[Review] - The Roo

By Alan Baxter

What do you get when you mix a news article about a killer kangaroo with a bunch of procrastinating authors, readers and reviewers on Twitter? The Roo by Alan Baxter. What started off as a joke, thanks to Kealan Patrick Burke’s brilliant mock-cover, became what I consider to be one of the most exhilarating rides in my 2020 reading journey thus far.

The Roo features some familiar faces to the horror book community. Please note that The Roo only uses the names of our friends and characters’, personalities are not based off who they are named after. However, I had a blast seeing who of my pals would make an appearance and who would survive the wrath of the Roo.

Alan Baxter’s creature feature has some of the most bizarre and gruesome kills that I have ever read in a book. Lemme tell you, it was an absolute blast from start-to-finish. Anyone who knows me, knows that I much prefer my horror filled with humor, gore & insanity. The Roo 100% ticks all of these boxes for me.

Even in a short amount of time and with a ton of characters, Baxter makes sure to make every personality different. Not one character felt like another, which in the end, made each character stand out on their own. These differences in personality also provides us with a lot of conflict and arguments, which for the most part, made me laugh out loud.

As Alan Baxter points out in his afterword, “no monster story is really just about the monster.” The Roo contains a story-line centering around domestic violence. Consider this your trigger warning. I strongly believe that he did an amazing job at sharing this story and bringing awareness to something that’s unfortunately prevalent in this world. And to think he told this through the conflict of a killer kangaroo. I applaud you, Alan Baxter.

Review by Becca Futrell

@astoldbybex

I received this book from Alan Baxter for review consideration.