Memoirs of a Monster Hunter
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Nick Redfern is a full-time author and journalist specialising in a wide range of unsolved mysteries, including Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, UFO sightings, government conspiracies and alien abductions. For centuries, people across the world have had a fascination with monsters and strange creatures. They marvel at the tales and legends of the Bigfoot ; of the Abominable Snowman ; of the infamous and diabolical Moth-Man. But do such creatures really exist? Can it be true that our planet is home to fantastic beasts that lurk deep within its forests and waters? MEMOIRS OF A MONSTER HUNTER proves the answer is a resounding yes! In this follow-up to his wildly successful Three Men Chasing Monsters, paranormal investigator and author, Nick Redfern chronicles his surreal journey in search of all-things monstrous. His strange adventures lasted five years and saw him doggedly pursuing a menagerie of creatures, including gargoyles, giant birds and what some believe are living dinosaurs. Follow Redfern as he explores the El Yunque rainforest of Puerto Rico in search of the terrifying Chupacabras: a razor-clawed, glowing-eyed beast that is part giant bat and part vampire. Travel with him as he seeks out the Goat Man: a menacing creature that evokes imagery of both demons and the fabled cloven-hoofed Centaurs of ancient mythology and is said to inhabit the forests of East Texas and chases after what many people believe are real-life, flesh-and-blood werewolves that surface from hidden lairs and prowl the countryside when the Moon is full.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I hate it when I read reviews on Amazon which just slate books for no good reason. Reviews where you end up drawing the conclusion that the writer has some poorly concealed agenda with the book or its author. I just wanted to point this out before continuing...
I read `Three Men Seeking Monsters' and thought it was wonderful; whether or not you choose to believe in the subject matter, the book was well written and rolled along at a fair old pace, vivid characters and scenarios aplenty. All in all, I rated it highly and having re-read it now a number of times, nothing has changed. So you can imagine that my anticipation levels were pretty high when approaching this new book from the same author on the same sort of subject matter. Have to say, I'm really disappointed.
Firstly, whilst `Three Men...' tells an extraordinary tale, it does so with a self-deprecating sense of self. Nick Redfern comes across as somebody who can see the inherent humour in the story he's telling and is happy to poke fun at himself and his companions. Unfortunately, this is not carried over into this new book - I don't know if it's the amount of time the author has spent in Texas or something else, but the rather patronising, silly slant applied to the writing this time around is irritating to say the least. It brought to mind the scene in Alan Partridge, when it's pointed out to Alan that he uses the phrase `needless to say, I had the last laugh' in every chapter of his book; substitute instead the sentence `we all sat there drinking, laughing because we get paid for this stuff and don't have to work 9-5 you suckers' and you'd be about there. Similarly, if I read the words `literally' or `deluge of biblical proportions' again, my teeth will once more begin to itch. Perhaps more importantly though, is the books assertion that during every `quest' the author undertakes, he finds supposed hard evidence of whatever entity he is searching for, evidence which in the previous book would have been treated with a little more scepticism. There is no balanced argument here; wild supposition is now presented as semi-factual. Photos of strange lights and branch formations are mentioned in some detail - but no photos are included, rather oddly. Instead we are `treated' to a photo of his wife's deceased hound - along with a detailed explanation of said hound's illnesses and death. I don't wish to sound callous, I know how tough it can be when a cherished family pet dies but this book is supposed to be about monster hunting - a brief mention would have sufficed.
The book does have its good points too in fairness. Redfern does point out some of the more lunatic elements in UFO and Cryptozoological circles and poke fun at them and some of the cases he looks into may have some basis in fact. But I was really expecting more of the same and it wasn't forthcoming. Name checking all your mates and constantly telling us how much you love having sex with your wife is pub talk, not the basis for a gripping read. Maybe the author should return to live in Walsall for a while, it might bring him back down to earth a little?
If you haven't already read it, buy `Three Men...' instead; it's an excellent read by this author, as is `A Covert Agenda' albeit on slightly different subject matter. But I'd be wary of this one; it doesn't do the subject matter justice, nor the author any favours.
