The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone Book Review

• The Hatching.
• Ezekiel Boone.
• 352 pages.
• Fiction / Horror / Thriller / Post-Apocalyptic.
• My Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5.

Book Blurb:

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.

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Book Review:

I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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Do you often read books that contain elaborate stories full of interconnecting and interweaving threads, sort of like a spider’s web if you will, a veritable tapestry of important goings on and strands to keep up with and follow??

Do you often get bogged down in the layers of characterisation and development as you learn more and more about the characters involved in the book you are reading. Growing to either love them or hate them?? Caring about their fates and wanting those you like to survive and those you don’t to suffer a suitably heinous demise??

Do you tire of becoming invested in the book instead of just reading and occasionally think, I could really go for something that is just simple fun??

I know I do and so I offer to you….The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone, a book that forgoes the majesty of the multifaceted story and detailed character development. Instead replacing it with millions of spiders in a book that is all about the arachnid rampage and the devastation it causes.

Around the globe a long dormant race of archaic arachnids start appearing, hence the book’s title ‘The Hatching’ as an egg is discovered that is 10,000 years old and miraculously hatches. At the same time the latent spiders start appearing in a variety of countries, first Peru, then China, India, a Scottish island and also across America, with America being the books main focus.

The invasion causes havoc and destruction as the spiders food source of choice just so happens to be humans! Yes, those cute and hairy creepy crawlies that you probably have countless amounts of hidden around the house, enjoy nothing more than devouring humans, the little critters obviously like raw sausage! 🙂

The story takes place over six days, showing how fast the infestation of death-dealing spiders manifests and the ensuing panic and terror that it causes. With the pandemic spreading the world goes to hell in a handbasket in under a week.

The lack of in-depth characters doesn’t detract from the book at all. After being introduced some quickly end up as just fodder and food for the spiders, but there is slight development for a few as Boone fleshes out the main characters, giving them some needed back story and growth even if it’s only minor. But this is a tale about the spiders and their rampaging destruction, in The Hatching the arachnids are the star of the book.

The pacing is spot on for the story being told by Boone, with the vast majority of the chapters being short, we flit from location to location and character to character in fairly quick succession keeping the pages turning and the story moving forward.

Creepy in places but not outright scary with a few grisly scenes, Boone does a great job of conveying the threat of the spiders.

The ending felt like the right way to close out the book and this first part of the tale while simultaneously shouting TO BE CONTINUED! And I can’t wait for the sequel in Skitter to see where Boone takes his story.

The Hatching isn’t a literary masterpiece of a meaningful story written with poetic or even flowery prose. What it is, is just a straightforward but well written and enjoyable read, it’s not subtle but it is fun and sometimes, that’s all you need.

While I was reading I kept thinking, what a great film or programme it would make, be it a cheesy low-budget creature feature akin to the cult Piranha and Sharknado type movies or a more serious high-budget TV series. I finished The Hatching in just two days, it’s only a short read but even for me as a slow reader I devoured it, loving every second of my time spent reading it.

It’s a simple premise that Boone executes really well and I found The Hatching to be a frenetic, fast paced and thoroughly entertaining book.

Recommended.

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Purchase:

Amazon UK  /  Amazon US  /  The Book Depository

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