Hell Holes: What Lurks Below ~ Review, Free Book and Giveaway

Posted: June 22, 2017 in apocalypse, Freebies!, giveaways, reviews, Science Fiction
Tags: , , , ,

Hellholes banner

Praise Quotes

“I enjoyed my time in Firesmith’s world. I did not want to leave. I really got a kick out of it, and would happily come back for more. Recommended.”

MJ Kobernus, author of The Guardian: Blood in the Sand

“This book rocks.”

Barton Paul Levenson, author of Dark Gods of Alter Telluria

“a quick, enjoyable read. Full of action and fraught with danger”

Dave Robertson, author of Strange Hunting, Strange Hunting II, and The Brave and The Dead

“The book is an easy and quick read and an action-filled one that you’ll imagine as a TV series or a movie with no difficulty.”

Olga Núñez Miret, author of Escaping Psychiatry

Hell Holes

What Lurks Below #1

by Donald Firesmith

Genre: Science Fiction / Apocalyptic

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000026_00096]


c8df8-add2bto2bgoodreads2bblack

My Review

I love unexplained acts of nature. Makes for such a chilling plot. When holes start appearing in the Arctic Circle , a team of experts is sent to investigate. Once they arrive, things get worse as more holes appear. And then something straight out of Hell crawls out. A horde of otherworldly creatures that have only one thing in mind. Killing mankind. With nowhere to run, the team seeks shelter in an old station. But the horde won’t be denied, and like an octopus with a sealed bottle full of yummy bait, they will find a way in.

I was almost rubbing my hands together in twisted anticipation before I started this one. Mysterious holes appearing. Something beyond imagining crawls out. The fate of mankind hangs in the balance. Oh yeah. I knew I had to read this book.

There’s a mixed bag of character’s. Ones you come to like and respect and some not so much. The author doesn’t seem to mind killing off either one. Keeps you on edge when things get down and dirty. Which doesn’t take long at all.

The story is strong and there’s a sub plot that makes things even more interesting. Also, the blend of science fiction and horror leaves the story wide open for the author to go in many different directions.

The ending. Well, it’s an end, but also a cliff hanger. That’s because this is really the beginning of something much bigger. I’ll be grabbing the next one immediately. Got a good feeling about this series.

   4  Stars

 

~~~~~

Synopsis

It’s August in Alaska, and geology professor Jack Oswald prepares for the new school year. But when hundreds of huge holes mysteriously appear overnight in the frozen tundra north of the Arctic Circle, Jack receives an unexpected phone call. An oil company exec hires Jack to investigate, and he pocks his climatologist wife and two of their graduate students as his team.

Uncharacteristically, Jack lets Aileen O’Shannon, a bewitchingly beautiful young photojournalist, talk him into coming along as their photographer. When they arrive in the remote oil town of Deadhorse, the exec and a biologist to protect them from wild animals join the team. Their task: to assess the risk of more holes opening under the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and the wells and pipelines that feed it. But they discover a far worse danger lurks below. When it emerges, it threatens to shatter Jack’s unshakable faith in science. And destroy us all….

 

~~~~~

Enjoy the Excerpt

After seconds that seemed to stretch into eternity, the cigarette butt tumbled past Mark and eventually reached the depth where the concentration of methane and hydrogen sulfide reached explosive levels.

There was a deafening whoosh, and a huge fireball the size of the hole erupted from the pit. Luckily, the blast from the explosion blew us backwards, away from the hole. That was the only thing that saved us from the intense heat radiating from the colossal swirling ball of fire and smoke that had roared from the crater. It felt like I was standing next to a hundred heat lamps, and I heard the sizzling sound of my hair and beard beginning to burn on the side of my head that faced the flames. Turning my back to the hole, I immediately used my hands to extinguish my burning hair before it could seriously burn me. Disgusted by the stench of a mixture of burnt hair and rotten eggs, I picked myself up and looked back towards the hole. Above us, a huge pillar of smoke rose like the ash cloud of an erupting volcano. Looking back down, we saw the burning nylon rope continue to rise until its end slipped over the edge of the hole. Only a little of Mark’s smoldering body harness was still attached to its end.

“No!” We heard Jill’s horror-filled scream coming loudly over our walkie-talkies, followed less than a second later when her anguished cry reached us from across the pit. I could just make out Jill’s wavering form through the turbulent superheated air rising up between us as she raced back around the hole.

