Benidorm is a seaside city on Spain’s eastern coast, famous for its long sandy beaches, striking skyline of high-rise hotels and lively nightlife. I’ve never been there, but it sounds like a lovely place to vacation.

That idyllic picture changed dramatically when giant prehistoric-looking crustaceans were spotted in the Mediterranean Sea. The shallows along the coast appeared alive—no longer a sea, but a moving carpet of armored bodies stretching from one end of the bay to the other. “The scene possessed a strange grandeur,” said author Mark Hobson, “biblical in scale, as if one of the ancient plagues had returned.”

Once on land, the mutant isopods moved methodically and with a peculiar mechanical precision. Up close they looked like something that didn’t belong in any version of the world we lived in.

The ensuing destruction in Benidorm was devastating. It was as if the creatures had emerged with a purpose—to reclaim the city’s shoreline and declare war on humanity.

Mark Ellison, on vacation with his two preteen kids, jumped into action right away. With just a hand axe, he somehow found a way to slice open a seven-foot-long isopod covered in segmented armor plates that overlapped like a medieval cuirass.

Impressed with his martial prowess, the authorities recruited Mark for further crustacean-bashing duties. And that, for better or worse, was how he became the reluctant hero of Beachhead isopod Invasion. He spends the rest of the novel killing isopods, protecting his kids and pining for his hotel’s sexy customer rep.

There’s an assortment of oddball characters caught up in the maelstrom of the Benidorm invasion. In fact, the novel’s opening is similar to a random episode of The White Lotus (or perhaps The Love Boat or Fantasy Island).

Possibly my favorite character of them all is Jodie Vale. When she’s first introduced, she’s portrayed as a silly flibbertigibbet—a cute but vapid TikTok content creator documenting her vacation and trying to attract as many followers and likes as possible.

But later, Jodie discovers a connection between the mutant crustaceans and a local company illegally dumping biohazard muck into the surrounding bay. “This is one of those things governments and large corporations cover up,” she realizes. “Just like Area 51 but … wetter. Deep-sea experiments, toxic waste, monsters—pick your own storyline, honestly.”

At this point Jodie isn’t simply watching the story unfold; she’s become a central player in it. A half-million viewers watch as she puts the pieces together IRL.

Initially, she was just a cipher representing a generation of navel-gazing social media creators. But in the end, she gains my respect by reinventing herself as an unlikely investigative journalist. Her character arc is a pleasant surprise.

[ Beachhead Isopod Invasion / By Mark Hobson / First Printing: October 2026 / ISBN: 9798177921853 ]