Cold Cuts by Robert Payne Cabeen – A Book Review

Blurb:

Two environmental scientists, one who takes his work and himself seriously, the other a pop culture geek with a junk food habit, struggle for survival when Québécois paramilitary fanatics demolish their remote science station in the frozen wasteland at the bottom of the world. Drs. Pratt and Eaton uncover The Order of the Red Wolf’s Cold War Era nuclear reactor, but not before it has irradiated the Antarctic fauna and created hordes of ravenous mutations.

Can the oddball duo survive monstrosities that roam the ruins of their devastated science station?

Will they be able to overcome their own desperate appetites– born of madness and starvation?

One thing is certain. They will learn the meaning of terror when the cold cuts deep.

 

Author: Robert Payne Cabeen

Publisher: Omnium Gatherum

Release Date: 26/08/2017

Pages: 281

Genre: Science Fiction

My Chosen Format: Kindle

My Rating of Cold Cuts: 4 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon UK, Amazon US

 

Review:

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Cold Cuts literally had me hooked to the extent that I blasted through the first half in one sitting. It was gripping and had that whole serious survival/horror in Antarctica vibe going on.

Quite simply put, the first fifty percent was flawless. Then it got silly (in all fairness, the author quite clearly was going for silly). Things started happening that were beyond the realms of physical possibility. Antagonists were more like pantomime villains (which seems to be the intent) and it had the worst, most painfully descriptive sex scene I have ever read.

But that wasn’t the last fifty percent. It would have been all too easy to slap a low score on because the first half had promised gold and delivered fools’ gold. The last half was twenty-five percent serious and gripping like the first half of the book and twenty-five percent ‘so ridiculous I found it impossible to believe’.

But, all that being said, it is probably the most fun read I have come across this year. It had the potential to be one of the best, but being the most fun is a damn fine prize.

The whole concept of being stranded in a barren place such as Antartctica, will always hook my interest. I’m just glad that, for the most part, Cold Cuts managed to keep my interest. After all, mutated Antarctic animals is always going to be interesting!

I know my negatives sound pretty heavy, but the positives are well worth picking it up for. I’d certainly read more by the author if he promised never to try and write a sex scene again.