I looked over to where Kowalski was standing, staring in disbelief at the fiery pit his thoughtlessness had created. I was beyond furious. The next thing I knew, I had him by the jacket and was screaming in his face, “You Goddamned careless son of a bitch! Weren’t you listening? Didn’t you hear me say there was hydrogen sulfide in the pit?”

“Buh, buh, but…” he stammered as he tried to back away from me.

Without realizing it, I was slowly backing him up to the hole. I might have backed him over the edge had Bill not forced himself between us. “That’s enough!” he commanded.

Suddenly, I realized what I was doing and let go. It was clear from his expression that he’d had no idea that the gasses in the bottom of the hole were flammable, let alone sufficiently concentrated to be explosive.

My fiery rage died as I turned my anger inward. Kowalski hadn’t killed Mark. I had. I was in charge and responsible for the lives of my team. I should have spotted the danger sooner. Mark was my student, so I should have sent him up first. Worst of all, I had seen Kowalski smoking next to the hole and done nothing. I turned my back on the hole and wearily walked away across the empty tundra.

~~~~~

Author Donald Firesmith

Hellholes author

A computer geek by day, at night and on weekends Donald Firesmith writes modern paranormal fantasy, apocalyptic science fiction, action and adventure novels and relaxes by handcrafting magic wands from magical woods and mystical gemstones.

A computer geek by day, Donald Firesmith works as a system and software engineer helping the US Government acquire large, complex software-intensive systems. In this guise, he has authored seven technical books, written numerous software- and system-related articles and papers, and spoken at more conferences than he can possibly remember. He is also proud to have been named a Distinguished Engineer by the Association of Computing Machinery, although his pride is tempered somewhat worrying whether the term “distinguished” makes him sound more like a graybeard academic rather than an active engineer whose beard is still more red than gray.

By night and on weekends, his alter ego writes modern paranormal fantasy, apocalyptic science fiction, action and adventure novels and relaxes by handcrafting magic wands from various magical woods and mystical gemstones. His first foray into fiction is the book Magical Wands: A Cornucopia of Wand Lore written under the pen name Wolfrick Ignatius Feuerschmied. He lives in Crafton, Pennsylvania with his wife Becky, his son Dane, and varying numbers of dogs, cats, and birds.

Links: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

Buy Links: The book is free

Click on the links below to get your copy!

Amazon / iTunes / B&N / Createspace / instafreebie / Smashwords

~~~~~

giveaway photo: Giveaway Banner for 42nd giveaway.png

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~~~~~

Click on the banner below to follow the tour and comment.

The more you comment, the more chances to win!

Goddess Fish Promotions

~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

Comments
  1. WANT! This will be getting added to my wishlist I think!

  2. Sounds like of interesting. 🙂

  3. Fabulous cover. Gory and inviting. I am sharing this one too, so already got the freebie…but a cliffhanger? 🙁
    sherry @ fundinmental

    • fuonlyknew says:

      Yeah, kind of a cliffhanger. I wasn’t surprised because it is a series. I didn’t mind as you do get an ending for this part.

  4. Laura, Thank you for your thoughtful review. I can hardly wait to hear what you think of book 2, which is written from Angela Menendez’s point of view. By the way, on July 5th, I am scheduled to receive the outline for the Hell Holes movie script from producer Mike Chamoy and screenwriter Leland Anderson. I can hardly wait.
    P.S. Please consider copying your review over to Amazon and Goodreads so that more potential readers can get your advice. Thanks again.

    • fuonlyknew says:

      It was my pleasure to read and review Hell Holes. And I’m anxious to read your second book too! I didn’t realize this had been optioned for a movie. How exciting! What a trip that will be! I cross posted my reviews too.

  5. Drangonfly says:

    Hellish tales are my all-time favorites! 🙂

  6. Ooo creepy. I too love this kind of read involving strange occurrences.

    • fuonlyknew says:

      I’m very curious where the author goes with the series. I have a feeling a lot more is coming.

      • I am hard at work on Hell Holes 3: To Hell and Back. I have also largely blocked out a prequel that ties into book 3 tentatively titled: Hell Holes: A Slave in Hell. I am also considering another prequel covering Aileen O’Shannon’s backstory. The Hell Holes universe is so rich with possibilities that I feel there is likely to also be a Hell Holes 4. For more information, check out my author website at http://donaldfiresmith.com

  7. Lelia T says:

    I tried to resist, I really did, but you reeled me in! Besides, a freebie that’s not just on Amazon is a huge plus 😉

Let's Talk

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.