I HATE SPIDERS!

Skitter by Ezekiel Boone is the continuation of The Hatching and the spiders are winning. If you weren’t afraid of spiders before, you will be after reading about the spider apocalypse.

Millions of people around the world are dead and there is no end in sight.

Melanie never thought she would become the most important woman in the world…but, here she is and the pressure is intense as she struggles to save the world.

Would she succeed?

Agent Mike Rich had been at ground zero, finding the very first spider and he hasn’t stopped since.

People’s true colors come out when disaster occurs, and we have our share of heroes and villains. Do any of us know how we would act in a time of crisis? I would hope I would rise to the occasion. How about you?

Would the war games, flu epidemics and disaster protocols the government has practiced and had in place for years…decades…succeed? We are about to find out.

If you want something to keep you looking out the corner of your eye, jumping at the slightest perceived movement, slapping at the creepy crawlie feeling running up and down your arms, READ THIS!

I voluntarily reviewed Skitter by Ezekiel Boone.

Skitter continues right where The Hatching ended. The first wave of spiders has died but the second wave is coming...
Just like the first book, this reads like a gripping action movie that you can't help but stare at incredulously whilst wishing you weren't seeing/feeling half of what you are. I'm surprised at how well all the different perspectives worked. It never became confusing at all. I liked that there was more emphasis on the human stories this time around. A great blend of horror, adventure, thriller, drama, mystery and apocalyptic fiction. I really enjoyed the humor, too. While I've learnt from the previous book not to get too attached to any of the characters - some characters' purpose seems to be simply as spider food - I'm still particularly fond of the characters up in Scotland. But I still can't work out how they fit into the bigger picture. The ending leaves room for the final installment. Not quite as scary as the first book, but great fun and pure escapism. I'm looking forward to the third book (and the movie?!).
I received an ARC via NetGalley.

This is the second book in the creepy spider trilogy. I liked the first book although it was full of frightening crawlies. This book takes of where the last one ended and it is build similar. We have again a lot of characters. The important ones from the first book of course but also again a hack of a lot of people we meet for one chapter and they all got a full background story. For this reason the book develops slowly. We see how the spider apocalypse develops and spreads over the USA. I disliked these full stories for minor characters already in the first book. But here I found it quite boring. What’s happening is mostly interesting but it is a bit annoying to read 2 or 3 pages of information I don’t need. It slows the book down. In the last third it gets a little bit more interesting. The story begins to head to the end, the cliffhangers and makes me wanting to read immediately the last book.

I think this book is a typically middle book. It gives us a few more information and developments but for itself it would not work. I think it would have been better to put the story into one book, maybe with a lot more pages but just tighten it up a bit and just make one single book. But this is marketing I suppose. Nevertheless the book does its job. I was a bit bored during reading and I skipped sometimes a few pages- But I also want to read the next book and learn what it is all about this creepy spiders.

I loved and devoured Ezekiel Boone’s The Hatching and couldn’t wait to fall into Skitter and see what this author had in store for his characters and readers. I appreciate that we pick up right where we left off, and it was great to see the key characters that I became so invested in in book one along with a few additions. Thinking the nightmare is over only to realize it’s just beginning is horrifying, and I think Mr. Boone definitely upped the scare factor in this sequel. The Hatching made me shudder, but Skitter and the appearance of a new species of red-striped arachnids gave me more than a few “THEY’RE ON ME” moments. I’ve never been afraid of spiders – my phobias lie with things that slither – but I was around the 60% mark in this book when I stopped to fold some clean blankets. A black fuzzy lint ball flew across my folding counter, and I screamed as if a cluster of the spiders from the book had poured into the room and begun to engulf me. Family members were not amused. But I was. I think it’s pretty great that this author and this horrifying but fantastic story could get into my head like that. It’s the adrenaline rush that makes me love this genre. But for those readers who think they could never read this because they’re so afraid of spiders, I want to share that my daughter/co-blogger is most definitely an arachnophobe and she absolutely loves this series. Though she did get rather testy when I kept Googling pictures of certain spiders mentioned in the book so we could have a really good visual, and ultimately she made me stop with that. But boy, was that fun while it lasted.

