“Seal Team 666: Age of Blood” Book Review: Action-Packed Horror Thrill Ride

Emily Withers is in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico hoping to find herself when she’s kidnapped, disappearing without a trace.  Ordinarily, that would be another government agency’s problem, but whoever kidnapped her has a supernatural agenda, and Seal Team 666 are the only ones who can get results, either to recover her body or retrieve her safe and sound.

Check out the summary:

When a senator’s daughter is kidnapped by a mysterious group with ties to the supernatural, it’s clearly a job for SEAL Team 666. They soon discover links to the Zeta Cartel, a newly discovered temple beneath Mexico City. As an insidious force operating inside the team threatens to derail the mission, Triple Six is the world’s only hope to stop the return of the Age of Blood.

This description doesn’t really sum up the level of horror that Weston Ochse’s Seal Team 666: Age of Blood is serving.  It’s nowhere near as tame as the description.  In fact, it’s chock full of supernatural and horror action.  Let’s get to the breakdown!

THE GOOD

The. Whole. Damn. Book.  Does that help?  Seriously, Seal Team 666: Age of Blood is a good, solid offering from Mr. Ochse and when you’re not caught up in the “Rated R” level action, you’ll be too busy freaking the hell out after you come across some of the supernatural creatures and activity in the book.

One of my biggest complaints in horror is the use of the same horror tropes over and over.  Vampires, werewolves, etc.  Seal Team 666 actually brings a fresh set of monsters by delving into Latin American, mostly Mexican, folklore and ghost stories.  Chupacabras, a Cihuateteo (Mexican vampire which most likely turned into La Llorona), zombies, and assorted Aztec-era supernatural creatures, to name a few, are all sprinkled throughout the book in various chapters, with Marie Laveau (or an incarnation of her) makes an appearance in the spine-tingling first chapter of the book.  If those types of things don’t scare you, the real life witchcraft practices of the very real and utterly terrifying Mexican cartels are also an integral part of the book.  So in addition to creeping you out, you’ll learn quite a few tidbits about Mexican current affairs and lore.

As I read this book,  I often found myself tucked away in a quiet part of the house, eagerly anticipating the next scare or action scene.  Now that’s good reading!

Mr. Ochse has a gift for painting vivid pictures of the locales Seal Team 666 operates in.  When describing the facade of the tourist friendly areas of Mexico, versus the reality of Mexico, I was instantly transported to the gritty, foul-smelling streets, as if I’d teleported there through the very same magic talked about in the book.  He was able to capture the grim reality with such flourish, that I was left almost speechless.

THE NOT SO GOOD

I found just a few distractions that you could attribute to personal taste.  My brother lapped up every detail about the weaponry the Seal Team used voraciously.  Mr. Ochse is extremely informative in that regard, and I felt schooled on different weapons.  However, I’m not really a gun enthusiast (I like swords and archery), so those sections tended to drag on for me.  Again, if you are a gun enthusiast or into weapons specs, then it won’t bother you at all.

The final battle seemed to drag on in parts, and I started to get a bit bored as this epic battle waged on.  I understand why it had to go down that way, and it was quite swashbuckling, but I’m the type of person that hates long action sequences.  There were a few details that played out more like a Hollywood action movie than were realistic in that final battle, yet, this book plays out like a big budget action/horror movie when the bullets and the fists start flying.  There’s a reason why it should be hitting big screens eventually.

Aside from some tense exchanges between characters–in one exchange the Seal Team confronts some Mexican mercenaries about the country’s rampant corruption–there’s nothing “bad” about this book.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Christmas is right around the corner, and I highly recommend Seal Team 666: Age of Blood for any horror and/or action book fan.  From the first few pages, readers will be sucked right into this clandestine world of diplomacy and the supernatural.  Mr. Ochse consistently shows this innate ability to tell a bloody good story, that straddles the line between pensive and adventurous, which leaves readers satisfied and thoughtful.  This series, and Mr. Ochse, are definitely ones to watch.

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