History Literature / MonsterHunterInternational

* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler:Asag uses Lococo's body to trick Owen into trusting him. In a twist though, Lococo was already dead when Asag got to him; he just put on the corpse]].

* ActionGirl: Julie and Holly. ''Alpha'' adds Heather to the roster. They may all be attractive, but their primary purpose is to kick unearthly ass, which they do with relish.

* BadassGrandpa: Raymond Shackleford III, Julie's grandfather. [[spoiler:Being Ray III's dad, Earl's one too, though he doesn't look it]].

It has also spawned a RolePlayingGame using the [[TabletopGame/{{Champions}} Hero System]].

* OurOrcsAreDifferent: They work for MHI as healers and as the pilot for their Mi-24 Hind; each has a special skill that makes them the best at what they do (Gretchen = Ultimate Healer; Skippy = Ultimate Hind Pilot; Edward = Awesome Sword-Master). In ''Vendetta'', Owen's brother speculates that this is the true origin of [[BadassDriver The ]][[Series/TopGear Stig]].

* CoversAlwaysLie: Owen is shown on the cover wearing black armor. In the book, his armor is brown, and he derides Grant's black suit.

* OurOrcsAreDifferent: They work for MHI as healers and as the pilot for their Mi-24 Hind; each has a special skill that makes them the best at what they do (Gretchen = Ultimate Healer; Skippy = Ultimate Hind Pilot). In ''Vendetta'', Owen's brother speculates that this is the true origin of [[BadassDriver The ]][[Series/TopGear Stig]].

---> '''Owen:''' Dry wash this!

* InsultToRocks: "I'd call him a rat bastard, but that would be an insult to rats! And bastards!" (Rigby, concerning Krasnov)

* AuthorTract: While not as hamhanded as it could be, don't expect any character who is both sympathetic and competent have anything nice to say about the government, ever. On the flip side, government characters tend to be inept, deceptive bullies. The last is part of the MCB agent operating procedure, however, to prevent widespread belief in the supernatural [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve strengthening the forces of Evil.]]\\

* EnemyMine: Earl, Stark, and Nikolai, all of whom have reason to hate one another, team up to take out the Alpha.

* HeroicBystander: The team is saved from attacking gargoyles by a neighbor who sees the commotion and snipes out the gargoyles.

* SelectiveObliviousness: The characters frequently make comments along the lines that government can't do anything right, that things would be better without the government, that taxes are basically the government stealing their hard-earned money... that they get from the government.

* LaserGuidedKarma: In the first book, Owen Pitt's introduction to the world beneath TheMasquerade is facing off against a werewolf. Ultimately he kills the werewolf by [[DestinationDefenestration knocking it out the broken window on the 14th floor of an office building]], after which it and the desk used for the shove [[CarCushion crashes down on a double-parked Lincoln Navigator]].

* MonsterProtectionRacket: It's revealed that [[spoiler: Hood used to work for MHI, and was secretly using necromancy to cause zombie outbreaks for his team to put down during slow periods]].

** Our main character even has two: "Owen", named after the submachine gun and "Zastava". The latter the mentioned to be a car company in the book, though they make guns, too. [[spoiler: Considering that the name is a criterion for being the Chosen One and "Owen" is quite inconspicuous while "Zastava" is not, it may be a deliberate attempt at obfuscation by the author.]]

* MemeticBadass: In-universe, Franks is seem as one.

** Also appears in ''Monster Hunter Nemesis'', in reference to [[spoiler: the military training Franks has received. Given that he's a nigh-unstoppable killing machine who first served under '''George Washington''', he's been trained in ''everything'' the military can offer.]]

* DepletedPhlebotinumShells: The special Babba Yaga magic rounds for a Mosin-Nagant that Earl finds. One round causes normal werewolves to explode.

* {{Gorn}}: Taken {{Up to Eleven}} when Earl and a local drive a snow cutter (think a combine-sized snowblower) through a mass of undead werewolves. Earl, who's no stranger to carnage himself, pronounces the resulting slurry of werewolf as the most disgusting thing he ever seen.

* InsistentTerminology: Travis, who was part of Special Task Force Unicorn with Earl during Vietnam, was not a minotaur. He was a bullman.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: For some of the Hunters, the ''Nachtmar'' forcing them to face their greatest fears actually turns out to be therapeutic. They're able to relive the first moments they faced the supernatural, realize that they [[TookALevelInBadass have taken a level in badass]] since then, and proceed to dispatch those fears without a second thought. An especially notable case happens with Lacoco whose greatest fear is [[spoiler: Owen. Before either of them became Hunters, beat Lacoco almost to death in an illegal fight. By creating a monstrous illusion of Owen as Lacoco saw him back then, the ''Nachtmar'' allowed Lacoco to work out his anger at Owen, accept that Owen is no longer the same person he was back then, and move on so he and Owen could work together]].

* ShootOutTheLock: Owen uses [[ICallHerVera Abomination]] to shoot out the lock on a fire exit that blocking his path into a building. The ricochet issue is addressed by the narrative, as is the fact that there would normally be a special breacher round to be used for the task, but it's unfortunately unavailable at that moment.

* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:Agent Franks]] in the first two parts of the book. [[spoiler:At first you, the reader, might think that the interrogatory where Franks is being held is because he somehow was caught by the government. But it actually is the afterlife where Franks is being judged by his sins.]]

