The Shadowkiller

People are disappearing in Snohomish County, Washington, and the police believe a serial killer is at work, although no bodies have been found. But there's no mystery here. The listener knows from the outset: "Bigfoot is angry." Bigfoot is also psychic. And bloodthirsty. William Dufris pulls out the stops, investing all the energy and enthusiasm needed for a rousing ghost story. But he gets little help from author Hansen. Banal writing; implausible, predictable plotting; and stereotypical characters, with plenty of arm-ripping and brain-splattering, offer little more than gristle and gore, and what should be scary is just silly. However, thanks to Dufris's inspired delivery, even the most clichéd situations in this bizarre tale offer some fun. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

October 16, 2006
Hansen (Confessions of an Enron Executive
with Lynn Brewer) makes his fiction debut with a predictable thriller about the legendary North American ape-man Bigfoot. After a fire set by humans claims the lives of a male Bigfoot's family, the creature goes on a rampage of revenge, killing and devouring countless victims in the Pacific Northwest. The authorities first get a sense that something unusual is transpiring when several people disappear, and large, mysterious tracks are found in the vicinity. Three men with different agendas track the beast: Ty Greenwood, a former software mogul shunned after he earlier reported sighting a Bigfoot; Chief Ben Eagleclaw, a Native American actor with a spiritual connection to the creature; and sheriff's detective Mac Schneider, who first finds concrete physical traces of the rampaging animal. Light on science and full of gruesome violence, this isn't in the same league as Jurassic Park
, Jaws
or Philip Kerr's Esau
, an intelligent speculation concerning Bigfoot's Asian cousin, the Abominable Snowman.