By Kaylie Seed
Umboi Island is the third installment of the Creature X Mysteries series. Readers are reacquainted with Laura Reagan, host of the show Creature X, as she decides to head to Papua New Guinea with her team. Laura and her team are attempting to track down a pterosaur called a Ropen, that supposedly survived extinction. As with the two previous novels in this series, a body shows up—but this time it is someone from the team's past. Similar to the other novels in this series, it is a whodunit plot but this time with a “locked door” element, as Laura and her team are stuck on an island with a murderer.
Laura's character development takes a different turn in this third novel. While in the past two books she came across as a team player, in Umboi Island she is beginning to take risks that could hurt her team because she is hungry to solve mysteries. Despite the shift in Laura’s character arc, readers will still enjoy her story. There are numerous secondary characters, and much like the other two novels the characters feel underdeveloped and cramped. If there were a smaller cast of secondary characters it would be easier for the reader to remember who is who, and also give the opportunity for the characters to shine in their own right.
Readers may be expecting more cryptozoology throughout this series but it’s a tad underwhelming in that aspect. Meant to be read as more of a mystery, the Creature X Mysteries series consists of human interactions through mysteries rather than people searching for cryptids. Dupuis does a fantastic job at describing the surroundings in Umboi Island and throughout the entire series. Readers may go into this series thinking there is more cryptozoology than there actually is; instead, they will be met with a series of mysteries of the human kind.
Thank you to Dundurn Press for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.