Cody Rexell and the Death Worm

The story opens in 1959 Montana. Bill Simms wants to develop his land into a kind nature resort but he needs an investor. He taps his rich friend John Rogers. Together, they go out to the land by Simms’s lake and find more than they expected. There’s a localized ground disturbance and then a giant worm! A death worm! So obviously, after enough people have disappeared down into this wormy hole in the Montana ground, the government authorities are called in. They decide they need expert assistance, like the assistance that only Cody Rexell can provide.

Have you ever watched one of those movies that is so bad that it’s good in a ‘let’s poke fun at it’ kind of way? I bet you have a list in your head. Well, this book is like those movies. Nothing about it is plausible at all and there are cliches all over the place. Still, for most of it I was amused because I felt I could freely groan away at it.

Cody Rexell, the bad boy hero of this story, is a large muscly man who has a no non-sense attitude and is currently incarcerated at Alcatraz. He gets to face off with President Eisenhower as he negotiates the terms of his assistance in the matter of the Montana Death Worm. He’s given a subcutaneous tracker, a minder, and the freedom to call the shots. So off to Texas they go to a grungy bar for a steak. The story turns into one brawl after another as Rexell visits old haunts and gathers a few allies (like his big dog Magnum).

There was only one female character in this story, Marion, a waitress at the bar that was being hassled by some bikers. While that was predictable for this story it was still a disappointment to see the female gender so under represented. Then there was hardly any giant worm. Finally, after all the brawling is done, we head back to Montana and the giant worm. Things happened very fast and before I knew it, the problem was resolved. I was really hoping for more Death Worm. sniffle.

I won a copy from the narrator in a giveaway contest.

Narration: S. W. Salzman did a good job on this book. He had a variety of regional accents for the characters and he kept them all distinct. There was some music at the start and end of the story that was exciting and set the tone. However, there’s this scene where Rexell is stalking something large and dangerous and the music is suspenseful, but then the scene moves into pure action while the music stayed with this slower, suspenseful track that no longer suited what was happening in the moment.