Skitter follows the formula that made The Hatching such a success, but it branches out and finds its own path with new ways to surprise and repel you. I’m always going to wish for more Mike POVs, as well as Gordo and Shotgun perspectives – these are my favorite characters; and while I’m interested to see what’s happening elsewhere, I can’t help but be sad to leave them, if only for a little while. I don’t want to say anything about the plot of this sequel because I don’t want to spoil anyone, not just for this book but for its predecessor. The ending was a cliffhanger that made me a bit grouchy because I want MORE MORE MORE. I read Skitter right on the heels of The Hatching, so I know waiting for the next book to release in 2018 is going to be red-striped-spider-bite excruciating. I’ll be ready to grab it, though, as this has quickly become a favorite series! Highly recommend for thriller and horror fans.

SPIDERS! HELL YEAH!

Even though I loathe the things in real life, I find them so entertaining to read about when done well. Skitter is done very well!

We start right where The Hatching left off, (which was with a cliffhanger), and I found it quite easy to slip right back into this world-well, what's left of it, anyway. I keep expecting some kind of weird Star Trek time anomaly or something, because I just can't believe what's happened with the United States and the planet. Ezekiel Boone does not shy away from death, or what I think would be the ultimate response to such an invasion. That surprised and delighted me.

The main characters here are still interesting while the creature feature portions are entertaining. Perhaps all the things happening are not quite realistic, but who cares? Skitter is fun for those who like their spiders fast and hungry.

These 300+ pages flew by and I had a blast reading them. If you enjoy creature features, with a little bit of scientific and military action thrown in, and with character viewpoints from around the world, The Hatching and Skitter should work well for you. Skitter is a fast, fun, chittering thrill ride and I enthusiastically recommend it! Bring on the next!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This is it.*

This is a creepy incredibly page turning horror novel- do not pick this one if you can't deal with spiders! I think you will enjoy this much more if you've read the first book- there are some things that you'll appreciate more (no spoilers!) This is a totally plot driven novel; the human characters are fast talking and well drawn but they aren't what drives this. THanks to Netgalley for the ARC because this is not a series I would have picked up on my own. Be warned that there's a cliff hanger at the end and it's not clear how long we'll be waiting for book 3.

Loved it!!! I really enjoyed The Hatching but was so frustrated with the length of it. There just wasn't enough! Now Skitter, left me wanting more but I felt more than satisfied when I finish reading it. Yes, there was another huge cliffhanger but it totally worked.
Like the first book, Skitter was non-stop action right from the first chapter. The writing was sharp, the creep factor a 10 and I really love how unique the premise remains. It's an apocalypse story but it's not another viral plague series!
I can't wait for the next one!

Rating... A

Skitter picks up pretty much right where The Hatching left off. Spiders have come, overwhelmed and taken out large portions of the population on the globe. Did I mention that spiders scare the HELL out of me? Oh, my goodness, yes!! And let me tell you, the last book was terrifying for anyone with a spider phobia, but the events and plight of some in this installment made my skin crawl in horror! The world is up in arms wondering if the worst is over, but with new egg sacks, hot and pulsing to the touch, that scenario would be too good to be true. Now the world has to wait and see what is coming next, and let me tell you, it is BAD!

While on one hand I thought the story would’ve benefited from eliminating some of the many POV’s, I get it was a way to give a window, a vivid picture into what was happening in different locations around the world. Still, IMO I think if the story was more focused on just the POV’s I’ve come to know and care about, it would’ve had more impact. I’d rather have more page count spent on them. I wasn’t thrilled with the addition of POV’s that were just few short scenes and then killed off. I want to be invested in my characters, worried about their survival, because I’ve already been acquainted with them. I was disappointed Melanie and Mike Rich’s connection from the last book wasn’t built upon, because there’s certainly enough room for a little bit of romance if you edit out all the POV’s that came to an abrupt end, ones I wasn’t invested in at all. I still have hope for them in the next book. There are a couple of other relationships I’d like expounded on, furthered, as well: Manny and the US President, Stephanie Pilgrim, and Julie and Pierre. I guess we’ll see how it all shakes out.

