I love monster stories. Cryptids. Kaiju. Legends. Any sort of monster and I'm gonna watch/read/listen to it! My podcast playlist is filled with bizarre tales, "true'' stories and all sorts of cryptoid goodness. Monster movies, books, comics, audio theater, podcasts....love it all! So when I came upon this series totally by accident, I had to read! I don't normally jump into a series at book 3, but -- Monsters! -- so I just jumped on the review copy I was offered and got to reading!

Laura Regan is the host of a film series on Cryptids. This time the subject of the show is the Ropen, a flying creature with bioluminescence from Papua, New Guinea. Laura and her film crew travel to Umboi Island in hopes of spotting one of the legendary creatures. In the midst of interviewing locals for stories about sightings and input from believers and skeptics, a dead body turns up in camp. Laura and her crew end up chasing a killer as well as looking for a mysterious flying creature.

I loved the blend of legend, action-adventure and mystery! The book wasn't too bogged down in Cryptid action -- no monster rampaging and tearing limbs off the film crew. This was a mix of humans doing bad things to each other and investigating a mysterious legend. The story is paced perfectly. I liked the characters and the setting. Very enjoyable read!

I'm definitely back-tracking and reading this series from the beginning. I wish there were audiobooks, but I do understand that they can be cost-prohibitive for authors. This is the first book by J.J. Dupuis that I have read. I've already added the rest of the Creature X series to my TBR, and can't wait to see what creature his characters investigate next!!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Dundurn Press. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

Umboi Island is the third book in the Creature X adventure/mystery series by J. J. Dupuis. Released 5th April 2022 by Dundurn, it's 280 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is a well written offbeat mystery about a group of ragtag journalists and scientists who are looking for proof (or disproof) of crypto-zoological creatures like bigfoot and giant eels and the phenomena surrounding them. They investigate local myths and culture and uncover long-buried dangerous secrets along the way. This time leader Laura is taking them on a hunt to Papua New Guinea.

The plotting is not at all straightforward. There are several intertwining subplots which meander along side paths adding background information and oral history of the "ropen" (a bioluminescent flying creature around whose presence the team's podcast episode centers). The characterisation is adept and well rendered and I found most of the main characters both distinct and believable. I struggled quite often trying to keep the secondary characters straight in my head and finally gave up, but they're mostly interchangeable.

The author successfully combines murder, cryptozoology, reality TV, and investigative journalism. The climax and denouement were fairly heavily telegraphed throughout the book, so for most readers it won't be a race to the finish to figure out whodunnit and why, but the writing is competent and I enjoyed the ride enough to seek out the other books. The author is adept at his craft. The language is as expected for an action/thriller type book (R-rated).

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

In this third book of the Creature X series, we find Laura Regan and her crew on Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea, there to film the next episode of their ongoing show, Creature X, where they go hunting for a particular crypticd. Laura’s and her friend Saad’s approach is scientific, basing their cryptid-hunting efforts on historical research, multiple possible eyewitness accounts, and behavioural analysis of similar sorts of existing animals.

Laura is also on the hunt for her missing father, who led her to this effort after he disappeared while conducting his own searches for years.

She and her team share a camp site on Umboi with some British research scientists, while there is another research station and a village a hike away.

The premise for the crew’s presence on the island is to locate an elusive pteranodon. To increase the interest in the show (when it eventually airs), Laura’s producer has invited a Creationist along, to provide contrary and spurious arguments to the actual scientists on the show: a slimeball move.

Well, things go wrong pretty fast, with a dead body in Laura’s tent. The man had, in the past, harassed Lindsay, a member of Laura’s crew. Soon after, everyone’s communication to the outside world is cut, and a gunman begins targeting them.

This was light and fun and the pacing was pretty good. The question of whether there were or were not any cryptids on the island is quickly lost in the panic of fired shots, more bodies, drugs, and deteriorating morale. Not that I imagined there are any pteranodons (or any other cryptids the crew mentions) on the planet, but I liked the idea for this book series of a crew travelling the world and using scientific methods to investigate possible creature sightings and legends.

Laura has a tendency to throw herself into dangerous situations a little too frequently, but, unlike some of the other characters in this book, she actually has some training, thanks to her elusive father. She’s interestingly conflicted, but I was curious about Saad, and how these two became friends. Laura does seem to take him a little for granted, and if there’s a book four, I’d be interested in him getting more respect from her and more to do. That said, I enjoyed this book enough to look for books one and two.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Dundurn Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I enjoyed the previous books in the Creature X series and was pleased that Laura Regan would be travelling outside of North America for the first time. She hosts a documentary TV film series that focuses on fabled cryptic creatures. Such mythic animals include Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Yeti). This time the show will focus on a legendary creature called the Ropen, a bioluminescent flying creature some suspect exists in New Guinea. It may be a pterosaur that survived the extinction of dinosaurs, or maybe an unknown species of a giant bat. It is said to give off a blue light when flying at night.

