The Bookwyrm's Review of Pina Coladas and Rats by Angel Ramon

 

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Rating: 9/10 Stars

Synopsis

A woman's Caribbean dream life turns into a rat-infested nightmare!

Otilia, a woman looking to escape the hustle and bustle of NYC purchases her dream home in a start-up neighborhood in the quaint town of Salinas, Puerto Rico. What's the catch? The start-up neighborhood is being built over a huge sugar cane farm. Also, the town has a dirty little secret - killer rats are on the loose. Unlike regular rodents, these bloodthirsty creatures are attacking residents and leaving a trail of destruction.

Otilia's new life quickly turns into a fight for survival as she and her husband are faced with hordes of rats ready to make them their next meal. However, this mystery runs deeper than just a killer rodent infestation. Something much darker is lurking in the shadows and threatens to change Puerto Rico forever.

Get ready for a spine-tingling extreme horror story set in a time before technology ruled society. Don't miss out on this heart-pumping tale that will have you checking under your bed for rats.

Who said rats couldn't enjoy a pina colada by the shore?

Review

Horror is not usually the genre I review, but I am a fan of Angel Ramon's other books, so I was happy to give this a look. It was especially intriguing because the story takes place in Salinas, Puerto Rico, which is one town over from my mother's hometown of Ponce on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. It's certainly not the usual setting for a story like this, and I think it is an excellent example of using an exotic locale to create a different sense of tension.

The world building is interesting. Setting the story in Salinas, Puerto Rico in the mid 80's means that people will get a look not only at a place in the US they normally wouldn't see, but at a time of transition, as the town moved away from it's past as a farm community centered around sugar plantations. It also highlights the stark differences in viewpoints in the town, since the difference between rich and poor is especially stark. That income inequality is actually a story point that has serious repercussions when tied into an unusual element of the culture that some people practice there: Santeria. If you are unfamiliar with what Santeria is, by the time you finish this book, you will know what it's all about it.

The characters really draw you into the story though. The story focuses on a group of people finding themselves in a nightmare scenario where a nuisance on the island has turned into a deadly menace. Otilia is the main focus of the group. An immigrant from central America, she and her Puerto Rican husband moved to the island for financial and lifestyle reasons, and it seemed like a true paradise on earth until hell seems to come to Salinas, and she must use her inner strength to survive the horror that is upon her and her companions. 

Those companions are an interesting group. They include Frank, her neighbor and friend of Otilia and her husband, who helped them get settled on the island. He is struggling to believe what is happening, but seems to have the fortitude to do what's necessary. Jack, on the other hand, is a lot more prepared, since his job as a bounty hunter has him able to adjust to the unexpected, and that gun he's carrying is going to come in handy. The last members of the group are Clarke, a doomsday prepper who has been waiting and ready for the world to fall apart, and his teen daughter Jessie, who is a fairly typical teen who is just trying to help the group to survive. All in all, not the worst group to have in a life threatening crisis.

The villains spend most of the book off screen, but their effects can be seen throughout the story. Those effects come in the form of fur, claws and sharp teeth of rats swarming over the town, but these aren't garden variety field rats. These have glowing green eyes and act in completely surprising and horrifying ways, and some of the rats are literal nightmares made flesh. They are a great horror element, because lots of people are scared of rats, and some of the changes make them into horrors anybody would run screaming from. The people behind the rats tie into some of the societal differences in town, and as their grand plan is revealed, you can see that Salinas is only the beginning of their insanity. It's a great setup.

I really liked this book. The elements of horror mixed with the location and time really fit well. It was a time of transition, with old traditions starting to come into conflict with a more modern society, and the clash is artificially exacerbated by this plot. The horror of a hoard of rats changed and unleashed on a coastal town were set up well, and drive the plot in a fast paced race to find a place to survive, and only discovering that safety is an illusion. I highly recommend this book, and can't wait to check out the next book. Check it out today!