Even with all of that, I found the story completely engrossing. At times I was filled with dread and wanted to yell: RUN!! End of the world scenarios, be it from earthquakes, tsunamis, aliens, zombies, or in this case spiders, have always fascinated me. I put myself in the situation, wonder what I would do; would I be smart enough, lucky enough to survive while so many perish around me?

Everything is coming to a head, more desperate and frightening. The choices made by the President where extreme, necessary, and terrifying! I hope all my favorite characters survive. I hope Gordo and Shotgun come up with an effective “Spinal Tap”, that Melanie figures out these spiders, I hope Mike and his group are able to wait it out in safety. I wouldn’t say this ended in a cliffhanger, but everything is left up in the air. I need the next book ASAP!

I absolutely loved this book! So often the second offering in a series is disappointing, but not in this case. The story, and tension, just kept building, piece by piece until the very end. I really liked the way the book showed how people all over the world were experiencing and reacting to the situation. I think it added to the overall suspense and creepiness of the story and was a great way to move the story along. Can't wait for the next one!

I think what I like most about this series is how quick it darts from place to place to show the impact across the world and, yet, it's never too much to follow along. It keeps it interesting but somehow is not overly complicated. I don't have to think about all the threads in this book because they just work so well. That being said, this book picks up right where the first book left off and things are even more dire in this book. A new breed of spiders has emerged and they can't figure out how to stop it. I liked the various perspectives, as I've said, from behind the scenes of the government to troops on the ground, to the average person who really doesn't know what's going on. I can't wait to see what happens in book 3 and if they can figure everything out.

Skitter came out earlier week on May 2, 2017 and you can purchase HERE. I definitely recommend this series for summer reading - something about the hint of fear and the action would be great to read on the beach. You can read my review of the first book in this series, The Hatching, HERE.

"If we'd known about these spiders in the way that he meant, we'd have tried to prepare for them. What I'm saying is that we knew about them without knowing about them. We knew they existed but only somewhere deep in our caveman brains. Think about it. Why are so many people afraid of spiders? There's a decent number of poisonous spiders, but the chances of a human dying from a spider bite are remote. More people are killed by cows than spiders in the US every year. The daddy longlegs? Toxic as hell, but a daddy longlegs can't even bit a human."

"The reality is that the chances of a human getting killed or even harmed by spider are so low that meaningful number of poisonous spiders might as well be zero. And yet, most people are scared shitless of them. I think there's a reason for that. You see something creepy crawling out of the corner of your eye, and nit's not your cellphone-- talking, sushi-ordering, Internet-using brain responding It's that little nugget of gray that is an evolutionary holdover from when we thought banging two rocks together was a scientific accomplishment. That's the part of your brain that's screaming."

Nutshell: Boone proves there’s nothing to the notion of a “sophomore slump” if you’ve got a great writer and a kick-ass story. Skitter is just as much gruesome, “GET IT OFF ME” fun as The Hatching was, but this time the stakes are even higher… Sit back, dig in, and be prepared to read this in one sitting. It’s that good. Grade: A

Book Basics
Stand-alone or series: The second book in The Hatching series.
Target audience: Post-apocalyptic genre fans who aren’t afraid of webs. Or who can get over their fear for some seriously good, creepy fun.
Publication 411: hit shelves May 2nd, 2017. (Atria/Emily Bestler Books)

“I might be off on the numbers. You have to understand, they’re not leaving one in five people alone, … One in five people survived, which isn’t the same thing.”

