Book Review: Fury of the Orcas by Hunter Shea

They call them the wolves of the sea.

From marine parks to the deepest oceans, the world’s killer whale population has turned against man and beast alike. Orca show trainers are ripped to pieces before stunned audiences. Ships are capsized. Oil rigs are bashed without mercy. What has driven the apex predators stark raving mad?

Chet Clarke has dedicated his life to preserving the health and dignity of orcas in captivity. Along with orca trainer Rosario Benitez, he embarks on a whirlwind journey across the globe to witness unconscionable carnage and uncover the mystery for the sudden outbreak of mania. Is this the start of a catastrophic pandemic? Or do the clues lead to an enigmatic experiment in the wilds of Alaska and shadow operations in a Russian ghost town? Time is running out faster than the lives of those in the path of the orcas.

My Review:
Chet and Rosario work at a park with performing captive Orcas and witness one of them killing itself and almost causing the death of a child and themselves. They visit a marine park in Barcelona where a calf is due to be born but the Orcas suddenly turn on and start killing their trainers. With no answers from an autopsy and more incidents breaking out at other parks, they are alerted to a mass attack on an oil rig and go to help but the scared men want to kill the Orcas before the rig is destroyed which Chet and Rosario want no part of. Can they find a reason for the Orca attacks before they all need to be destroyed?

I was told by a couple of fellow Hunter Shea fans that this book took a different path from the other books and that was certainly true. This is not the traditional creature feature that I usually read by the author nor was it one of my favourites, I have to admit. Thanks to good detailed reviews by my book friends, I did go into it knowing that I might not like it as much as the others and I'm grateful for that, as it turns out to be exactly what happened. 

Firstly I didn't like the main characters. Chet is constantly thinking about his relationship with Rosario even at the height of the crisis instead of dealing with what they were facing. He is constantly thinking about sex with her or actually having sex with her, which did nothing for his character development or did anything to actually move the plot on. His obsession with her came before thinking about a plan to find out what is going on with the Orcas. Do we really need his every sexual thought in there? Then there is the fact that every woman described in the book is done so using her sexual attractiveness ie Rosario, the weather girl on TV and the woman doing the autopsy. I found that annoying and hope it isn't going to be a feature in later books.

I despised Rosario, to be honest. I get that she is an environmentalist and doesn't want to see animals getting hurt-most of us don't want to see that, but her whiny attitude and lack of common sense drove me mad. Rosario honey, you are on an oil rig under attack from thousand of Orcas trying to smash the rig to pieces so that you'll all end up in the sea as dinner. And you are trying to stop the men of the rig saving all of you by shooting the attackers? Yes I get you love the poor animals and don't want them shotbut they are trying to kill you all and saying please stop and go away isn't going to cut the mustard!!!

The characters I found interesting were the sidekicks especially Ivan and Raquel. I did enjoy her attempting to run down the journalists who were in their own feeding frenzy, enjoying the misery of other people after deaths at the park, and showing no concern for the victims and co-workers who witnessed the bloody events. I also liked Jamel, who is frustrated that Chet won't listen to him when he tells them why the Orcas are attacking, with Chet dismissing him as a crackpot. I liked that plot thread and would have preferred to see more of that and less of the relationship angst. 

On the plus side it was great to see a bit more of the dreaded fish from They Rise, so I think you should read that one before this so you can get the background to what they are. I did enjoy that and the end of the book where they team up to finally stop the attacks. However I didn't greatly enjoy the scenes where the Orcas were killing themselves as it was pretty unpleasant to read about.

Overall I am a bit disappointed by this book when it is compared to the other books by the author, probably my least favourite so far. It's not one that I could go back to and read again but it was a decent enough story to read.

Read June 2018.
2.5 stars.