Black Mountain: Alex Hunter, Book 4

I really, really wanted to like this novel.Beck has created one of the most interesting characters in a long, long time. He is the Mitch Rapp of "other world adventures." The early books were incredible, I really enjoyed them.I did not like this book at all. There is very little here to add to the character.There are a lot of "good bits."SPOILER ALERTThe scene with the terrorists was very good. The death of his mother was not. In fact the "big foot" monster is neither interesting nor scary. Yes, yes, "he/big foot" kills a lot, yes it is very bloody, but no, it is not interesting.The local police chief is a good character. Matt from the first novel shows up and the author mentions that he might show up again as a member of the team.I generally run when I see the following descriptions: "big foot", "possessed children", "alien parasites", etc. Why? Because they are boring. I have yet to read a novel that makes any of them interesting. Too many books, too little time. And I, because of Beck's excellent earlier novels, read Black Mountain, even though I knew it had a "big foot." And it was boring. The "big foot" is tedious and not interesting. Look, Beck has to try and make this a "sympathetic character." Why? Because it hides. It is man who has forced it to do bad things. You can get into a philosophical discussion on how it is man who creates all his own problems and all his fears are based on ignorance. I know that. But I want a "real" terror, not a philosophical diatribe against man.I know that is not what Beck was attempting. But for anyone writing about "big foot" or "yetis" or "Saq" there is absolutely no where to go. It is like all those people running around in the woods with the absolute WORST camera they have "looking" for big foot. And all they get, after all these years, is some hairy something, possibly a guy in a hairy ape suit, with big feet running around.The "Indian" was very interesting, the "legends" were interesting, the "hunt" for information was very interesting, but not much else. Again, stupidity is a primary motive amongst the people "on the ground." "Yes, people are dying and there is a lot of blood and we have found very suspicious things, but, nothing that can't be explained away by bears or lions escaping." Nothing to see here, move along.I don't think that massive doses of mangled flesh or blood or torn limbs are the stuff of good writing or movies.SPOILER ALERTBeck kills off Alex's mom. And with her death, her dog is killed, too, trying to defend her. I absolutely hated that scene. There was so much potential there. Perhaps Beck was attempting to show that Alex is truly alone, that he is more a creation that a human. So be it.And another huge problem. The author makes a point that modern weapons cannot kill this big foot. BUT Indians from hundreds of years ago almost hunted them to extinction and managed to scare the "Bigfoot" so that they ran away.Not buying it.And finally I really hated that Arcadian has become a template for out of control automatons. Extra strength makes you crazy and there are "deranged" scientists waiting every where to feed more human beings into the maw of science.Beck had created a great character, he placed him in interesting environments, though I found "Green Hell" to be a little tedious. But, still good enough, just not up to standards. Though I understand that "Green Hell" is a touch stone to explain Alex's transformation.This book is worth at least one reading. AND it is important, not for big foot, but for Alex's "growth" towards what he will become.

I feel kinda bad for giving this great book by Greig Beck only four stars, because it was another great romp through the world of the unknown even though the unknown is in the farthest hidden corners of our own back yard. I think the Arcadian series is one of the most original concepts that has come out in the last few, vampire and werewolf infested, years. The idea of a Super Soldier is not uncommon. But adding horror, ancient mythos, and urban legends into the mix is quite unique. I have truly enjoyed this series and put all other material aside to read the Arcadian. So why give this one book four stars? The fact that the chronological order of this series is very difficult to keep up with kind of put me off. A brilliant marketing ploy? Maybe. because I had to end up buying them all to figure out what happens where. You start out with Alex Hunter in full swing and already what he is, before you ever found out how he got there or how he became the baddest and best that he is. I was so confused I had to go online to get the order in which they were written. Now, maybe that's how it just worked out but it did seem a bit of a 'self spoiler' so to speak. Most series are clearly marked and defined, but what happened to me is, I found out things that only later made sense, and I KNEW what was coming up. I knew how a certain character would meet his demise before finding out where he came from...?..Stuff like that. It was just more difficult to follow than a normal series. But it's not the first series I've ever read that started in the middle and went both ways before! And this book Black Mountain was just as good as the rest! And another good read.In this story, the Arcadian awakes from a coma to find he has no memory of who he is, or where he came from. A coma induced by his miraculous healing abilities to neutralize and expell a deadly disease he contracted in the jungles of Paraguay, that had (so far) proven to be one hundred percent fatal to any normal human. But, Alex Hunter survives. He is alive but his memory is a total blank. Adira Senesh, the Israeli agent that he'd befriended on a mission in the dessert of Iran, fights to protect him from both their governments. She holds them at bay by promising them she will persuade Alex to divulge the secret of the Arcadian process...but,she in reality, has a wistful disire to fill in his memory with her own dreams of running away and being together...But when you are two of most skilled operatives in the world, and each from different countries, and each has billions of dollars worth of training (and for Alex, being an irreplaceable proto-scientific miracle) you don't just up and elope. But there time together as Alex heals has her wishing that they could just dissapear. But Alex's memory begins to painfully return;in a gush of blood from his nose, and a spike of blinding pain in the center of his head, he realizes (first) that he has mother. (Second) a mother who thinks he's long dead. A mother that, even though she is halfway round the world, he feels her terror and pain as she is attacked by a nightmare....a nightmare that's haunted the frozen peaks of his childhood home the Black Mountains of Nebraska since before the Paleo-Indians roamed, an old legend come alive. Alex bolts to find the answers to the memories bubbling up. Adira commits treason and runs with him...the Black Mountain awaits.

I am thoroughly enjoying the series and this book is back on track after a slight hiccup in book three.Alex Hunter wakes up with no memory of who he is. He is in Israel with Mossad. But something calls to him and he feels that he must answer that call. It brings him back to the US and to his (unknown to him) home town.The locals on Black Mountain are being terrorised by something. People are disappearing including someone close to Alex. A convergence of Mossad agents, Alex, and his old Hawc teammates leads to an exciting read and another win for this author.

A very enjoyable book to escape into for pleasurable reading.It flows well from the other books in the Arcadian series and I do feel that they need to be read in sequence for the nuances of the characters and their interactions to be appreciated.Like the other books in the series I would suggest that the reader not analyse the plot too much but simply read for the fun of it but there was one point where I must admit that I did linger. The non-human characters in this book are based on the legends of a large primate creature which is of course known by different names in different parts of the world - could they have a basis in reality? I find that I keep hoping they just might and so like novels, such as this one, that weave this theme into their plot lines.

Not as spooky or scary as the former Alex books, spoiler, Bigfoot isn't as scary as the usual Greig Beckcreatures.Nevertheless, an more than exciting book. Up to the next one, a Gorgon waits for nobody

This is the fourth novel in the Alex Hunter series and carries on with the Arcadian spec ops soldier going up against more monsters from a past time. Good pacing and the characters are interesting. The action is pretty much non-stop and the book was often hard to put down.

Decent follow up. Found myself wondering at a couple of characters motivations; one who needlessly walked into a situation that was so obviously dangerous, only a drugged up deranged fool would do it. The second is more serious as it relates to a principal character essentially betraying their nation and people... without, I thought, sufficient motivation.Good action; but the Alex out of control, out of his mind and essentially being more wild animal than reasoning human got a little tiresome.Not the strongest in the series but I will read more.