The bugs are back, baby! Oh fine; spiders are actually arachnids (#invertnerd) but I couldn’t pass up an alliteration. Boone is back with the second installment of this amazing series, and you need to read this book. You really, really do.

Why? Because it’s good. Boone delivers an action-driven story, but there’s no disturbance to his narrative flow when he takes side-routes or shifts perspective. In Skitter, the world tries to sift through the wreckage of what happened when these spiders unleashed hell. But hidden here and there, there are little time-bombs all over the world, waiting to go off. And a few really big, glowing ones as well. That can’t be good, can it? No, no it can’t.

This whole “spider attack!!111!” should be cheesy, but it’s not. It’s creepy, unsettling, and disturbing as hell. Boone’s whipsmart, no-nonsense storytelling makes this idea work, and his way with character motivation feels authentic. Like Stephen King’s The Stand, as the world falls apart Boone weaves in men and women people gravitate to in the hope of salvation. These new characters, along with those we met in the first book, keep things fresh, and become an integral part of the story.

Yeah, Skitter doesn’t have the same New Story Smell that Hatching did, but Boone shows he’s still got plenty of surprises up his sleeve, both good… and gruesome. He can scare, and dammit if he can’t draw a tear as well. While this isn’t Joss Whedon Level “don’t get attached”, not every perspective in the story will…play out. That’s natural; it’s a worldwide apocalypse. Would you expect everyone around you to be a-okay from start to finish? Sure, you’d want that…but it’s not believable. That said, I do have my favorites I’m rooting for. I’m hopeful they’ll make it. Giving me people to root for is something I look for in stories, no matter the genre. Boone does excellent work digging into my heartparts.

As for the spiders…well, I don’t want them anywhere near any of my parts. Boone gives readers a bit more of their biology and behavior. Remember when I said in my Hatching review that these spiders can chew? Well, my bad. There’s an even ickier way these arachnids get their chow on. (I’ve said too much.) While he takes slight liberties with typical spider behavior and biology, there’s a definite tie-in with their real world biology here. But the how of their attacks isn’t necessary to the “what do we do” question. Plus, it makes for deliciously disgusting mayhem.

You can make your way through this book without a Hatching backstory, as there’s just enough exposition to fill in the basics of what you’ve missed. However, please don’t start with this book. Don’t deny yourself the creepy pleasure of letting the story unfold for you bit by bit, rather than in past tense. Let Boone take you on the whole horrifying ride.

Skitter is of those books where I didn’t know whether to plow through it in one sitting because it’s such a fun read, or ration it chapter by chapter because I didn’t want the fun to end. But I couldn’t help myself, and zoomed through. What the hell; I’ll just read it again. There. Problem solved.

[NOTE: I received a free Kindle advance reader’s copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review. I received nothing else, not even a military grade blowtorch. After reading this, I kinda wish I had one.]

This is the second in the series of the spider-apocalypse. The first being 'The Hatching". This one starts after the spiders have hatched and killed millions of people and now they have retreated. They have only hit a few cities, but they are all over the world. There is no rhyme or reason to the location of the attacks.

Los Angeles is under a quarantine. No one is allowed out. However, some people do get out before this quarantine was set up. Why are these people not allowed out? What is the meaning of these hanging sacs of silky woven threads? What is the glow coming from some of them? Is there going to be another attack?

This was a strange series for me to request as I absolutely hate spiders. However, while reading it, I hear the word spiders, but I'm not cringing or freaking out about them. When they are attacking, they move in masses and the author calls it a black mass. So. . . if your afraid of spiders, don't let that deter you. This is an awesome series and one that will definitely keep you awake at night. It's interesting how each country with a infiltration of these spiders chooses to handle the situation. The Chinese set off an nuclear bomb and destroy much more than just the city being attacked.

A great series that I highly recommend. Thanks to Atria Books and Net Galley for approving and allowing me to read and review this utterly thrilling read! Definitely unputdownable!

I would like to thank Atria Books for providing me with an advanced reading copy of this book.

