Beware All Spiderwebs - The Hatching Review

TITLE: The Hatching
AUTHOR: Ezekiel Boone
PUBLISHER: Atria
PUBLISHING DATE: July 5, 2016

FROM GOODREADS: “It’s been too long since someone reminded us that spiders are not just to be feared, but also may well spell doom for mankind. Fortunately, Ezekiel Boone has upped the ante on arachnophobia. This is a fresh take on classic horror, thoroughly enjoyable and guaranteed to leave your skin crawling.” —Michael Koryta, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Wish Me Dead

An astonishingly inventive and terrifying debut novel about the emergence of an ancient species, dormant for over a thousand years, and now on the march.

Deep in the jungle of Peru, where so much remains unknown, a black, skittering mass devours an American tourist whole. Thousands of miles away, an FBI agent investigates a fatal plane crash in Minneapolis and makes a gruesome discovery. Unusual seismic patterns register in a Kanpur, India earthquake lab, confounding the scientists there. During the same week, the Chinese government “accidentally” drops a nuclear bomb in an isolated region of its own country. As these incidents begin to sweep the globe, a mysterious package from South America arrives at a Washington, D.C. laboratory. Something wants out.

The world is on the brink of an apocalyptic disaster. An ancient species, long dormant, is now very much awake.

MY THOUGHTS: Ever have a book call to you? Like you know when you first see it, you have to read it? That's kind of what happened with "The Hatching." I knew from the beginning it was a horror novel, which immediately piqued my interest. Not to mention that I've not read much regarding spiders and come on, look at that cover! Creepy.

"The Hatching" basically tells the story of a spider-type apocalypse (for lack of a better word). In Peru, a 10,000 year old spider sac is discovered and sent to a lab in D.C. Melanie, an arachnologist, along with her grad students, manage to get the sac to hatch and what transpires is a strand of cannibalistic and predatory spider. This book jumps all over the place and I know a blogging friend of mine had difficulty with that, but it didn't really bother me much. While reading we travel from Peru to Minnesota to D.C. to California to India and to China - you get the picture. I feared this book may have had a lot of scientific jargon for me which might have lost me, but the scientific and military aspects only enhanced the story.

While I don't know if I found this book really "scary," I did find it horrifying. And I can say that I've never been afraid of spiders but I can't look at them the same after reading this book. The characters are great for the most part, and I really enjoyed the story of the survivalists in Desperation, California (is this a King tribute) and the FBI agent and his family in Minnesota. Not to mention, the involvement from the female president of the United States. I found Melanie a tad bit annoying because she seemed really worried about who she was and was not having sex with, but overall, it wasn't enough to affect my rating.

I loved this book and it was just what I needed while on "stay-cation." I can't imagine any horror lover at least not giving it a chance. However, be warned, there is definitely a sequel coming, which I did not know when I started, and I was literally screaming at the end of this book because I want it NOW!

Note: I received this book from Netgalley and Atria Publishing in exchange for an honest review and all I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you. I wish Mr. Boone all the success in the world and look forward to whatever he presents in the future.  

RATING: 5 PAWS 

BOOKER T'S THOUGHTS: My mother has lost her mind I tell ya! SPIDERS!!! YUK!!!!

DISCLAIMER - Not me...how humiliating (Booker T the dog)