Survivors of a plane crash are stranded on an island and systematically picked off by the local wildlife i.e. mutant koala bears. Any contestants that cause problems are “helped along” by the organizers. This is exactly the kind of fare that works best when you know you’re picking up a book in the Rewind or Die series.
Ashford grabs the reader’s attention right in the prologue and doesn’t really relent at any point in the story. The book is fast-paced, and at 140 pages doesn’t have time for expositional fat. What you see is what you get. American readers may have to look into what a drop-bear is, I know I did. In short, it’s a large, aggressive carnivorous koala that appears in Australian folklore, but mainly serves to mess with tourists. These drop-bears come to life are vicious and brutal, occasionally traveling in packs and leaving no characters unharmed.
Speaking of characters, this is the type of novella that primarily introduces a sizable cast of characters in order for some to be bear, or maybe marsupial, fodder. Given the name of the book, the reader assumes there will be one person left standing, but who it might be is up for grabs. Though the antagonist is made clear, no one person really feels like the main character we’re actively supposed to be rooting for.
While the fast pace and straightforward nature of the story does help deliver a B-movie landscape, I would have liked to learn a little bit more about the organization that put this reality show from hell together. It almost seems as though there could be more stories to be told involving them. If you’re up for some down under inspired carnage that doesn’t go too deep, this just may be the read for you.