Laura is herself a skeptic. Her father was a believer and vanished while pursuing his obsession with cryptozoological research. I have been interested in reading about legendary creatures since childhood. I was never a believer but always hoped that one of the creatures would be proven to exist.

I was somewhat disappointed in the setting of Umboi Island. It was near a fishing village on a small island off the coast of Papua New Guinea. I hoped that her film crew would be venturing further inland in the country of New Guinea, into its much wilder interior. I once travelled deep into the mountains, swamps, and jungles of Indonesian New Guinea. This was with a small camping and trekking group led by an anthropologist. Conditions were very primitive, often without roads, and we slept in native huts or tents. Later, I travelled alone through Papua New Guinea. There was so much to engage Laura and her team in an exciting journey infused with atmospheric descriptions while searching for the fabled Ropen, interviewing people who claimed they saw it, and comparing descriptions.

Instead, we get a riotous tale that will appeal to lovers of adventure thrillers, with the creature all but forgotten. A British crew shares their campground with Laura's team and is conducting scientific research on actual insects, plants, and animals. One of Laura's crew has an unfortunate history with a professor from the other camp. He is found stabbed to death, and all their radio communications have been stolen, and they cannot call for help. From that point, we learn about 50 million dollars of smuggled cocaine, false identities and occupations, shooting crossfires, injuries, and more deaths. At one point, Laura's team observed a blue light in the sky, but too much frantic activity was happening to concentrate on a possible pterosaur sighting. Some short excerpts about the cryptic creatures are inserted within passages describing Laura and the team's dangers. These include interviews with people claiming to see a pterosaur, skeptical quotes, and statements from believers and debunkers. Many of these are on the internet.

I found Laura to behave rashly and impulsively. She took dangerous chances while leading friends and followers into life-threatening situations. She is intent on solving crimes and has almost turned into an invulnerable superwoman. Once the mystery of blue lights in the sky is solved, the solution for the crimes falls into place. They fail to explain how people have reported seeing these flickering lights in the sky for many years. The Creature X crew will return home with lots of stories for the TV documentary, but with only interviews with two scientists they previously lined up. I wish to thank NetGalley and Dundurn Press for this ARC in return for an honest review.

Umboi Island, is part of the Creature X series, which charts the adventures of a TV documentary crew who chase cryptids around the world. In this instalment it is the Ropen of New Guinea, a bioluminescent Pterosaur, which the crew is trying to capture on film, to either bring back evidence of it’s existence, or a more scientific explanation for the various sightings over time. However, not content with a cryptozoological mystery a member of a scientific research crew is found dead, and it is a member of the TV crew who looks to have the most motive to have done it.

Umboi Island while occasionally musing on the dichotomy between science and belief, is first and foremost a romp and an evolutionary step forward for the Boys Own Adventure genre. For people over a certain age, that genre will also produce a shudder of memories, steeped as it was in the most blatant jingoistic sexism and racism.

The author, JJ Dupuis, has obviously made an effort to retain the best of the Boys Own Adventure, mystery, action, adventure, pace, and slough of the worst, through a more diverse cast of characters, including those who are native to New Guinea, who have capabilities and skill far beyond anything that could have been dreamed up last century, or by our Victorian forebares.

This update, touches on several debates within publishing, which is notoriously risk averse, and has been struggling somewhat when it comes to debates about whom can write what. Some have agued that melanatedly challenged authors indeed have no right to write charctors of colour or tell their stories, while others take a more reasonable position that says of course we can, but it needs to be done with sensativity, knowledge and avoiding the pitfalls of steriotypes.

These discussions around the representation of race are important, and worth having even if they are not always comfortable for the milked skinned amoung us. However as much as the ancestory of the Creature X series raised some of these questions around race and representation, I doubt that the answers to the questions publishing, often a bastion of the establishment, rather than a scourge, will be soley found in the Creature X novels. Becuase Creature X, is not trying to contribute to sociatal debate, we are not going to find lofty speaches on the scourge of racisim, but rather charactors who are capapble, intelligent and talented no matter what their colour.

