The Cassowary by James Sabata

A cassowary escapes from a wildlife park and goes on the rampage in Arizona. However, this is no ordinary large, flightless bird. It’s super aggressive and impossible to stop. Perhaps the key to ending its killing spree lies in the answer to why its eyes glow bright pink.

Apparently last year on Twitter a group of authors agreed to write horror books about animals native to their country and donate the proceeds to charity. James Sabata misread the brief and choose the cassowary. His idea was so good he was convinced to write it, despite the cassowary not being a natural resident of North America.

I’m glad Sabata did write this novel, because it’s so fun! The plot is solid, which surprised me for a creature feature, and I loved the foreshadowing as well as the commentary on inappropriate work relationships.

The cassowary is a great animal to choose for such a book as it is fascinating, and formidable, even when not full of evil power.

Sabata does a great job writing the gore and action scenes. I liked the characters too, and the whole set up remained plausible enough to maintain my suspension of disbelief.

Unfortunately, the constant mix up of a cassowary’s dagger like inner claw with its middle claw, and a couple of confusing scene changes kept this otherwise entertaining read from getting the full five stars.

I award The Cassowary…

The Cassowary is available for $4.29 ebook and $8.99 print book on Amazon.