From Publishers Weekly
Ufologist Redfern (Cosmic Crashes, etc.) and two paranormally inclined pals, Jonathon Downes and Richard Freeman, take the reader for a rollicking, often alcohol-infused ride in a camper during the summer of 2001, "chasing monsters around the British countryside." Redfern dredges up a number of secondhand, sometimes centuries-old accounts of "de-evolved" humans and other odd creatures, even once citing Daniel Defoe, an author well known for his tendency to mix fact and fiction, on the existence of wild men in the West Country. At one point Redfern remarks, "Jon was unsure of the cause of all this mystery and mayhem, but speculated that some form of ethereal, superior intelligence coexisted with us—and had done so for millennia—and that, for reasons of its own, was constantly manipulating and molding the human mind with images of bizarre and unexplained phenomena." Some may feel that’s as good an explanation as any for the elusive beings they investigate. At the end of their quest, Redfern and his colleagues weren’t disappointed—nor will like-minded readers be after finishing this cheerful excursion into the occult fringe.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Booklist
Picture three British "blokes"--a bald-headed punker (the author), a Goth herpetologist who dresses like a pirate, and a six-foot-six-inch, 400-pound behemoth who wears a Sherlock Holmes cap--in a recreational vehicle and six weeks off to investigate monsters, and you have grasped the essence of this one. Many books about mystery animals involve an expedition to some exotic locale, where the adventurers encounter stinging insects, infectious diseases, uncompromising terrain, and uncooperative indigenous peoples. Redfern's travelogue, however, takes place entirely in Great Britain; the lads are on a quest to find the truth about such creatures as the Man Monkey of Ranton, the Big Gray Man of Ben Macdhui, and a gryphon in Glastonbury. Despite an insatiable thirst that leads them to many pubs along the way, Redfern and his companions manage to get within chasing distance of two or three of these folkloric critters. Their explanation for what takes place is almost as bizarre as the beasts themselves, but this is a lively and entertaining crypto-zoological road trip. George Eberhart
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
