The first wave of spiders has inexplicable died out, the reason why isn’t fully understood besides the beasties burning themselves out. Various isolated groups around the world are working on the problem, but there doesn’t appear to be a solution to the massive amount of egg sacks deposited in infected areas. Can Government forces burn out the sacks before they hatch or is something even worse than the first wave waiting to explode onto the world? The U.S Government is forced to take gradually more drastic measures as the spider plague breaks through the quarantine zones, eggs being carried by infected people fleeing the sites of spider infestation. A few solutions have been developed by diverse groups, fire barriers to the eight legged freaks, a tonal weapon that appears to turn the spiders as docile as they are ever going to get, but is the final solution going to be scorched earth? The Chinese have nuked half their Country and the U.S may have to resort to the same solution, or elect Trump, which will have all thinking creatures fleeing the U.S. Hold onto your knickers kids, things are about to get a lot worse for humanity as we face an extinction level event.

The second book in Ezekiel Boone’s killer spider trilogy kicks off directly from events in the first book, though humanity has time to catch its collective breath as the spider invasion appears to have burnt itself out naturally. Of course the reader is aware this isn’t going to be the case, and all those egg sacks, particular the warm sticky pulsating ones are time bombs ready to go off. In L.A it’s a race against time to see if the military can’t burn out the sacks before they hatch and unleash even more death and destruction. In other parts of the world people are breathing easy as it appears that the horror is over. Of course China, Delhi, and Rio are still in shock after massive human lost and the destruction of cities and country side. Surprisingly some areas of the planet are spider free, or appear to be, but of course the invasion has only just begun.

For well over two thirds of Skitter, name derived from the sound the spiders make as they scuttle around, Boone dispenses with the obvious threat and focuses on the survivors, those working to find a solution, those simply trying to survive, and of course individuals who are trying to take advantage of the situation. I was actually nodding my head in approval at the approach, far too many horror novels spend time describing whatever apocalypse the reader finds themselves in, without showing the impact on a national and international level. For example, in Romero’s Dead Universe, we get the survivors and their attempts to cope with the zombie apocalypse, but we get no view of the wider world and what other societies are doing to cope with total chaos. Boone is focused on the human element, and highlights both the best of humanity and of course the worse we as a species have to offer, in particular the working towards solutions to the arachnid problem. Of course there are plenty of individual characters that are simply reacting to the situation they find themselves in; I particularly liked the army unit and their relationship to a chocolate Labrador.

Of course the final third of the novel does revisit the spiders, and in particular puts some shape to things that had been hinted at in this, and the previous book. We have an almost new breed of spider, the one with a red stripe as opposed to the jet black one, and an even more frightening species which I will leave the reader to discover for themselves. The spiders are once again on the move, and a few people are noticing some frightening behaviour elements of the new arachnid species. With another novel in the series, things are going to get a lot direr before maybe a light at the end of this particular web encrusted tunnel.

Where Ezekiel Boone gets things right with Skitter is having his major characters from the first novel return and also introducing a few new characters to keep things bubbling away nicely. We get the Presidential Whitehouse, survivalists in the desert, FBI agents, and a religious cult leader. There’s certainly a hell of a lot of diverse characters, saying that in a good way, on the page that should have even the most cynical reader lapping up the narrative. Surprisingly Boone doesn’t lose the reader with multiple characters, he writes each character as unique with differing traits to other characters, and with enough sympathy for the main characters to have the reader high fiving their reading group. Assuming of course there are reading groups that can handle killer spider novels, just saying, possibly your Aunt Edna won’t be down for this one.

Similar to the first novel, The Hatching for those who aren’t paying attention, Boone litters his plot with tales within the main narrative. Whether this is in backwards U.S.A or Oslo or Japan, Boone has something going down that even the great Stephen King must be nodding his head in approval of. While the individual stories, that are outside the main narrative, appear on the surface to be adding a broader vision of what the main plot is developing, the Author uses these vignettes to propel the main narrative without having his major characters’ voice developments. Please take note Hollywood, if you are showing something you don’t need a main character to then explain what we have already seen.

I guess the question on everyone’s mind, well if it isn’t shut up I’m doing the review here, is where is Boone going with his final entry in the trilogy. Guess all roads point to Peru, as discovered by our friends in Scotland, there is method behind the apparent arachnid madness – as discovered in Japan and hinted at by Shotgun, and for sure we are going to get further spider horror. There’s a few other threads being weaved, but I have no idea where these might be going in the overall trilogy narrative, Boone keeping his cards close to his chest there. For sure I’ll be getting on my read with the third novel, but hey if pursuing Ezekiel, a large book with short stories set in the spider apocalypse wouldn’t go a miss, just saying Bro.

Ezekiel Boone had me with the first book in the trilogy, not sure if we have a name for the trilogy, and the second novel held up the standard the author had set himself. Loved the stories within the main narrative, the further development of his main characters, and the introduction of new characters. For those wondering, yes the pacing is still spot on, and yeah we have some colour added with a diverse crew of secondary characters, and the horror is still being painted and built upon. I’m not saying Boone is the greatest author to hit the horror mansion since James Herbert but by hell he can write a decent dark genre read. I’m once again going to recommend, hey who doesn’t want to dig into a novel about killer spiders – and hell yeah we have one written in Australia coming up, because Boone knows how to use a word processor like it was invented for him. If you haven’t got into the trilogy yet, then you are missing a treat, Boone has created one of the great spider orientated outings here.