Skitter is book two in The Hatching trilogy. Having read and loved book one I was keen to make a start on book two. I enjoyed the first book but hated that it finished on a huge cliffhanger so you can imagine how disappointing it was to discover that the author leaves the reader hanging on the edge of yet another cliff at the end of the second book. I hate cliffhangers, they are annoying and frustrating and put me off reading more of the series because I feel like the author is trying to manipulate me into buying their next book- want to know what happens next? Yes? Great! Come back in a year and give me X amount of pounds and maybe I'll tell you more, and if you're lucky I might throw in yet another cliffhanger just to make sure you'll buy the next one after that. If your book is good, that alone is enough to make readers want to pick up the next one.

Skitter suffers from middle book syndrome. It wasn't as engaging or as fast paced and it also lacked the action and danger that was prevalent in the first book. It didn't have the same effect as the first book, I wasn't anywhere near as creeped out by it. It only progresses the storyline a few steps forward and you learn a little more about the spiders, but a little, and a few steps are not enough. It hardly progresses at all and nothing is resolved. It felt like a placeholder, something to keep the wolves from the door until the final book is released. There was nothing to get my teeth into, nothing to make it stand out on its own. It read more like an extension of The Hatching rather than an individual book. It picks up from where The Hatching left off and slowly ambles along for most of the book, the pace does pick up very near the end but very quickly leaves the reader hanging onto yet another stinking cliffhanger.

I have to say, I feel rather disappointed and let down by Skitter. It was OK but I expected more. I will still read the next one, it's the last in the trilogy so surely there won't be a cliffhanger, right? I hope so!

I read the first book last year because I had won it and I very much enjoyed it so I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book.

This book is fast paced but I found it could use more action.

I found Skitter to be not as creepy as The Hatching but all in all, it is a good read.


There is a cliffhanger and now I have to wait until the next book comes out. I hope we don't have to wait very long because I can't wait to read more.

I give this 4 out of 5

If you want to purchase this book you can pre-order it online.

I've read a lot of post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels in my time because quite honestly, they fascinate me. They fascinate me with the what ifs and oh my gosh I can see that happenings and while those things, those ideas have freaked me out at times, none of them have horrified me the way this series has.

This series is captivating, engaging and completely terrifying.

I've never read a book that has had me both enthralled with the horribleness of it and also jumping and itching and ever little flash of light I see out of the corner of my eye. Nor has one ever made em afraid to enter a dark room at night with the possibility of what if there is a spider on the floor or what if one falls from the shower wall onto me when I least expect it. I swear I have looked into every dark crook and cranky, on the lookout for the little buggers because oh my heck, this book is one of my very worst nightmares re imagined and brought to life.

I've always been squeamish of spiders, I mean the suckers have eight legs and move super fast and can pretty much squeeze into impossibly tight spaces but even though I didn't like them, even though I kill them on sight most days, I've never been terrified of them...until now, thank you very much.

I can't even begin to tell you how hooked I am on this series. How real it could very well be. I mean come on people, spiders are unassuming and clever and in some cases deadly. I mean, why not?

This series truly is in my top ten not just reads of the year, but all time series, it was that well written, imagined, and plotted out.

Told in multiple point of views, all throughout the world, this truly was mesmerizing, addictive, and like a train wreck all rolled into one. It was hard to resist, hard to put down, and one of those reads you both don't want to read further because you are so bloody scared but also can't even begin to have enough will power to resist. I am forever both happy I read this and more than likely scared for life because of it.

I will never look at a simple house spider, or any spider, the same way again and I can't wait for more!

Just as edge-of-your-seat thrilling as The Hatching, these deadly spiders wreaking destruction all over the globe, and now there are egg sacs! Trying to build a super spider weapon puts the pressure on Gordo and Shotgun, but will they be too late?

The mark of a good series for me is that I'm ready for the next book as soon as I finish the current one, and sometimes even before I've finished. As soon as I finished the last page of Skitter, I hopped onto Goodreads to see if book three had been listed yet (it's not), and if there were any information on Amazon (there's not).