* SnowedIn: A supernaturally charged blizzard, cold enough to make a ''werewolf'' chilly, locks down the town, even to the extent of disabling [[SuperCellReception satphones]].

MHI is a contemporary fantasy/horror/GunPorn novel written by Creator/LarryCorreia about a group of professional monster hunters. Correia's stated goal was to combine BMovie monster tropes, but have the characters not be complete idiots. Consequently, in order to still present a threat, the monsters are much more powerful than in most B-movies, and the Hunters respond in kind. [[GrenadeLauncher Grenade launchers]]? Check. [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter Fully-automatic shotgun]]? Check. Claymore mines? Check.

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Owen pulls off a variant of this when he [[spoiler resets time by five minutes during the ambush at Natchy Bottom. Since the ''entire world'' was affected, this caused no small amount of chaos, and is brought up several times in later books.]]

It has also spawned a RolePlayingGame using the [[TabletopGame/Champions Hero System]].

* OurElvesAreBetter: Subverted. The elves live in the Enchanted Forest, a trailer park in rural Mississippi, and Queen Ilrondelia fits every WhiteTrash stereotype in the book [[http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/tanya-princess-of-the-elves/ to a sickening degree.]] It's implied that their European ancestors fit the High Elf archetype better.

* ChurchMilitant: A reference is made to the Vatican's own team of Hunters.

* DarkIsNotEvil: The orcs wear mostly black, have warty green-grey skin, yellow eyes and tusks but are definitely good guys

* FantasticNuke: The [[spoiler:warding stones]] function this way activated in a reality with differing physics.

* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: The vast majority of the undead fall into this as they fall under the "humans are tasty" clause. Many other creatures do as well, like fishmen which like to [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong lay eggs in live human beings]]. While the government takes this stand in general against most non-humans, they're aware that not every supernatural being are inherently incapable of getting along with people, they just use it for black mail.

* ImplacableMan: Captain Thrall is very durable.

* LovecraftLite: There are some things that can boil one's mind and end his sanity, but if you meet one, just pump it with [[MoreDakka dakka]].

** One team is unavailable when Earl calls all Hunter Teams to Alabama to deal with the threat, due to hunting a luska in the Bahamas. Owen is told he's better off not knowing what it is; the very name of the thing makes [[TheBigGuy Sam Haven]] shudder.
** Despite repeated requests, Earl refuses to talk about the disaster in 1995 that killed over ''ninety'' hunters.

* SelectiveObliviousness: The characters frequently make comments along the lines that government can't do anything right, that things would be better without the government, that taxes are basically the government stealing their hard-earned money.

** The vast majority of MHI recruits wash out of training, which ranges from grueling calisthenics and combat training to butchering cadavers and crawling through pipes of sewage and entrails.

%% * ArtifactOfDoom
%% * AngelsDevilsAndSquid

* ChekhovsGunman: In the Appleton Asylum there is a patient who is locked in a solitary in a catatonic state. He and his backstory of how he was found in this way after his whole team disappeared are briefly mentioned in the first book, but he will become a major plot point important hole in the next book. [[spoiler:The BigBad of Monster Hunter Vendetta was the responsible for his state and the perishment of his team]].

* BiggerBad: [[spoiler: the Dreaded Overlord of the [[EldritchAbomination Old Ones]], to whom the leader of the Condition is working to]].

* FluffyTheTerrible: Mr Trashbags. A baby [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos shoggoth]] that Julie named as a child.

* TheMole: Much of the first two-thirds of the book is spent trying to root out a mole at MHI headquarters.

* OurGnomesAreWeirder: They live in the Projects, and will bust a cap in yo' ass if you call them lawn ornaments. They watched too much Gangsta Rap...probably just for the reason the author could come up with the mother of all {{PunnyName}}: G-Nome.

* TheChessmaster: The BigBad [[spoiler:Martin Hood]], leader of the Condition. He is always thinking a few steeps ahead the heroes, for example when the heroes found out that he had an spy on MHI he had [[spoiler:an entire large scale attack to the compound]] planned. Also in the past he avoided being caught by [[spoiler:faking his own death by swapping bodies with someone else]]. He was also the one that indirectly caused [[spoiler:the temporary shutdown of MHI on 1995 by tricking Ray Shackleford into opening the rift to the [[EldritchAbomination Old Ones]]' dimension]].

* RedOniBlueOni: Invoked literally. The heroes have to defeat a pair of rampaging oni, one stronger and the other more devious, who attack a heavy metal concert.

* FishOutOfWater: Earl, born and raised in [[DeepSouth Alabama]], in Michigan, where it is snowing.

* TastesLikeChicken: Averted with the luska. Earl doesn't care for the taste, but he was ravenously hungry on a full moon. He specifically states that it tasted like ahi tuna.

* ''Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge'' is the first of three or more MHI novels written by Creator/JohnRingo with help from Correia, in the form of the memoirs of a hunter from TheEighties operating in Washington state, and later in [[TheBigEasy New Orleans]]. ''Grunge'' was released in August 2016, ''Monster Hunter Memoirs: Sinners'' in December 2016, and as of the new year the date for ''Monster Hunter Memoirs: Saints'' has yet to be determined.

* NeverFoundTheBody: GenreSavvy readers probably guessed that [[spoiler: Edward's]] HeroicSacrifice would turn out to be an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome instead.