By: Ezekiel Boone
The Hatching, #1
ISBN: 9781501125041
Publisher: Atria
Publication Date: 7/5/2016
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 4 Stars An astonishingly inventive and terrifying debut novel about the emergence of an ancient species, dormant for over the 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 Review
A special thank you to Atria and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Ezekiel Boone delivers his debut and first in the series THE HATCHING — gory, creepy crawly vibes, an apocalyptic-type survival story of horror which will send you running for safety. If you like terrifying, danger, hair-raising, skin-crawling madness and those nasty spider creatures, this one is for you. Arachnophobia: Pathological fear or loathing of spider. An ancient species. A black mass. Deep in the jungle of Peru, (outside Manu National Park), a guide Miguel is leading a group of Americans. Five Americans. Three women. Two men. A trusty bodyguard. An FBI Agent, Mike Rich investigates a fatal plane crash in Minneapolis. Bill Anderson, the billionaire owner of Henderson Tech, a wealthy Minnesota based company. Terrorism? However, upon closer investigation, something inside Henderson’s face. The dead man’s flesh. Think "Orphan Black." A bomb. A mysterious package from South America arrives in Washington, DC. Professor, Melanie Guyer received a FedEx package from a man working on an archaeology dig in Nazca, Peru. A disaster. An earthquake? The blackness. Spiders. Egg sac. Flesh-eating spiders. Breeding. What has caused this dormant ancient species to start hatching? They want out of the eggs. How can they be stopped? How many people will die? This was one creepy read. I am not a fan of spiders, horror, or apocalyptic; however, with all the hype surrounding THE HATCHING, sometimes you have to step outside your box and test the waters and take a peak (with closed eyes). Entertaining, a Stephen King classic horror, sure the author will receive rave reviews for his boldness and creativity—clearly there will be a huge market for this terrifying fiction; however, think I will pass on round two and salvage my nerves. Reminds me of a old school childhood movie which caused nightmares and fears for weeks afterwards: (1963) movie Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” (A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people). Everytime I heard birds thought they were coming through the ceiling. My mom said I had nightmares every night about turkeys chasing me before the age of five. Not sure the meaning of this…so try and stay away from creatures and monsters in the night. Don’t really have money or time for therapy at this time. FEAR An unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. This is THE HATCHING!
Review Links:
Amazon
Advance Praise
"What Peter Benchley did for sharks, James Herbert did for rats and Michael Crichton did for dinosaurs, Ezekiel Boone does for those eight-legged freaks that lurk in dark corners of our houses. The Hatching is a full-throttle pulse-pounder that will keep you up all night feverishly flipping its pages--and make you check for webs spun under your bed before you reluctantly turn off the lights." - Nick Cutter, author of The Troop and The Deep
"The Hatching is old school global plague horror of the freakiest sort. A deft and nasty thriller." - Andrew Pyper, author of The Damned and The Demonologist
“This novel should come with a warning label: The Hatching is scary as hell. And addictively fun.” (Benjamin Percy, critically acclaimed author of THE DEAD LANDS, RED MOON, and THE WILDING)
“The Hatching is a hair-raising thriller that reads like the lovechild of Independence Day and World War Z, but is creepier than both....Every once in a while something comes along that everyone will be talking about. This will be one of those books!" (The Rappologist)
“An apocalyptic extravaganza of doom and heroism…addictive.” (Publishers Weekly)
“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 best selling author of THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD)
“I do not like spiders at all, so The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone was a must read for me…This debut novel rocked my socks off and then made me put them back on...quickly ...and my shoes too.” (bloglovin.com)
"What Peter Benchley did for sharks, James Herbert did for rats and Michael Crichton did for dinosaurs, Ezekiel Boone does for those eight-legged freaks that lurk in dark corners of our houses. The Hatching is a full-throttle pulse-pounder that will keep you up all night feverishly flipping its pages--and make you check for webs spun under your bed before you reluctantly turn off the lights." (Nick Cutter, author of The Troop and The Deep)
"The Hatching is old school global plague horror of the freakiest sort. A deft and nasty thriller." (Andrew Pyper, author of The Damned and The Demonologist)
“You know those people who claim spiders are more afraid of us than we are of them? When it comes to The Hatching, they lied. Great gory fun - and creepy, in every sense of the word...” (John Connolly, #1 Internationally Bestselling Author)
“Peter Benchley (with an assist from Spielberg) scared everyone out of the water with Jaws. Hitchcock showed us how terrifying birds can be. Michael Crichton's Congo went overboard on gorillas . . . Add Boone to the list. He has given everyone more reason to fear spiders.” (Men Reading Books)
“Guys, this book is TERRIFYING. I felt incredibly itchy while reading it, and snuck constant furtive glances at the corners of my room in case a carnivorous spider decided to show up. This is not for the faint of heart” (Lipstick and Libraries)
About the Author
I live in upstate New York with my wife and kids. Whenever I travel and say I'm from New York, people think I mean NYC, but we live about three hours north of New York City. Our house is five minutes outside of a university town. We're far enough out of town that, at night, it's dark. No. Darker than that.
Dark enough that, if you're not careful, you might fall off the small cliff at the edge of my property. If you're lucky, the water will be up enough to break your fall. If you're not lucky, please sign a waiver before you come to visit.
I've got two unruly dogs who are mostly friendly. Well, that's not true. The part about them being unruly is true, but one of them is the most friendly dog you've ever met, and the other dog ... isn't. They are good writing partners, though they spend a lot of their day curled up in front of the wood burning stove and ignoring me. Unless I'm making lunch. They pay attention to me then.
THE HATCHING is Ezekiel Boone's first book, but it's not actually *my* first book. I also write under the name Alexi Zentner. Alexi Zentner's books are pretty different from Ezekiel Boone's. Read More
