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Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: 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.
I hate spiders. No, I seriously, seriously HATE spiders! So, why you may ask, would I choose to read a book about killer flesh-eating arachnids? Um, I’m pleading temporary insanity. So, The Hatching has been a much-hyped book for the last several months, and I’m happy to say that for the most part it delivers.
The premise is that there’s these ancient man-eating spiders that for some reason are now hatching all over the world. There’s no explanation that’s ever provided as to why they’re appearing now, but it doesn’t really matter. What’s important is that no where is safe. Not China, the jungles of Peru, the Middle East, nor even LA! These buggers travel in shipping containers, planes, and in some truly disgusting cases, people’s bodies! Ewwww!
To make matters worse, they can even become airborne thanks to the super-strong spider silk they shoot from their bodies.
Nothing can stop this munching menace, not even nukes! In the midst of all the carnage though, there’s some wonderfully humorous passages thanks to a group of survivalists living out in the California desert. They’ve prepared for everything including a zombie apocalypse, but they didn’t see this coming! Except for the survivalists, the other characters are pretty much the standard type you see in horror movies and books: The politicians, the military, the earnest FBI agent the brilliant scientist, etc. None of them really stand out but that’s okay because it’s the spiders that are the stars here!
The ending makes it clear that these critters have an endgame, and that the bloody attacks detailed in this book are just the beginning. Despite some wooden characters and a few plot holes, I really enjoyed The Hatching and appreciated that it never pretends to be something it’s not. It’s just a scary, creepy fun tale that will leave you with the heebie-jeebies and have you searching your house for eight-legged critters.
The sequel Skitter is due out next year and I’m quite looking forward to it. I recommend this to any fan of “nature running amok” stories, who doesn’t mind graphically gruesome scenes. Since I’ve sadistically tormented you all with creepy-crawly gifs, I’m going to leave you with this lovely picture. Never say I don’t care about y’all!
KaboodleMum said:
Sounds scary lol
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
MOWAHAHA!😈
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KaboodleMum said:
The gifs didn’t help, I’ll be honest 😆
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Sorry. I do like sharing my pain though!😈
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lkeke35 said:
Aaaahhhh!!
You are evil, and you must be destroyed!
But seriously, I liked the book okay. I’m interested in what the sequel will bring. My review gave it about 3 stars for characterization.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Yep. I admit it. I’m completely evil!😈 I remember your review and I totally agree. This was definitely not without its faults. But I LOVED the spiders, and weren’t the survivalists a hoot? Hopefully Skitter will fill in some of the plot holes and flesh out the characters a bit more.🙋🏻
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KaboodleMum said:
Hahah!
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Carrie said:
Great review! I thought about this one but didn’t click it, glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Thanks Carrie!🙋🏻
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jowensauthor said:
Great review! It kind of reminded me of the movies Arachnophobia and Kingdom of the Spiders.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Thanks Jeanne! Exactly! It’s written in that wink wink, nudge nudge sort of way. If you like movies like that (I’d add Tremors to the list even though that featured giant flesh-eating worms), I’d say this is a must read.
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jowensauthor said:
I do enjoy those kinds of movies, so I may just have to check out this book sometime 🙂
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
I hope you like it Jeanne. Um, you may want to have a rolled up newspaper and a can of bug spray handy if you read it!😰
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jowensauthor said:
Good idea. Or a least a shoe.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
That as well!
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Jen said:
Those gifs!!! 😨 I usually don’t have a problem with spiders but those gave me the heebie jeebies. I’m so glad you enjoyed this so much and here’s hoping the second book is even more phenomenal than this one!
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
MOWAHAHA! Mission accomplished! 😈😙
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Zoë said:
I thought about requesting this, but ultimately didn’t. Sounds like you had a good time, and I loved this review and the gifs xD
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Thanks Zoe!😊
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emmakwall said:
I’d read this just to squirm!!! Nice review Kims 🙂
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Thanks Ems! Creepy creepy, crawly, crawly!
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The Chaos Realm said:
I hope the critters win! LOL 🙂
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Hahaha! Me too!😄
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tamaralowery said:
Okay, now you’re gonna have two reasons to be mad at me about events in Waves of Darkness #6. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Noooo! Not spiders?!😨
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tamaralowery said:
That part is over quickly, if messily.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Phew!
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Matt said:
Holy crap, this sounds awesome.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Soo Good!
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Jay said:
did you have the heebie jeebies the whole time?
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
The. Whole. Flippin’. Time! I swear Jay, even though I finished this last week, I still keep feeling like there’s things crawling on me! And I saw a spider on the wall yesterday and went all Terminator on its butt!
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transhaan said:
Oh my god. I hate spiders. And the ones that can jump or fly?….. that’s just cruel.. I’ve seen this book around; seen it getting more attention than I could understand. I’m glad you actually managed to enjoy it, while overcoming your own disgust towards spiders… 😀 😀
– Lashaan
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Thanks Lashaan! I think this is the arachnid equivalent of Jaws!😨
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vinnieh said:
I’m not scared of spiders, but this book could very well change that.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
MAN-EATING SPIDERS Vinnie! Be afraid! Be VERY afraid!😈
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vinnieh said:
I’m shaking like a leaf.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
And well you should!
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dreamingofcats said:
You are an evil EVIL person! I made it through all the gifs, but my skin is crawling, aaargh! *twitches* I want to believe all of those gifs are CGI and there isn’t somewhere on this planet where it rains spiders, etc. :O
The book sounds good, I might choose to inflict that upon myself at some stage, hehe.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Yes. Yes I am!😈 But I left you with pretty butterflies! Oh God. Can you even imagine thousands of spiders coming down from the sky? Ewww!😨😰😱 Anyway, if you decide to try this you’ll have to let me know what you think😀
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vinnieh said:
I thought you should also know I’m getting back into X-Files again. Took a break while the Euros was on.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Awesome! You must be nearing the end?
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vinnieh said:
I’m up to Season 9. I’m still enjoying it, but you can see that the show was winding down at this point.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Yep. That was about the beginning of the end for me.
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vinnieh said:
I mean it’s impossible for a show to remain outstanding for the whole run.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
I think if they had called it quits when David Duchovny bowed out it would have ended on a high note instead of limping to a finish. But that’s just MHO. I’ll be interested in your view Vinnie.🙋🏻
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vinnieh said:
I thought Season 8 suffered due to the lack of Duchovny but had a good finish.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
I have to admit I wasn’t thrilled with Season 8 but it did have some good moments. I remember thinking “Noooo!” when they announced it was coming back for a ninth season. Frankly, I was seriously pissed because up until the 8th season I was a true X-Phile. Oh yeah. I had the collectors mugs, t-shirts, a book bag, etc. I even went to an X-Files convention. I just felt really let down in the end.😕😞
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vinnieh said:
I’ve turned into a massive fan since watch the show but can see that as it went on, it lost it luster.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
😞
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vinnieh said:
On a nicer note, that post I did about nude actors has been doing well.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Bravo!
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vinnieh said:
I guess people like discussing naked stars.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
So true.
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vinnieh said:
If you wanna contribute anything else to that post comment wise, I’m all ears. I love conversation with you.
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