I read `Three Men Seeking Monsters' and thought it was wonderful; whether or not you choose to believe in the subject matter, the book was well written and rolled along at a fair old pace, vivid characters and scenarios aplenty. All in all, I rated it highly and having re-read it now a number of times, nothing has changed. So you can imagine that my anticipation levels were pretty high when approaching this new book from the same author on the same sort of subject matter. Have to say, I'm really disappointed.
Firstly, whilst `Three Men...' tells an extraordinary tale, it does so with a self-deprecating sense of self. Nick Redfern comes across as somebody who can see the inherent humour in the story he's telling and is happy to poke fun at himself and his companions. Unfortunately, this is not carried over into this new book - I don't know if it's the amount of time the author has spent in Texas or something else, but the rather patronising, silly slant applied to the writing this time around is irritating to say the least. It brought to mind the scene in Alan Partridge, when it's pointed out to Alan that he uses the phrase `needless to say, I had the last laugh' in every chapter of his book; substitute instead the sentence `we all sat there drinking, laughing because we get paid for this stuff and don't have to work 9-5 you suckers' and you'd be about there. Similarly, if I read the words `literally' or `deluge of biblical proportions' again, my teeth will once more begin to itch. Perhaps more importantly though, is the books assertion that during every `quest' the author undertakes, he finds supposed hard evidence of whatever entity he is searching for, evidence which in the previous book would have been treated with a little more scepticism. There is no balanced argument here; wild supposition is now presented as semi-factual. Photos of strange lights and branch formations are mentioned in some detail - but no photos are included, rather oddly. Instead we are `treated' to a photo of his wife's deceased hound - along with a detailed explanation of said hound's illnesses and death. I don't wish to sound callous, I know how tough it can be when a cherished family pet dies but this book is supposed to be about monster hunting - a brief mention would have sufficed.
The book does have its good points too in fairness. Redfern does point out some of the more lunatic elements in UFO and Cryptozoological circles and poke fun at them and some of the cases he looks into may have some basis in fact. But I was really expecting more of the same and it wasn't forthcoming. Name checking all your mates and constantly telling us how much you love having sex with your wife is pub talk, not the basis for a gripping read. Maybe the author should return to live in Walsall for a while, it might bring him back down to earth a little?
If you haven't already read it, buy `Three Men...' instead; it's an excellent read by this author, as is `A Covert Agenda' albeit on slightly different subject matter. But I'd be wary of this one; it doesn't do the subject matter justice, nor the author any favours.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
15 reviews
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Juvenile and disappointing if you are looking for monster facts and fun
2 Sep 2007
Format:Paperback
This book reads like the diary of a kid who wants to either 1. ) impress people with his "occupation" as Monster Hunter or 2.) irritate people with page after page of info about himself that we don't want when we buy a book like this. When you buy a book like this you want excitement and depth of purpose. He seems to fancy himself an Indiana Jones type, when in reality, he seems to be a guy whose wife pays the bills so he can run around having pretend adventures. Not very good. Not very good AT ALL. I'm actually quite unhappy I shelled out the money for this vacuous book, and I buy 30-40 books a year and take the good with the bad, as you must. Wish I hadn't bought it.
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Very Disappointed
14 Aug 2008
Format:Paperback
If you are interested in a serious discussion of cryptids, do not buy this book. Redfern spends the majority of the book describing his personal life. The information on monster hunting is limited and ancedotal at best. He comes across as a smug,self-serving free-loader who doesn't feel the need to bother with serious research into a very interesting topic. I'm surprised this got published, it is that bad. To use a very British term to describe Nick's work, bollocks!
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Where the Redfern Goes
1 Oct 2008
Format:Paperback
Nick Redfern travels the world giving speeches at conferences dealing with UFOs, the paranormal, and cryptozoology. He is a self-employed writer and has several books out. You find this out because he constantly promotes and plugs them in this book. This self-proclaimed monster hunter looks back over a five year period and presents his memoirs which entail meeting a woman at a UFO conference whom he tries to bed down that night but ends up marrying later on, his `investigations' of various phenomenon, and his attachments to several paranormal television shows. There's also an abundant coverage of him hanging out with his fellows and lots of drinking. And let's not forget his lengthy chapter about the family dog which dies and they deal with its lingering spirit.
