Owen Pitt is a living legend amongst monster hunters, but he'll have to rally allies and competitors alike if he has a hope of defeating the newest threat to our universe. Owen Pitt is a living legend amongst monster hunters, but he'll have to rally allies and competitors alike if he has a hope of defeating the newest threat to our universe. Owen Zastava Pitt is an accountant turned monster hunter who has twice defeated the God-like Old Ones during his time at Monster Hunter International. This time a monster from America's past will return to test our hero, a monster so powerful even the Old Ones fear it.
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Owen and the rest of MHI head to Las Vegas for the first annual International Hunter Convention. This is a dream vacation for Owen, as well as a networking opportunity for his company. The convention will showcase the latest in monster hunting gear, advanced weaponry, and have talks from some of the most famous monster hunters worldwide.
As usual, things don't go as planned for Owen and the hunters. The conference is hijacked by a man known as Mr. Stricken, the leader of a government agency known as Special Task Force Unicorn. It seems that a monster of immeasurable power has escaped from a World War II sealed bunker, and there is a million dollar bounty to the first team who can kill it. Seeing as there are dozens of different teams present, the prize and rivalry spur everyone into action.
Eventually MHI finds the monster, but they are second to the scene and another team easily kills the monster. Feeling that it was too easy, Owen is suspicious of Stricken and his intentions. When everyone arrives back at the conference, it is revealed that a nightmare entity has latched onto the hunters and has taken the conference into another dimension. Spawning monsters in the hotel, the creature pulls the hunters' worst fears and makes them a reality.
Owen and the rest of the hunters battle the monsters, but over time the nightmare entity creates more and more powerful creatures. As the hunters begin to fall, the ghosts of fallen hunters come to their aid. The entity has pulled them into an alternate dimension where the guardian spirits of the hunters can fight alongside the living. These spirits reveal that there is a human host for this nightmare creature, one who has been asleep since World War II. If they have any hope of stopping it, they'll have to bond it to the host and eliminate him.
Eventually, with the help of Mosh and Holly, the convention center is brought back into the real world. Here the nightmare takes on the form of a dragon and destroys much of Las Vegas. Eventually the hunters are able to bring down the creature with the help of the human host. He regains control of the extra-dimensional entity and is locked away.
Best part of story, including ending:
This is the fourth book in the MHI series, and it took a step away from the action scenes the series has done so well in favor of more suspense focused writing. The shift works well, building more tension and allowing that tension to be released in even bigger action scenes than before.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene is in the beginning of the book when MHI first arrives in Las Vegas. This is one of the first times we see the hunters in their free time, and most choose to spend their money on food. They immediately go to a buffet and gorge themselves. Action never being far from the hunters, a restaurant-wide brawl breaks out between MHI and a rival gang. This is a fun scene in the beginning that puts you at ease before the monsters strike, and it works great to build characters.
Opinion about the main character:
Owen finally has to face a threat that he can't kill with a gun. This book allows him to be more than a gun-toting super soldier. He's a human being who fears for the life of his wife and friends. He's facing a threat that he can neither comprehend nor fully defeat. This is the character that the book series needed from the beginning. He's a humanized killing machine, and that's exactly what he should be.
