Black Creek

Lamberson (Human Monsters) aims squarely at fans of classic monster movies in this derivative horror novel. The opening is promising, as the author gradually reveals oddities experienced by the residents of Black Creek Village, N.Y., near Niagara Falls. First, teacher Paul Goodman observes a wasp the size of a dragonfly trapped near his window, but it escapes before it can be studied. Other strange creatures are spotted in the area, and an elderly resident of an assisted living facility reports a Peeping Tom. Things come to a head when the area is ravaged by the convergence of three powerful storms, and the chaos is taken advantage of by someone, or something, that begins to claim the lives of some villagers. There isn’t much mystery about what the cause of the mayhem is; the epigraph quotes a New York State investigative report on the environmental damage at the nearby neighborhood of Love Canal. The carnage is not for weak stomachs, but its emotional power would be greater had Lamberson done more to develop his characters. (Mar.)