Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Blog Tour: Dinosaur Lake By Kathryn Meyer Griffith (Review + Giveaway)




I would like to welcome Kathryn Meyer Griffith to The Avid Reader today. Thanks for stopping by Kathryn. Please be sure and check out Kathryn's novel Dinosaur Lake. Check out my review and an excerpt of Dinosaur Lake. Don't forget to enter the giveaway for 7 Ebooks copies of Dinosaur Lake by Kathryn Meyer Griffith. The giveaway ends on Feb. 4th.




Dinosaur Lake banner






Dinosaur Lake cover

Title: Dinosaur Lake

Author: Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Publisher: Amazon Kindle Direct

Genre: SF/Horror,

Format: Ebook

Pages: 317







PURCHASE

Dinosaur Lake




Amazon







BOOK DESCRIPTION

Dinosaur Lake




An ancient predator has been reborn in the caves beneath Crater Lake…and it's hungry.

Ex-cop Henry Shore has been Chief Park Ranger at Crater Lake National Park for eight years and he likes his park and his life the way it's been. Safe. Tranquil. Predictable. But he's about to be tested in so many ways. First the earthquakes begin…people begin to go missing…then there's some mysterious water creature that's taken up residence in the caves below Crater Lake and it's not only growing in size, it's aggressive and cunning…and very hungry.

And it's decided it likes human beings. To eat.

And it can come up onto land.

So Henry, with the help of his wife, Ann; a young paleontologist named Justin; and a band of brave men must not only protect his park and his people from the monster but somehow find where it lives and destroy it…before it can kill again.








EXCERPT

Dinosaur Lake




Out of nowhere, the red-haired woman blurted out, "Have you ever seen the creature in the lake, Ranger Shore?" She was snacking on a big bag of M&M's and between her words she crunched on the candies.

"What creature?" Henry was smiling.

"Oh, the serpent creature...the one that lives in the lake? My friend, Martha, was here last summer and she told me she saw this...thing...swimming in the lake one night. Looked sort of like a huge snake, only with a shorter neck and a fatter body. She swore it was greenish in color, and scaly. A water serpent. Just like that thing in Loch Ness, only smaller. Loch Ness, in Scotland, you know?"

Henry could only nod. He couldn't believe the woman was going on and on about a lake monster. There were no such things. Into his mind stomped the image of Godzilla climbing out of Crater Lake, spiked tail swinging and beady marble eyes scowling as it frantically waved around its tiny, clawed front arms. Henry had to stop himself from laughing.

"My friend said the creature nearly scared her to death. She'd gotten separated from the rest of her tour group exploring Wizard Island, and saw the thing in the water off shore. It circled three times glaring at her. She was terrified it was going to come up on land after her. She wasn't the only one who saw it, either. Herman, her boyfriend, saw it, too."

"Did she get a photograph of it?"

"Well, no. She was so scared she forgot all about her camera, and by the time she remembered the creature was long gone. She said it was really fast." All eyes were on Henry. He didn't know what to say. Was the woman a crack-pot, or what? She seemed normal enough, no drooling or twitches, but one could never tell.

He sighed, trying not to appear rude. "Ma'am, as far as I know there is no serpent, no huge creature of any variety in Crater Lake. And believe me, if there was one, I'd be the first to know it," he insisted, with a casual shrug. "One of my rangers would have seen and reported it long before this. They patrol the lake every day."

The woman grunted in a dismissive way, didn't say anything else, but her eyes kept squinting out at the water from under her raised palm. The sun was beginning to set in all its splendor. The whole park was bathed in a mist of golden pinks and yellows. Clouds raced across the sky like candy-colored wisps of cotton.

What bizarre things people can come up with, Henry thought.





MY REVIEW

Dinosaur Lake




 

The following review is my opinion and not a paid review. I was given a free copy of the book from the author for my honest opinion.

Henry Shore loves his job as Chief Park Ranger of Crater Lake but as with any job there is always things you find about it that you don't like. The one thing that Henry has found that he doesn't like about being the Chief is having to sit in doors behind a desk doing paper work. So every chance he gets he will take a group of tourist out on tours of the park himself so that he can be outdoors. He loves the peace, the quiet, the beauty of the forest and all the animals that run wild and live in the park.

On one of the days that he takes a group of tourist out on a tour of the park there is an earthquake that uncovers dinosaur fossil. The lake is sitting on top of a volcano and lakes of lava running under the park. They are susceptible to having a big earthquake any day. Small earthquakes are popping up getting ready for the big one. The earthquake that uncovered the dinosaur fossil has uncovered more than Henry or any of his rangers or the tourist know. They are in for one great big surprise when they see what has been let loose from the bowels of the earth. What the earth has spit out will have them all running for their lives. Some will run fast enough and far enough to stay alive but some will not. Will Henry save himself, his family and friends? Will they all get out alive or will they be eaten by the "monster" that has come out of the lake?

Dinosaur Lake will make you think of Jurassic Park while reading it. Have you saw Jurassic Park or read the book? If you saw it and you also liked it then you will love Dinosaur Lake. I know I did. I didn't want it to end. I hope that Henry and his family are always safe but I do hope that there will be another book after this one. It took me awhile to read Dinosaur Lake but it had nothing whatsoever to do with the story or the writing itself. Once I found the time to where I could sit down and read it the story flew by way too fast. I felt like I was right in the middle of the story myself running away from the "monster" right along beside Henry and all the other characters too. I could almost feel what they were feeling like their fear and I also wanted to help them get away. As I was reading it I found myself actually getting closer and closer to my computer screen like I was trying to reach in to get the "monsters" attention so they could get away.







    About the Author



Dinosaur Lake Author  

Since childhood I've always been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. I began writing novels at 21, over forty years ago now, and have had sixteen (nine romantic horror, two romantic SF horror, one romantic suspense, one romantic time travel and two murder mysteries) previous novels and eight short stories published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books and Eternal Press.

 

I've been married to Russell for thirty-four years; have a son, James, and two grandchildren, Joshua and Caitlyn, and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois called Columbia, which is right across the JB Bridge from St. Louis, Mo. We have three quirky cats, ghost cat Sasha, live cats Cleo and Sasha (Too), and the five of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I've been an artist, and a folk singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I'll probably write stories until the day I die…or until my memory goes.

 

All Kathryn Meyer Griffith's Books available at Amazon.com here.







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    GIVEAWAY



The giveaway is tour-wide for 7 Ebooks copies of Dinosaur Lake by Kathryn Meyer Griffith and ends on Feb. 4th.




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TOUR SCHEDULE LINK



This tour was put together by FMB Author Promotions

1 comments:

Kimberly @ Turning the Pages said...

Great review Nancy! I've had this one on my tbr list for months. I'm glad it was a good read :)