2.5 Stars

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with the ARC for this book.

During WWII, England, in the small coastal town of Deal, an unknown creature went on a killing spree. Now modern day, a team of archaeologists excavating a sunken ship comes across a sarcophagus. When it is opened, it releases the creature that terrorized the town decades ago. The story takes you on a thrilling tale of the creature's second killing spree.

This story is fast-paced. It takes place over only two days. You just have to get past the first 20 pages that are basically boat jargon. I can tell the author did a lot of research, but it became almost just fact dumps at the beginning of the book.

I really had to push through the beginning of this book because there was a lot of telling and no showing. It was play by plays of characters' actions/moves. It was almost like reading a screenplay. After you get past the setup of the story, the writing becomes normal. The dialogue scenes were the best written in this book.

The monster/creature had its own pov during this book, which was nice, but it did come very predictable. Also, I think the horror part about this book would have been the unknown. Everything got explained, whether in dialogue or the creature's pov.

I would not call this a horror book, more of a thriller. The creature was not the scariest part of this book; it was the government and how they are able to cover things up. The ending was nice, it wrapped everything up, and the epilogue had a nice little callback, but it was predictable.

I enjoyed this book once the pace picked up, but it took me way too long to read because I was not fully invested in it.

3.5 stars.

This was a smart creature feature. I would describe myself more as a psychological horror girlie, so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this as I got into it.

Deal is our setting, a small, seaside town in England. Jay and his research colleagues, one of whom happens to be his ex-wife Emma, are there to study a shipwreck, the Lady Lovibond. During the extraction of the wreckage from the sands, they discover a much newer shipwreck, less than a hundred years old, and can't help but investigate while waiting for the Lady Lovibond to be prepared ashore. They discover and extract a stone sarcophagus (secretly) and bring it ashore. Well, the government gets involved, the sarcophagus gets opened, and carnage ensues. The team inadvertently brought back an evil to Deal that had been sunk decades ago.

I found the beginning to be a bit slow with details of marine archaeology. That being said, I really enjoyed the scientific elements included throughout the novel, overall. My other main complaints are minor. I didn't feel like the female main characters were quite as fleshed out as Jay; they were on the backburner for a hunk of the plot. I felt that the secondary plot between Jay and Emma was underdeveloped and therefore the outcome a bit forced.

Once the book got going, I found the pacing to be great. I loved the inclusion of the creature's perspective interspersed throughout. There were some excellent plot twists. It was a fun horror thriller with some historical and sci-fi elements. I recommend to anyone who enjoys a good monster story.

Thank you to Cranthorpe Millner & NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my review.

It took me a while to get into this book but once I did, I found myself not wanting to put it down. I am so glad I read it but at the same time I am also kinda afraid of the dark now 😂I really enjoyed it

3.5 star rounded up to 4 ⭐

Chris Coppel's Lusus Naturae delivers an eerie, slow-burning horror tale set against the deceptively idyllic backdrop of Deal, a picturesque seaside town. Coppel does an excellent job juxtaposing postcard-perfect scenery with creeping dread, drawing the reader into a chilling what-if scenario that unfolds beneath sunlit skies and cobbled lanes.

The story’s monster is genuinely unsettling - a grotesque and hungry science experiment that brings real menace to the narrative. Coppel's strength lies in crafting palpable tension and a vivid sense of place.

That said, the pacing does falter at times. Certain sections felt overly drawn out, slowing the otherwise engaging momentum. While the premise is gripping and the creature horror well executed, some readers may find themselves wishing for a bit more urgency or action in the first half.

Still, Lusus Naturae succeeds as a moody and imaginative entry into the horror genre. Fans of atmospheric horror with a touch of classic creature-feature flair will find much to enjoy here. It’s not the most relentless novel, but it is a memorably creepy one.

I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley.

Wow! I have just finished this horror story and it was so good. I read late into the night (with the lights on!) to finish it.

The book follows the town of Deal and a monster that has a taste for humans. What I loved was that the story was told from both the monster, the people of Deal and the people brought in to help get rid of the monster.

I will be recommending this book. It's a good length, well written and I really enjoyed the story.

Well-written, researched well, compelling. I enjoyed it, and anyone wanting a gripping thriller would do well to read this.

Jay Sallinger is a marine researcher. While examining a shipwreck, he discovers another ship buried deep in the sand. On this boat is a stone box tied to the deck with leather straps and circled with chains. He and his team bring it to the surface. This will be a big mistake. What follows is terrifying for the victims of the Lusus Naturae (freak or abomination of nature.) The town is cut off, the military is involved, people drink too much and people die. Jay and what’s left of his team are in a cat and mouse game to see who or what will survive.

The best horror sneaks up on you. From the prologue, you know something is hunting the residents of the quaint seaside village of Deal. However, Chris Coppel gives you characters so well described and dimensional that you almost forget what’s lurking in the shadows. This is horror at its best. And for Coppel fans, there’s an Easter Egg hidden in the chapters. Enjoy but don’t read this at night. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Cranthorpe Millner Publishers and Chris Coppel for this ARC.

Lusus Naturae by Chris Coppel is one of those stories that creeps up on you—not with loud scares, but with that quiet, gnawing sense that something is deeply, unnaturally wrong. I wasn’t sure what I was stepping into at first, but it didn’t take long before the atmosphere fully wrapped around me, and I couldn’t look away.

The title alone sets the tone—a freak of nature, something that doesn’t belong. And that’s exactly how the story feels: uncanny, slightly off-kilter, like reality has been warped just enough to keep you on edge. It blends horror, science fiction, and speculative dread in a way that feels old-school in all the best ways, but also weirdly timely.

What struck me most was how Coppel makes the setting almost a character in itself. Whether it’s the isolation, the tension between characters, or the sheer sense of “otherness” lurking just outside the frame, there’s a constant push-and-pull between what’s real and what’s just beyond understanding. It’s a slow burn, but the payoff is deeply unsettling.

There’s a kind of moral and existential weight to the story, too. This isn’t just about monsters in the traditional sense—it’s about what happens when humanity plays with forces it doesn’t fully comprehend. There’s a deep, unsettling intelligence to it, the kind that sticks with you long after you finish the last page.

If you're into horror that leans cerebral but isn’t afraid to go visceral when it needs to, Lusus Naturae is a must-read. It’s eerie, thought-provoking, and just strange enough to leave you feeling slightly unmoored—in the best way possible.

I had high hopes based on the cover and description alone. I was expecting ultra-creepy, goosebump-inducing horror elements set against a small town backdrop. There were definitely moments of this — like the initial sarcophagus storage — and the Big Bad itself was delightfully gruesome. But it seemed to quickly settle into a fairly repetitive pattern of introducing a new character per chapter only to kill them off in exactly the same way. I liked the creature’s inner monologue, I liked the hint of banter throughout, the dynamic between the main trio was strong and it read really nicely, but altogether, the straightforward plot just didn’t quite hit in the way I’d have liked.