Book 2 picks up right where The Hatching left off. Now that an ancient species of spiders has taken over the world and China has deployed nuclear weapons in an attempt to get rid of them, US President Pilgrim must decide what the best course of action will be to save the United States. Each chapter follows a different character somewhere in the world as they attempt to survive the next wave of spiders that may be worse than the last. I love these books. I think I enjoyed Skitter more than The Hatching. I had a few issues with some of the character development, but only because I felt like some sections actually took away from the main story rather than adding to it. But overall The Hatching books are a fantastic addition to the world of post-apocalyptic/horror novels in the world and ones that I highly recommend.

I made the mistake of reading the sequel to Boone's hairy thriller instead of getting accustomed to the first book in his series.

Nonetheless, I like the turn of events.

Imagine that old 90's movie "8 Legged Freaks" and then take Skitter: you have an in-depth handbook on why spiders are eerie and why no one will blame you if you ever burn your house down in an attempt to get rid of the smallest one you might stumble across.

Not bad at all.

Please note Skitter is a direct sequel to The Hatching and if you haven’t read that then there is a distinct possibility that this review may contain something akin to spoilers. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya!

Tens of millions of people around the world are dead. Half of China is a nuclear wasteland. Mysterious flesh-eating spiders are marching through Los Angeles, Oslo, Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, and countless other cities. According to scientist Melanie Gruyer, however, the spider situation seems to be looking up. Yet in Japan, a giant, truck-sized, glowing egg sack gives a shocking preview of what is to come, even as survivors in Los Angeles panic and break the quarantine zone. Out in the desert, survivalists Gordo and Shotgun are trying to invent a spider super weapon, but it’s not clear if it’s too late, because President Stephanie Pilgrim has been forced to enact the plan of last resort: The Spanish Protocol. America, you are on your own.

Last year I read The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone. I loved it. Horror has always been my favourite genre and I like nothing better than a bit of nasty, flesh munching evil. Fear of spiders gets a checkmark on my list of top phobias (ironic as my wife has a pet tarantula), and Boone’s debut tapped right into that primal fear. Now the sequel is upon us, and the good news is that it does not disappoint. You thought things were bad by the end of book one? Wait until you read book two.

Skitter, like its predecessor, remains an ensemble piece. There are multiple groups of characters that the reader follows as the narrative unfolds. My personal favourites are the chapters that feature the US President, Stephanie Pilgrim, as she tries to co-ordinate a response to a crisis that no-one could ever have foreseen. Elsewhere Shotgun, Fred, Amy and Gordo, the world’s most refined doomsday preppers, are great fun. I’ll also admit I have a soft spot for the thread of narrative that is unfolding in the far north of Scotland. Any book that uses my home country as a back-drop for the end of humanity is a winner as far as I am concerned.

One of the things I really liked about The Hatching, and it still in evidence in Skitter, is that the plot has a genuinely international flavour. While a lot of the action takes place in America, there are chapters in Peru, Japan, France, Norway and, as I previously mentioned, Scotland. I’m glad the author appreciates that the end of the world would happen everywhere rather than in just one place. I’ve often found that to be a distraction with other apocalyptic novels, but Boone has deftly avoided that trap.

After reading the book blurb at the beginning of this review you may be asking yourself “What is The Spanish Protocol? What exactly is America going to do?” I’m not even going to begin to tell you, I wouldn’t dream of spoiling the surprise. All I’ll say is that it sets things up perfectly to send book three off in an unexpected direction. The story has suddenly become significantly more epic in scale. It feels like we are drifting significantly close to the scope of books like The Stand, Swan Song or Defender, and it makes Skitter all the better for it

Skitter ends with the world in chaos. Countries are falling apart and the thin veneer of civility that keeps society trundling along is well and truly cracked. The horror of the spiders is nearly matched by how humanity is beginning to turn inwards on itself. We have reached the stage where people are willing to do anything in order to survive. If that means screwing someone else over then so be it, the time for helping your fellow man appears to be long since gone. The various disparate groups of characters are starting to gravitate towards one another other but there are still multiple cliff-hangers to enjoy. Boone has done a great job of ramping up the tension in this sequel and has done everything to ensure I’ll be waiting impatiently for the next instalment.

