As an ex-reporter and editor, I was a little concerned that author Harrison Phillips wasn’t going to provide 5W1H information in Psychoraptor, his latest novel about a hangry velociraptor run amok onboard a luxury cruise ship. 

The FW1H writing method (or Kipling Method) stands for “Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.” It was a great way to assemble data and present it in a straightforward manner. It’s an acronym that’s familiar to all journalists, ethicists, researchers and detectives. In my opinion, it’s also an important guideline for any author working on a novel. 

I wasn’t the only one initially worried about the lack of 5W1H in Phillips’s splatter raptor novel. Characters in the book had questions too. “Where had the velociraptor come from?” Laura Michaels wondered. “How was it even possible that such a creature was still alive?” 

All of it sounded like the plot of some shitty sci-fi movie to Laura, but the dinosaur had to have come from somewhere. How had it gotten on the ship? And more importantly, did someone bring it onboard intentionally?

Phillips answers some (but not all) of these 5W1H questions, but he waits until the very last chapter to do so. Laura and the rest of the ship’s passengers must contend with the inexplicable prehistoric predator with no context beyond basic survival. 

The Royal Sapphire was an elite cruise ship with 16 decks, 4 swimming pools, 12 restaurants and over 5,000 guests and 800 crew members. The author has a lot of fun imagining what kind of chaos a velociraptor could cause in such a situation. Maintenance workers, security guards, a gaggle of children and Sammy the Shark, the ship’s goofball mascot, all have memorable and fatal encounters with the dinosaur.

All this mayhem provides ample opportunity for Phillips to flex his writing skillz. His use of simile in particular is outstanding. Like this: “His insides slithering out of him, sinking down to the bottom of the pool like a cluster of necrotic eels nesting in a cloud of blood.”

The most memorable (and horrible) scene in Psychoraptor happens during a sexual encounter between a horny steward and stewardess. The two sweethearts experience an abrupt coitus interruptus when the dinosaur bursts into their cabin. 

“Sarah held her breath as the animal cocked its head to one side,” wrote Phillips. “It was looking at her, trying to figure her out. It blinked once, pounced on top of her and bit down on her face. Its teeth puncturing her cheeks, scraping against bone. When it pulled its head away, a mask of flesh was torn from her skull.” Splayed and naked upon her bed, Sarah screamed while watching the velociraptor eat her face. 

[ Psychoraptor / By Harrison Phillips / First Printing: July 2023 / ISBN: 9798852258762 ]