Fingers. And I really loved the mean ending. Still good, just not quite as good as the others.

<b>3.5 stars for gory B-movie fun.</b>

<i>A group of friends find themselves at the mercy of a fungus that’s grown out of control and developed a taste for blood…</i>

The Devil's Fingers is a fun and fast-paced read with characters who are decently well-established for their short page time, and don't make decisions that have you wanting to reach through the print and slap them silly. Plus our pint-sized protagonist Autumn Winters (who names their child that?!) is really likable. The story moves along at a rollicking place with plenty of gore that, while not too extreme, is still fairly gross. If, like me, your idea of a relaxing evening in is watching or reading about a group of teens dying gruesome deaths out in the woods, then this will be right up your alley!

Recommended for fans B-movie creature features.

Quite simply a horrifying romp through a mycological minefield. Tragic, suspenseful and gory. A great shorter read for the horror fan. Easily imaginable as a movie.

What started out as a sentimental journey deep in the Washington forest to spread the ashes of his recently deceased father, Seth and his friends run across something funky growing in the woods.

“Whatisitwhatisitwhatisit?”

A messed up nasty fungus known as Clathrus Archeri.

Also known as Octopus Stinkhorn.

Or you can just call it The Devil’s Fingers.

That seems most appropriate.

Let the games begin.

Hunter Shea has really been kicking ass lately. The dude is good. Really good. You can see the progression in his work and he just keeps getting better and better. Smooth storylines, fleshed out characters, realistic dialogue and some truly excellent and super nasty “monsters”. He went from a good “b” movie creature feature author to a “must read” author in a very short period of time. (And that’s not to say his creature features aren’t good, because they are and fun as well.)

Come to think of it, this is basically a creature feature. Well, you know what I’m saying.

“He screamed until something fractured in his brain.
And then he screamed some more.”

So "The Devil's Fingers" start out with a group of hormone filled college graduates camping so that Seth can say goodbye to his father and spread his ashes in his favorite fishing lake. While on the journey, they stumble across a rare fungus and luckily, their friend Autumn, just happens to be a botanist. After a night of drinking, one of the lovely couples treks off into the dark to find some privacy. Unfortunately, the stumble into a whole field of Devil's Fingers. The next morning, nothing will ever be the same.

Of all three books in this novella series, I liked "The Devil's Fingers" the least. I had very little tolerance for the gang and found myself cheering on their deaths. And this is a Shea book so you know there will be deaths. I will admit though that the book is high on what I like to call "the ewww factor" which you could probably guess from the cover. I also think this installment was a tad slow to start but once the action picked up, it was a pretty quick read.

There's not much else to add since it is a shorter read. If you like Shea's novels, then you kind of know what to expect and this one won't necessarily disappoint. I think it will be hit or miss for some fans but I still love Shea's works and am eagerly anticipating what he has planned for 2019!

Huge fan of Hunter Shea but even your favorites can put out one your not a fan of and that's okay, but I was really hoping this one was going to be cool.

It's a novella about a group of campers who were out in the woods to help one of the guys spread his father's ashes around his favorite fishing spot. While they are out hiking they come across a weird strand of a fungus called The Devil's Fingers because when the pod bust out comes these gross tentacle things.

Later on one of the couples decide to take their sleeping bag and go off into the woods for a quiet spot for sex and get more than they bargained for when the next day they wonder back into the camp with these nasty pod things hanging all over them.

One of the campers Autumn is a botanist and she only knows a little about the fungus but she knows it's not suppose to attach itself to humans. She is torn between trying to get help and making sure her friends don't contaminate anyone else. 

I think mostly my problem with this one is that it was just kind of boring. I think I like it when he has romp and stomps like Jurassic Florida and even Rattus New Yorkus with the hyped up nasty rats. This is the third in the series and it just didn't live up to the other two. I was curious to see how it ended but at the same time not really caring. 

I also thought the ending was to quick and convenient and I can't say anything about that or I would spoil. 

I might round it up to a 3 on Goodreads but on here it gets a 2.5 on my blog. Kind of bummed but that won't stop me from checking out what Shea has out next!

Terrific throwback to old school horror!


This was a wonderful modern version of the 1980's B- rated horror flicks. Only, this was A- rated great and horrific fun. Hunter Shea really knows how to grab your full attention from the first page and take you on a relentless roller coaster ride that won't let you get off.
That is a terrific and exhilarating ride for avid horror readers and an
excruciating ride for those who do not have a strong stomach or do not enjoy strong horror. I may overuse the word horror but for me that term ideally describes the connotation of the story.

The storyline revolves around several young peop!e who are going on a camping trip to spread the ashes of one of the guys father who had recently passed and they are going to a favorite spot for fishing, swimming and camping for a few fun filled days.
The group first comes across a nauseating, overpowering stench that they can't identify and then they come upon what appears to be hundreds of small decaying octopi but they know that cannot be right and are very confused. Lo and behold, they have just encountered a rare species of fungus known as "Devil's Fingers". I will not say
anymore so the readers can experience the fun and terror of the unknown for themselves.

