SHADOWS IN THE MIST

When I was a kid, one of my favorite comic book series was "The War That Time Forgot" which ran in the pages of DC Comics' STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES. The premise was pure genius: G.I.'s vs. dinosaurs on a lost island in the Pacific during WWII. That's all you need to know. It's so gloriously insane, so pure in its essential this-is-so-coolness, that I couldn't help but be drawn to it and totally captivated by the stories I read. And to make it even better, I had boxes full of plastic dinosaurs and "army men" that I could use to recreate the adventures in the comics or make up brand new ones on my own. Total bliss.

I felt much the same way when I stumbled across a copy of SHADOWS IN THE MIST, Brian Moreland's debut horror novel from 2008. I was totally unfamiliar with both the title and the author but the library only wanted a buck for it and I decided to take my chances. After all, the paperback gave off a strong "War That Time Forgot" vibe with it's high concept premise of soldiers vs. Nazi zombies in WWII. Think BAND OF BROTHERS meets F. Paul Wilson's horror classic THE KEEP. This thing had it's fangs in my neck before I turned the first page.

Moreland's narrative delivers on the conceptual promise but there are plenty of twists and turns along the way. The story centers on Lt. Jack Chambers and his squad of infantry men, The Lucky Seven, who are teamed up with a squad of special forces commandos under the name X-2, to investigate the mysterious goings' on in the Hurtgen Forest, a fog and mist enshrouded area that appears to be infested with the living dead. Nazi living dead. 

The action is fast and furious with gun battles erupting every several pages. The story is a wild mixture of WWII combat thrills, arcane mysticism (the plot involves both the Jewish Kabalah and Nordic Runes), magic, monsters and plenty of blood soaked gore and guts. Moreland's writing relies on stock phrases and cliches a bit too much but his story is so bat-shit crazy and the narrative drive so propulsive that I had to keep furiously turning the pages until I was finished.

A great book? Nah. But one helluva fun ride if you're a horror fan, a WWII aficionado or both. This one delivers the dynamite in both hands.

Pure pulp.