I was a fan of the first novel in this spider apocalypse trilogy, The Hatching, and although Skitter is very much a middle child it kept my attention all the way through and had me turning pages with keen interest.

This is a fun read, and a good, solid summer blockbuster. But, it's not without some problems. As I said, Skitter is the middle book of a trilogy. It's primary function is to tease book three and to set the stage for the big finale. Boone's large cast starts to show some payoff and reason for being, as some of their individual plot threads begin to finally merge. There's also some serious game changers to the overall narrative with the enacting of the Spanish Protocol. I won't spoil what this protocol is, but it's suitably drastic and horrifying in its purpose given the threat of man-eating spiders.

The fact of the matter, though, is that this book is largely set dressing for the third act. Aside from a few plot points, like the Spanish Protocol, it doesn't feel like there's a whole lot happening given the page count. Boone has a very large cast of characters, and he jumps all around the globe to spin a big, ol' spider's web of a narrative. Some characters stay pretty static and there's not a lot of forward progression from where they were in The Hatching, while others manage to make it from one end of the country to the other. At the end of the prior book, Boone hit a bit of a pause button, and Skitter has settled into a lull as a result. This book is the calm before the storm, and there's lot of promise of threats to come. Everyone gets warned at some point or another that things are only going to get worse, and to batten down the hatches. Needless to say, the threat begins to emerge just in time for...book three.

It's hard to say just how important Skitter will be to the overall narrative Boone is crafting. Certainly he takes some steps that cannot be easily undone, and there's no magical reset button to hit. It's just that a lot of the book feels like it's treading water, getting people from place to place, and gearing up for the big finish. This book is not the crazy ride The Hatching had prepared me for, and there's not really a whole lot of that spidery apocalypse action I craved. And if I never hear "chicken biscuits" again in my whole life, I'll be OK. Skitter is not a bad book, though, and in fact I was pretty darned entertained the whole way through. Fans of The Hatching should enjoy it, and it left me wanting/demanding the third and final volume in this series immediately.

Final verdict: 3.5 stars/5.

And seriously. Where the hell is book three?

Last year I shared my fear of spiders and my review of THE HATCHING book one in the Hatching trilogy. SKITTER by Ezekiel Boone is the second novel, and once again he takes us around the world as the second wave of spiders gets ready to emerged. Creepy and realistic this apocalyptic tale will leave you screaming.

The first wave of spiders mysteriously died but not before killing millions and leaving cocoons all over the world. While scientist scramble to determine what will happen next leaders from around the world, as well as individuals cut off from society, are devising plans to save civilization. Spiders are freakin’ scary, and Boone’s spiders brought to life all of my darkest fears.

While SKITTER wasn’t as fast-paced as its predecessor the HATCHING, it did a stellar job with the apocalyptic aspects of this tale. Some countries nuked entire areas, and here in the US, some military officials want to nuke LA and surrounding areas. It was intense. There are key characters we follow, the President of the United States, Stephanie Pilgrim, her chief of staff, Guyer, and leading spider expert Dr. Melanie Guyer. We also get perspectives from Agent Mike Rich who has been on the ground since the first outbreak. I am finding myself more attached to these characters in SKITTER. Then there are secondary characters like Shotgun, his husband Fred, Gordo, his wife Amy and their dog Claymore; these survivalists are located in Desperation. Some of my favorite chapters are from those featuring Aonghas, his Vietnamese fiancé Thuy and Aonghas’s Grandfather Padraig, stranded on a remote island in the Outer Hebrides. They are far removed from the spiders but make an interesting discovery while giving us a breather from the pulse-pounding terror that is unfolded.