I wholeheartedly enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it to all horror lovers and have given a rating of 5 fingered 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
stars!!

I want to thank the author, publisher and netgally for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion!

One thing I can say about The Devil's Fingers by Hunter Shea, is that it made me more physically uncomfortable than anything else I've ever read.

We follow a group who've come together to support their friend while he spreads the ashes of his father in one of their favorite places to fish, camp, hike etc. They come across a plant which typically is nothing out of the ordinary, but these were seemingly everywhere, and quite larger than normal.

I refuse to go into detail, because I can already feel my skin begin to itch as I remember all the gruesome details, just think of The Ruins.. but amp up the grotesque factor by, like, a million.

I really enjoyed this one despite how every time I read, I needed to bathe right after. I think Hunter is an amazing storyteller, and there weren't many things about this one that I disliked. I didn't care for the use of first and last names used in the beginning. It's such a minor thing, but it just felt a bit juvenile to me if that makes any sense. There was also an incredibly overly detailed and unnecessary sex scene.. which, again, not really that big a deal in the grand scheme of things.

Overall I'd definitely recommend this book to lovers of horror. If you can make it through without itching or wanting to vomit, all the more power to you.

The Devil's Fingers by Hunter Shea is next in the One Size Eats All series. Autumn Winters and her friends have gone on a camping outing in a parkland forest near Merritt Lake. Out hiking, they stumble into a meadow of weird looking plants with grotesque tentacles. When disturbed by Autumn, a budding botanist, the freaky fungi release a horrid stench akin to an abattoir. The reeking odor is enough to cause the campers to pass out. Autumn identifies the shroom colony as Clathrus acheri, also known as octopus stinkhorn and devil's fingers. Though the invasive fungi look like something alien, Autumn says they are harmless to humans. If only that were so…

Carrie and Dan are the first to succumb, becoming hosts to devil's finger eggs. Efforts to escape the forest and get help fail, and one by one the group falls prey to the relentless mushroom invasion. Their private horror intensifies when a Scout group wanders into their camp, all of whom are infected. Autumn and Brandon, the two still most cogent of events, realise that the group cannot continue to the trailhead, or they risked spreading the contagion. And yet, despite their best efforts, the determined fungus may have found an escape after all.

This OSEA book is probably my most favourite so far. I absolutely devoured it. I find mushrooms and their roles in the ecosystem fascinating. That some species can infect living beings and zombify them equally intrigues and horrified me. None currently affect humans, but it is a perfectly plausible concept. I was unfamiliar with these types of mushrooms, and so of course I had the look them up. Dude, wtf? Just wtf? I'd probably pee my pants if I came across a whole field of these buggers without any idea what they were.

Devil’s Fingers felt like an episode of The X-Files. It's not as if special shrooms are a something new to the FBI partners, though more of it reminded me of the ‘Darkness Falls’ episode with the carnivorous bioluminescent mites. Using mushrooms made things twice as creepy. Animals, even lizards and snakes, can exhibit some intelligence and awareness, can react in a familiarisation to contact with humans. They might not care about the humans, and only see us as food, but they do see us. Plants, mushrooms, virii- all these things have such vastly different perceptions than we do. Rather than being live prey, we are just part of the ecosystem, and just tools of convenience to them.

Autumn ends up having make some pretty harsh choices once most of the group became infected. She was the first to realise the need for quarantine and argued hard for it. As things grow worse, she's the one who has to enforce it. I'd like to think in similar survivor situation, I could make the best choices, the logic over the emotion, to protect the greater number of people. Like that Star Trek saying…

The ending did feel a bit abrupt to me, but ended in perfect horror fashion. That also reminded me of several X-File endings, where you know the horror is still out there, waiting patiently. Not to mention the potential government or agency conspiracy with chemtrails. The thought that this was a sanctioned biological experiment is truly terrifying. The final twist, the dubious immunity, was great! Loki-level irony.

***Many thanks to the Netgalley and Kensington Publishing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Reviewed for Silver Dagger Tours.

THE DEVIL'S FINGERS is the third installment in the One Size Eats All series. Just like the previous two books, THE DEVIL'S FINGERS is first-rate fun. Hunter Shea writes like a man running against time. At this pace, he could easily write over one hundred books–all with top-notch-quality. Shea brings the nostalgia and the coolest creatures imaginable. His stories are fast-paced. Shea's books never bog down with characterization and backstory.

Botanist Autumn Winters and her cohorts stumbled upon a field of Octopus Stinkhorn (Clathrus Archeri) also known as Devil's Fingers deep in the woods of Washington. Two of Autumn's companions made the grave mistake of touching the Devil's Fingers. Fleshly gelatinous pods start growing on their skin. They feed off of their blood. Autumn watched as her friends turned into human-fungal hybrid monstrosities. As the story progresses, more is revealed. Confusion and chaos reign supreme.