Creature X is ultimately trying to entertain, rather than change the world, and egoistic conceit to begin with, and sometimes, as long as it is done mindfully, and conciously of impact of steriotypes entertainment for it’s own sake is enough. And perhapse, while writing a hunt for a mythological creature, Dupuis has managed a few blows in getting rid of other dinosaurs altogether.

Laura, along with her Creature X team, was getting very pale so, this time, she takes them to a tropical setting. These cryptozoologists are searching for the Ropen, a pterosaur that could have survived millions of years hidden in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. As usual, they find something, just not what they were looking for. The cast of suspects/possible victims was distinctive enough to make me care about each character. I saw one of the twists coming, but not the rest, and the plot was very entertaining. It’s hard to believe that these creatures have a following of internet fanatics who think they may be real. I liked the ending too, which seems to set up the next volume. An entertaining read with very suspenseful parts.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Dundurn Press!

A warmer climate for the “Creature X Team” – Umboi Island lies isolate of the coast of Papua New Guinea. The team is searching for the Ropen, a pterosaur looking creature, and indigenous people claim it displays a bioluminescent glow. The glowing creature has been documented in several papers, books, … time for the team to catch it in action or not? And then a body turns up in the camp they share with a group of Brith scientist. Searching for a killer and Ropen at the same time, cut off from the rest of the world.
I really enjoy the Creature X series, every time I sit on the edge of my seat and turn pages quickly, don’t want to miss a thing, and at the same time I start looking into the creatures that they are searching for.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for an early read.

Laura is the host of Creature X, a cryptozoology show, despite being an avowed skeptic. In search of the Ropen, she and her team go to a remote island in Papua New Guinea, where they become entangled in a mystery when a dead man is found in one of their tents.


Though billed a mystery, this is more of a good old-fashioned action-adventure novel, complete with martial arts, gun fights, and a far-off setting. What sets this book above many other old-fashioned action-adventure novel is that the people behave like people. They feel fear and have compassion for others, and their bonds are born of more than adversity. I enjoyed the fast pace of the story, and while I was able to predict some twists (if more out of a gut feeling than on page evidence), others excitingly blindsided me. 

However, I did have some issues with this book. Many of the characters, though likable, felt a touch bland. This is not helped by the enormous cast, which gave few characters screen-time and made it difficult to connect with the side characters especially. For example, I thought the creationist scientist would have a much greater role than he did. However, he seems to have been included mostly as a nod to how young earth advocates are involved with the story of the Ropen. I also didn't love how the mystery unfolded, as Laura and the others didn't do much detecting, and the villain reveals themselves without much reason. I think this book would be better served were it not classed a mystery.

I would also be remiss if I didn't point out that part of what affected my enjoyment of the story was that this was the third book in the series, and I did not read the first two. I think I missed out on some key backstory for the characters, and also on getting to know some of the crew better. Accordingly, I have not let this affect my rating.

Overall, this was an enjoyable, fast-paced read, and I plan to check out the first two books.

Relatable characters with real passion for an under appreciated interest. The MC was touching, the research well done, lived it

While I always enjoy sci fy, this one didn’t particularly do it for me. There just wasn’t enough information/details regarding the cryptos. It was almost an afterthought.

Totally a mix of Jurassic park and a modern day sci fi novel. A group of scientists dropped on an island filming a reality show all looking for a new species. Then weird things start to happen. Definitely a page turner that had me guessing until the end. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is the latest on the The Creature X - a group television producers and hosts that search out cryptozoology (animals who have not been scientifically substantiated as existing) creatures for an epic tv show. In the latest addition they travel to Papua New Guinea to investigate sightings of a surviving pterosaur (flying dinosaur).

Laura Reagan is the host of Creature X and is battling her own personal demons. Whether she wants to admit it, she has followed in her father's footsteps career wise, and his disappearance still haunts her. Her and the team are hot of the heels of a creature when a murder occurs in their camp.

There was much more about the murder and the twist and turns between Laura and her crew than the creature they sought. I did enjoy it greatly and did not guess the end. I will go back to books 1 and 2 to learn more about Laura and am excited for the next in the series. If you like murder mysteries, dinosaurs, loch-ness or just people who believe it them, this is a story for you!
#DundurnPress #creaturex #UmboiIsland #netgalley

My thanks to Dundurn Press, J.J.Dupuis and Netgalley.
For something that's described as a creature feature, I was a bit surprised by how much I enjoyed this! This is most definitely not a creature feature! Sure, it's kind of a secondary thing. Mostly? Well, it's for damned sure a murder mystery. Also, "puff, puff!" A lot of stomping around on a mountain side. I'm just damn near exhausted! I actually liked this book! And, the best part? I thought I knew what was going on. Then I figured I was wrong. Then I second guessed myself! Argh! I do love stories that keep me in my toes!
This was the perfect page count for this tale!

