Night of the Bat

Rating:
Summary: Ok but nothing special
Review: It was an ok book but there were definite flaws in it. First off he does a bad job of describing some of the traps used in defeating the bat- that could just be me. Once the boy was left to face the bat alone it was pretty unrealistic that he could kill it when they couldn't when the whole group was there. Zindel is capable of much better but it is still worth the time.

Rating:
Summary: Average, Okay Book
Review: Plot: 15-year-old Jake Lefkovitz travels to the Amazon, where his father (a bat biologist) and his research team are on an expedition. Two of Dr. Lefkovitz's workers are missing. As it turns out, the two workers were mutilated by a giant bat. Jake, Dr. Lefkovitz, and the workers must find a way to stop the bat.

This was an okay book, but it wasn't the best I've ever read. First off, there's a small subplot about Jake and his father not being very aquainted, and Jake trying to earn his father's trust. I think Paul Zindel just used that for padding. Second, with all due respect, Zindel doesn't put much detail into the book, especially when describing the traps the characters create to capture the bat.

Also, this book is heavy, though not extreme, on blood and gore. There is a total of six deaths in this book, and only one is not causes directly by the bat (i.e., a man falls down a waterfall). All the other deaths are very violent. The descriptions of the two mutilated workers is enough to make someone quesy. Also in the book: the bat bites a man around the neck, and later does the same thing, tearing the head off; the bat sinks its fangs into a man's eyes and sucks his brains out; and the bat guts (rips open) a man and tears his upper body apart. So I think anyone who's good with Friday the 13th and some of the later Halloween films shouldn't be too grossed out by this book. I'd say if this book were to be made into a movie, it would most likely be R just for the graphic bat attacks.

Rating:
Summary: Bats
Review: Zindel's newest and last book depicts a boy and his father fighting a giant bat. 15-year old Jake, flies to the Amazon where his father is having a expedition. His father is a zoologist, a person who studies bats. 2 men have gone missing. Jake and Hanuma go to see where the men are and find out they have been devoured by bats. On the way back Hanuma is killed by a giant bat. {Hanuma screamed as his chest was torn open and his blood spilled onto the pathway}. Next is the cook, who meets a gruesome fate. Finally, after Rasdyr is killed Jake and his father set out to kill the bat.