THE DEVIL'S FINGERS is paranoia-fueled rampage with tentacles galore. What's not to like? I mean, there are scenes in this book I can't unsee. I was thoroughly grossed out, yet I couldn't stop reading. I checked my own skin from time to time. You know, just to make sure I didn't have any pods growing on me.

The characters really grew on me... like fleshly gelatinous pods. I was cheering them on as they figured out what was happening. The characters were fully fleshed out. Hunter Shea had me guessing the whole time. I didn't know which character would be next. I didn't know what was going to happen next. The ending is heavy AF. My mind went ninety to nothing, trying to calculate the bigger picture Shea painted so vividly. It's bleak AF.

I've been telling people about Hunter Shea for a couple years now. If you haven't read him, then what are you waiting for? His stories are fun and they span the horror genre. He has written something for everyone. If you like tentacles as much as me, then you are going to love this book.

Strongly Recommend!

Another crazy thrill ride from Hunter Shea. This novella describes in great, gory, gooey detail what befalls a group of campers who encounter a deadly, tentacled fungus that doesn't plan on letting any of them leave alive.
You get what you always get with Shea: a crazy rollercoaster ride of gore and craziness with no claim to being "literature" or having complex characters. He just throws you into whatever crazy scenario he's concocted for you and you'd just better hold on for the ride.
The ending felt a little sudden and unsatisfactory, but at its short length, i didn't regret the time I spent with this book. Also, I highly recommend checking out a video on YouTube of this fungus from the book (yes, it's a real thing!) and how it "blossoms". It will really help you visualize the horrors of the tale. And possibly give you nightmares.

"It started with a small pop. Nothing more earth-shattering than the sound of one corner of a sheet of Bubble Wrap pressed between two fingers."

A group of friends go hiking in the woods for some bonding time and to spread the ashes of the one's father. Veering off the trail, the group finds a field of weird white pods, identified by the future botanist of the group as Calthrus archeri, or Devil's Fingers. When they are mature, they emit the lovely odor of rotting meat. The group sets up camp near the lake so the ashes could be spread at sunrise. Then they go to bed. With the disgusting fungus nearby. And of course, as we are shown in countless slasher films, the couple that goes off to enjoy some carnal pleasures end up in an extremely compromising position. And things just keep getting worse. And more gross.

So, our problems are as follows: #1: going into the woods; #2, veering off trail; #3, camping. And if all that weren't bad enough, there is a vile plant that looks like live calamari tentacles (another name for it is octopus stinkhorn), breeding all over the forest and giving off a smell noxious enough to knock you off. Why in the hell didn't these people run?!

This is the third installment in the One Size Eats All series, and just as much fun as the others. As usual, Hunter Shea entertains and delights with this one. And gross us out. BIG TIME. And the worst part? Devil's Fingers are real. Brrrrr.

Hunter Shea’s Devil’s Fingers is just non-stop fun. It’s got all of the basic elements of a great campy horror movie—blood, guts, insane plants, tentacles, egg sacs. Really, what more could you possibly ask for. Two thumbs up!

I received this book free from Netgalley and Kensington Books/Lyrical Underground. My review is my own.

The Devil's Fingers
by Hunter Shea
This is a book I requested from NetGalley and the review is voluntary. It is a good old fashioned creepy horror story about kids in the wrong place at the wrong time. Plenty of grusome, suspense, and weird to be interesting and fun in a sick way! It's a short read but gets all the horror in! Would make a perfect b rated horror movie!

I love Hunter Shea, and I think his books are generally great horror and a lot of fun. However, I have mixed opinions about this story. I am an environmental science major and I enjoyed the use of Devils Fingers as the source of the horror in this story. This had similar vibes to Scott Smith’s The Ruins which if I had to pick between the 2 I prefer this story, but overall I was not exactly into this story. I liked the characters okay enough but never found my self really sad for any of them, and then the ending I did not like at all, I was staring at the book saying “what, that’s it, what happened??” All in all I would give it a chance if you are a horror fan and I will still continue to read Hunter Shea!

Shea captures all the fun of a late night creature feature with this short novel about a group of young people who become exposed to a killer fungus.
A sharp and energetic read with shades of Shaun Hutson's Slugs and Scott Smith's The Ruins, it's a story tailor made for thrills and entertainment.
Shea doesn't really spend a lot of time on character development - they are basically fodder for the carnage - but packs in enough icky scares to leave you happy enough to just run with the mounting body count.
If it were a film, this would be one of those fun, B movies that go great with friends and beers. As a book, it's still a lot of fun.

This was another creepy creature feature from Hunter Shea, this time in the form of a parasitic fungus that attaches itself (quite literally) to some friends that are camping in the woods of Washington. What was meant to be a scattering of ashes turns into a horrific discovery of a foul smelling growth that begins to infect the group. This was a quick read and a gross out good time.