Oh, lest I forget. I will admit that the fight scenes bored me to sleep. Literally! I'm kindle pages it equalled out to 9 pages. In print, it would be much less. Still, it's hand to hand combat. I was bored.
Teach a class. Get it out of your system! Most people read for fun, not for fight advice.
I'm 58 and have never been in a fight. I'm not about to start fighting niw.😕

This book belong to a series called #creaturex featuring a tough female protagonist Laura whom I fell in love instantly for her rugged instinct and no-nonsense attitude! She runs a documentary show in which her team of brilliant scientists explore and discover monstrous creatures across the world that are still unknown to the general public.

This time, Laura had chosen the #umboiisland in Papua New Guinea where she intends to find a glimpse of the rumoured living Pterosaur, a dinosaur species and so the team arrives at the marsh Island ready to find something interesting. Only met by their UK colleagues, some of whom are quite friendly, and some aren't. Very soon, tensions arise and then Laura's mission of finding an endangered species soon becomes a remote locked room mystery with no connection with the outside world, a dead body and a murderer on loose. Time is running, and Laura will do anything to keep her people safe!

Woah, what a ride!! Full of action and adventure, I absolutely loved every minute of it.

I found this book written in a style of someone who normally writes academic papers. There are blocks of information that are not cohesively sown into the storytelling.

I did not like the first person perspective. I found myself forgetting who “I” was supposed to be and what role that character has. I did not read previous Creature X books, so perhaps this is not a good book to start with.

I was hoping for more of a ‘Jurassic Park’ vibe, but the Pterosaurs were overshadowed by Macaque monkeys and drug runners.

JJ. Dupuis creates great tension and uncertainty throughout the novel. Although the reality-tv aspect wasn't really my cup of tea the fast-paced plot and the grisly discoveries quickly had me submerged in the story.
If you want something fresh, fast-moving and on the more unsettling side, I would highly recommend this one!

This was described to me as a cozy mystery and I'm so torn about that. On one hand, this was a fast read (perfect for Thanksgiving travels!) and had characters well rounded enough without needing to give pages upon pages of back story, Umboi Island definitely has some grisly moments you wouldn't expect in a cozy mystery.

I definitely found enjoyment in losing myself in this world and foresee myself picking up other titles in the series, but I won't be running to the bookstore the next time a new one comes out.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. Though these book tend to seem to long for me I really enjoyed this one.

Could the mountainous and tropical rainforest of Papua New Guinea be home to modern pterosaurs? That's the question Laura Reagan and the Creature X team hope to answer in the latest cryptozoological adventure by J.J. Dupuis. I had never heard of the "Ropen" before this novel but quickly discovered there is no shortage of available information about this creature. Dupuis clearly did his research before he sat down and conceived this terrific thriller. If any place on earth could hide a mystery creature, it's Papua New Guinea. Dupuis also embraces the action hero side of Reagan in this book. For, unknown to the Creature X team, Umboi Island is the home to more secrets than just a possible prehistoric pterosaur. You'll be happy to know that, like the previous entries in the series, this is a proverbial page-turner. Entertaining. Exciting. It's a whole lot of fun. I'm already looking forward to the next Creature X story! Thank you to Dundurn Press and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy! #CreatureX #NetGalley

Laura Reagan and her Creature X team have come to remote Umboi Island near New Guinea to film new episodes of their reality TV show. The cryptozoological program features expeditions to areas where fabled, mythological animals are rumored to exist. Umboi Island is the reputed home of the pterosaur, a bioluminescent flying dinosaur.

However, the monsters they find are very real. Soon after linking with a British exploratory expedition, a man is found dead in Laura’s tent, stabbed with her knife. What follows are two unrelated searches: One for an eons old dinosaur that may not exist and the other for a modern day killer who definitely does.

The Creature X series, by Canadian author J.J. Dupuis, just gets better. Murder mysteries set in the world of pseudoscience are definitely unique and Umboi Island is a perfect location. The island is real, sightings of pterosaurs there have happened and the writings quoted by Dupuis were published. So the next logical step would be to film a reality show there, right? Umboi Island is well researched and well written. I can’t wait to see where Laura goes next! 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dunedin Press and J.J. Dupuis for this ARC.