Aside from the horror shared from around the world, and the chance to get to know folks from all corners of the earth what I found fascinating was how government officials handled things. Some ideas were irrational, perhaps driven by fear, others almost succeeded. President Pilgrim goes head to head with her advisors before they enact The Spanish Protocol. You’ll have to read the novel to find out what that entails. Boone gives us perspectives from individuals, like the Preacher, and those of people just trying to get home. By sharing different points of view in each chapter, he gives us a panoramic view of this apocalyptic disaster from how quickly it spreads to the human reaction.

The mystery of these spiders and the way in which they act and evolve sent shivers down my spine. We fear them for a reason, people!! So many brave individuals that crawled into caves touched cocoons and shared what they found all brought the horror to life while raising the suspense level for what is to come. The synopsis shares that in Japan, a giant, truck-sized, glowing egg sack is found and let me tell you…WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!

OMG! Boone knows how to terrify his readers from the horrific descriptions to the build up of what is to come. With every discovery, our characters make and every decision they take something new unfolds. While SKITTER suffered a little from second book syndrome, it did leave me screaming for book three.

Skitter by Ezekiel Boone

Skitter is the follow up novel to The Hatching so please make no attempt to read Skitter until you’ve read The Hatching first! This review assumes you’ve done just that and you are ready to have your skin creep and crawl in the most deliciously terrifying way once more. As one of the characters puts it, welcome back to the Spiderpocalypse!

The first wave of spider attacks has ended in the withdrawal and deaths of billions of spiders. Unfortunately, they took with them the lives of many millions of people from around the globe. China is a nuclear wasteland and many of the world’s greatest cities lie in ruins. But any hopes that the desperate might have that the attack is over, that the world can rebuild and repopulate, are soon dashed. Scientist Melanie Gruyer’s continued work at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland has revealed a terrible fact. The first wave of spiders was simply paving the way for the second – feeding it, preparing the ground. And this second wave could take mankind to the very brink of extinction. The US President Stephanie Pilgrim is prepared to do the unthinkable to safeguard the nation’s future. But is it too late? Around the world, something unbelievably terrible is beginning to stir.

To say that I adored The Hatching is a ridiculous understatement. I love apocalyptic thrillers and I especially enjoy these novels when they focus on weather disasters (have you read The Tsunami Countdown by Boyd Morrison yet? Why not?) or beasts, particularly the creepy crawly kind (such as Invasive by Chuck Wendig). If ever there was an animal that lends itself brilliantly to wholescale mass panic and annihilation, it’s the spider. Personally, I don’t mind spiders at all. But as for these spiders…. these spiders scare me to death.

Skitter continues the fabulous formula of The Hatching. The novel’s focus is on the US, and most (but not all) of the principal characters are based there, but it also includes many stories from across the planet, including France, Germany, India and, especially, Scotland. We move between a cast of many characters, some of whom we meet just once (for obvious reasons) but there are others that we return to time after time as they either fight to survive or to overcome. We met a fair few of these in The Hatching and it is a joy to return to them, not to mention a relief that some have survived this far. I don’t want to mention who, just in case you’re reading this with the intention of going back to The Hatching.

Skitter might be the middle novel of a trilogy but it is a fantastic disaster thriller in its own right. The novel copes with the aftermath of The Hatching while preparing us for the showdown of the finale, setting it up absolutely perfectly. But Skitter oozes tension, horror, panic, dread, disgusting deaths, hideous spiders, shocking pain and stunned outrage – not only aimed at the spiders but also at the lengths governments will go to for the longterm survival of the human race. All well and good in theory but a lot less noble when you’re running for your life.

We’re thrown into the action from the outset and it never lets up until the very last page when we’re left longing for the concluding novel. Skitter is such a fast read and it is so well written, each page contributing to the overall story. It’s not the sort of thriller you want to put down unread and its pace is pushed along even faster by its brilliant structure that moves us from one state of tension to another and then back again, time after time.

Prepare to get the shivers, prepare to never look at a spider in quite the same way again. Remember what Jaws did for sharks – this time the sharks are tiny, have legs and there are billions of them. Fantastic!

Other review
The Hatching