Regular readers will know I like to enhance your enjoyment of a novel by recommending some sounds to listen to while reading. I was looking for some suitably creepy music to accompany Skitter and I think I’ve found the perfect match, the soundtrack to Insidious by Joseph Bishara. It has a classical but sinister tone punctuated by some wonderfully nerve jangling strings. Exactly the sort of thing to keep you on edge while reading about flesh eating spiders.

I have only two questions – (1) When is the next book due for release? (2) What has happened to the big screen adaptation that was mentioned when book one came out? This needs to happen.

Skitter is published by Gollancz and is available now. If you’ve read The Hatching I’m sure you’ll love this. If you haven’t, then go and read The Hatching and then read Skitter*. You can thank me later.

*Except if you don’t like spiders. If you don’t like spiders read something else. This is not the book, or series, for you. People get used as spider incubators for goodness sake. Trust me when I tell you it is not pretty.

<i>Skitter</i> is the book the original story, <i>The Hatching</i>, deserved to be. While the first book was like a silly b-movie, for whatever reason <i>Skitter</i> raises the stakes by giving us an opportunity to see how people are coping (or not) with the spiderpocaylpse.

So many things I loved about this. The surprise deaths, the political machinations of the President, the international intrigue, the way the book kept me guessing. And the end of the book is a surprise in and of itself, and something I never expect to see in fiction and is executed perfectly here.

Honestly, as someone who didn't <i>love</i> <i>The Hatching</i>, this was a breath of fresh air. These books are light enough fare where you can tear through the first to get to the second easily, and if you have any joy for silly MST3K-style bad movies or crazy monster tales, this is a book that should get fully onto your radar.

I wasn't sure what I was expecting with this book. A spider apocalypse, really? I didn't think it would work, and I figured it would be well over the top ridiculous. Turns out I love me some good old, flesh eating spiders! I'll admit that spiders don't make me wig out, and luckily this scary scenario didn't give me a whopping case of spider phobia. I loved getting to know these people, and will be looking forward to book three. Yep, I'd recommend this book. My thanks to Orion, and Netgalley for this review copy.

This is a very middle-book-of-a-trilogy sort of book. It's entertaining, sure, but it's also serious set up for book three, and don't you dare try reading without looking at book one first.

Actually, you could try, I suppose. I just don't think you'll like it as much as you could've done. There's loads of spiders eating people, millions have died, and they don't know how to stop it yet. Those are the essential facts if you want to jump in.

This book features most of the original cast (the ones who made it through), as they figure why the flesh-eating spiders appeared to die by the gazillion load. Then they discover new caches of egg sacs, and sacs so huge that a car could fit inside them. Some eggs appear cold and hard, destined to wait perhaps hundreds of years before they hatch. Some are warm and sticky - ready to blow at any moment and strip away even more lives. Drastic measures are needed now, even if it means blowing up all the motorways across the US.

Some of the characters don't appear to be doing too much yet - the writers (and fiance) in Scotland, for example. But at the same time, you do feel that we are being funnelled towards something, that we are getting closer to an answer, that all the separate parts and people are about to land on that precious moment of realisation, where the human race figures out how to stop the eight-legged creepy crawlies once and for all. Although it does have that 'middle book of a trilogy' feel, I enjoyed it all the same - it all felt very necessary to me.

Boone works hard to keep you engaged and turning the pages. By the last page, I was pretty desperate for book three. How long do we have to wait???

Horrific, cringeworthy and totally brilliant!
Ezekiel Boone does it again in a worthy sequel to The Hatching, Melanie Guyer and other familiar characters are back and still trying to work out what's going on with these disgusting parasitic spiders and protect their loved ones/the world.
This book is easy to read but conjures up nightmarish images through description that makes you almost wish you could peek through your hands at it, the writing flows and keeps you tense throughout.
I'm really hoping there's another follow up book because there are many questions I still want answering!

This book left me feeling ambivalent, as I did enjoy the book and I recognise that Ezekiel Boone is a good writer but the story didn't have the punch of the first and seemed to mainly tread water before the next book. The story starts off well and kept my attention, but by the end I felt like very little progress was made and wondered what had happened to the exciting story of the first book in the series. Despite the issues I have, I will definitely read the next instalment as I would really like to see where the story goes and hopefully get some answers to the many questions that are raised!

This is an excellent follow-up to The Hatching, just as gory and terrifying with tons of action. It ends on another massive cliffhanger but hopefully the wait for the third book won't be too long.