Hank Mondale. Private eye. Just when he's most desperate for a case Thomas Blake hires him to find out who's threatening his daughter's life. Whatever it is, it's not human. 
 A monster/detective story in the traditional sense. Literally the first half of the book is Hank's investigation into a string of seemingly unrelated homicides and missing persons. During this time, the book builds the character of Hank Mondale. But the book doesn't need to spend so much time establishing his character; we already know who he is: struggling to pay bills, has gambling problem, drinks too much, in debt, terrible with money, secretary is loyal in spite of her lack of a paycheck... Come on we've seen this kind of private eye a thousand times in nearly every detective novel ever written! Hank is a totally uninteresting person during this investigation because he is so stereotypical, which makes the first half of the book almost unnecessary. I came close to giving up-- 
 Until I reached the midpoint. Here the book changes to the point of view of the monster. Ah, NOW the book is interesting! It's fascinating to get inside the mind of this creature and understand from its point of view what's going on, and that's when I started caring what happens to these people. Including Hank. 
 The conclusion is a bit too simple, but it becomes a page-turner past the 50% mark and everything is tied up in the end. It's not perfect, but it is a satisfying read!