River Monsters True Stories of the Ones That Didn’t Get Away: A Book That Proves That Jeremy Wade is Boss At Everything!

A Review By: Amelia

Before accidentally stumbling upon the nature/fishing documentary show River Monsters on the channel Animal Planet I had no idea that I should be so scared to go into fresh water lakes, nor that there was as perfect a human as the show’s host Jeremy Wade! Each episode of the show is brilliantly edited and really comes alive as part horror/part mystery/part thrilling drama! After becoming hooked on the show I looked for everything else I could find concerning Wade and found his book River Monsters True Stories of the Ones That Didn’t Get Away and, compared to the show, it does not disappointment as Wade goes even further beneath the surface and discloses the full details of how he tracks and catches some of the deadliest creatures on Earth.

The author of River Monsters, as mentioned above, is also the host of the television show by the same name: the undeniably amazing Jeremy Wade. Wade has a degree in zoology and spends his life travelling the world fishing, which is his one true passion. Wade’s journeys around the world have not been restricted to fishing though. Throughout his world travels he’s been detained as a suspected spy, caught malaria, been threatened at gunpoint, and survived a plane crash. He’s also fluent in Portuguese, as he spends so much time fishing in Brazil, and in French. He has true passion for what he does and is a talented television personality and writer.

River Monsters is in an essay type style with each fish Wade has chosen to talk about getting its own story. Each chapter unfolds an enthralling detective story, where fishermen’s tales of underwater man-eaters and aquatic killers are subjected to scientific scrutiny. Within each story he talks about, not only fishing, but experiences from his past, preparations for the journey, and really anything else that Wade wanted to include–his eloquent writing style blends everything together beautifully and in the end, it hardly matters what he’s talking about because it’s all just amazing! His life has been full and extraordinary and he has more than enough stories to fill this book and many more (which as a Jeremy Wade fan I really hope he does)!

My final thoughts on River Monsters: True Stories of the Ones That Didn’t Get Away are that it’s amazing! It’s written very thematically and Jeremy Wade is truly a gifted writer as his prose always comes off very cleverly, consciously, and–more often than not–just plain poetically! Wade’s writings are much more than just stories, River Monsters explores the real mysteries that still exist in the world and captures Wade’s obsession and his relentless pursuit of the truth within beautifully written prose.