I got this softcover at Toadstool Books, an independent bookstore in Milford NH, for another release copy. It's a sequel to The Hatching, the first book in Boone's spider-themed apocalypse.

This book follows the same switching-between-multiple-viewpoints-and-locations style as the first one, opening with "It was a big freaking spider" {wry grin} in a remote location in Wyoming. Many of these viewpoints are short-term, as the characters don't survive, but it does give the reader a good idea of how widespread and fast-moving the spider-danger is. (As if there was any doubt!)

While reading the first book would help set the stage, I think this book would be enjoyable even without the full backstory - though some of the characters whose relationships were defined in that book might seem a bit sketchy here. Still, the focus is on the spiders - what they do, how to try and contain them, what to do if containment fails, what's really behind the sudden emergence of the spiders...

There are lots of scenes of frightening doom and carnage - some of it inflicted by humans, but the spiders get their fair share. It's clear to the reader that the spiders are spreading too fast for the containment methods to be effective, but the government's fallback plan is draconian, to say the least.

One of the plot threads has to do with a well-equipped survivalist couple (a gay couple, for a nice twist on the usual setup) who befriend a few other characters and whose encampment may turn out to be one of the few (relatively) safe spaces in the rapidly-spider-infested world. Another thread has to do with a con man who's parlaying a revivalist-preacher persona to lead a group of desperate refugees past the military barricades; he looks to be getting set up as a future warlord/nemesis. And there are some small family units - father and daughter, spouses, exes who still love each other - who are players in the game, and who may have to choose between risking everything to stop the menace or try to run and hide and hope to save their loved ones.

Nice mix of survival skills, scientific efforts, and character interaction - but of course I'm mainly here for the spiders! And I was tickled when - very late in the book - we get back to the Nazca plains, where the famed spider-outline was the source of one of the first spider-egg sacs, and the scientific team *finally* decides to dig further to see if there's anything helpful there. Stay tuned for the next book, I guess!

I left this book in the Little Free Library on this humid day; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2018 One Word Title release challenge. ***

I found this book in the same LFL today when I stopped by to drop off some more books. I decided to take this one and release it elsewhere.

I left this book, bagged against the elements, on a bench on the town common at the junction of Main and Elm; hope the finder enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2019 Science Fiction release challenge. ***