Hidden away underground are batches of killer spiders that show a nasty co-operation mode that spells danger in big red letters. Said batches are centuries old and just happen to be hatching out as our novel starts to run chilled fingers up the reader’s spine. You may need to check there’s nothing on the wall behind you. So we have spider experts, the U.S President and advisors, the military, and various citizens facing up to an apocalypse they couldn’t have seen coming. And hey, just when we think the authorities have got ahead of the hairy invaders things change … for the worse!

So author Ezekiel Boone has one of the best names going round in the business, oh and he has also written a damned fine apocalyptic novel that stands up against works by the likes of Graham Masterton or James Herbert. If you don’t like spiders then this book is going to be an arachnophobia nightmare for you; no we aren’t talking gigantic critters here, we’re talking skittering hordes of the bastards overwhelming everything in their collective path. And like any dark genre worth its salt author Boone lulls the reader into believing we may have come out of the dark and into the light before slamming that belief into the mud while rocking up the stakes the various characters are facing. Let’s break it down and see what Boone has humming under the bonnet.

Boone is one of those writers who isn’t going to get bogged down in philosophic exploration of the human condition, he is writing for his broad readership who want a fast moving plot with plenty of major events. While a couple of chapters of the book might be a tad long, plenty of character development there – we’ll get back to this point, for the main we are hitting warp nine and the book is rocking like there’s no tomorrow – which might be the case given the final chapter of the novel. Right from the first chapter, that introduces us to the menace, through the outbreak in the U.S and other Countries, the reader is left breathless as the narrative keeps things moving at a hectic pace. If you are after a fast page turner, then for sure you are in the right place.

Our major characters, and there are a bunch in this book, are all well-defined with identifiable traits that are not written in for the sake of the plot but are exposed to the reader in order for the reader to identify with individual characters. Yes, you are going to be concerned with the fate of various characters, which unfortunately isn’t going to be a factor in the novel. The major characters all survive till at least the next book in the trilogy, which does take the tension down a notch, let’s see how this pans out as things develop in the next novel Skitter.

There’s no lack of major scenes in this book, that range from the surprising to some grotesque moments that will have you cringing; how does a spider chewing its way out of a dude’s face catch you for a shock scene. Boone ain’t holding back, he may very well be relishing the splatter here. I’m not complaining about that by the way, stir it up Ezekiel, I’m completely on board the shock train here.  So we get nukes being used by the Chinese on their own territory, whatever works for you right? New Delhi being overrun, told in exacting detail with a couple of minor characters being engulfed. And that’s not even counting the U.S having arachnoid problems. Once again if you really don’t like spiders then this may not be the book for you, while Boone throws on some insane scenes, he keeps everything sort of in the reality of the book, given the mythos nothing is completely diving into the insane stew where horror losses its audience, Sharknado anyone!

I was hoping to talk about themes, or even sub-themes, but unfortunately we are not wandering into this territory with Boone’s book. The author is writing a Penny Dreadful and doesn’t divert from that requirement on any page. Now I know your literary types are going to scoff at this, but hey burger and fries guy over here, I’m here to be entertained not to muse on how many Angels can dance on the head of a pin, and other naval gazing mind games of similar ilk.

Well I for one enjoyed this novel and dug what was going down between the covers. Sure you are not going to find the book on the syllabus of your local college, because let’s face it no one from your local campus is rushing out to read those type of books over the weekend, but Boone gets you where you want to go in your read. The Hatching is for sure a page turner and comes highly recommended to anyone who just wants a creepy read over their weekend.