The book itself is easy to read as there is little prolonged in-depth coverage of much of anything except their dog. Redfern covers lightly some UFO stuff, largely plugging one of his books and various UFO conferences he attends, talks at, drinks at, and gets all his expenses covered along with a nice speaking payment. He travels to Puerto Rico (again all expenses paid) three separate times looking into the Chupacabras legend. And he also travels throughout Texas (where he lives after getting married and moving from his native England) going to the Big Thicket region filled with ghost lights and wildmen, seeks out the Goat-Man in several areas, as well as a ghost of a drowned girl and some surreally large fish and water beasties. And to add to the mix he speaks with a lady in Wisconsin about the Beast of Bray Road which may or may not be a werewolf (another fascination of his along with zombie movies and his apparent love of the word 'diabolical'). Redfern then explains how he feels that all these purported cryptids are not natural occuring creatures but extra-dimensional, spirits, or possibly alien leftovers or government experiments.
Redfern covers lots of material but in such fragmented and disorganized anecdotes that the book seems more like what he would chat about if you sat down with him and knocked back a few beers and had a meandering conversation of rapid topic changes. The book would have benefited from some better organization of the material. He travels a lot at other people's expenses and seems to only be involved in this type of stuff so that he can do just that, travel and not have to pay for it. He gives a presentation and then `has a night on the town'. For all he talks about such phenomenon, at points he doesn't even appear to buy his own shilling of material. To me, he apparently likes being called a `monster hunter', doing the travelling, and getting paid but doesn't truly `believe' in this stuff himself... just my opinion, I've never met the guy.
Overall, light reading but there's nothing in depth, no conclusions, and the stories are too short to get you interested in them. You'll get lots of plugging of his own books, learn his favorite adult beverages, and get more than you care to about his buddy Jon Downes. I doubt I'll be spending my money on anything else of his.
The book itself is easy to read as there is little prolonged in-depth coverage of much of anything except their dog. Redfern covers lightly some UFO stuff, largely plugging one of his books and various UFO conferences he attends, talks at, drinks at, and gets all his expenses covered along with a nice speaking payment. He travels to Puerto Rico (again all expenses paid) three separate times looking into the Chupacabras legend. And he also travels throughout Texas (where he lives after getting married and moving from his native England) going to the Big Thicket region filled with ghost lights and wildmen, seeks out the Goat-Man in several areas, as well as a ghost of a drowned girl and some surreally large fish and water beasties. And to add to the mix he speaks with a lady in Wisconsin about the Beast of Bray Road which may or may not be a werewolf (another fascination of his along with zombie movies and his apparent love of the word 'diabolical'). Redfern then explains how he feels that all these purported cryptids are not natural occuring creatures but extra-dimensional, spirits, or possibly alien leftovers or government experiments.
Redfern covers lots of material but in such fragmented and disorganized anecdotes that the book seems more like what he would chat about if you sat down with him and knocked back a few beers and had a meandering conversation of rapid topic changes. The book would have benefited from some better organization of the material. He travels a lot at other people's expenses and seems to only be involved in this type of stuff so that he can do just that, travel and not have to pay for it. He gives a presentation and then `has a night on the town'. For all he talks about such phenomenon, at points he doesn't even appear to buy his own shilling of material. To me, he apparently likes being called a `monster hunter', doing the travelling, and getting paid but doesn't truly `believe' in this stuff himself... just my opinion, I've never met the guy.
Overall, light reading but there's nothing in depth, no conclusions, and the stories are too short to get you interested in them. You'll get lots of plugging of his own books, learn his favorite adult beverages, and get more than you care to about his buddy Jon Downes. I doubt I'll be spending my money on anything else of his.
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