William W. Johnstone - The Uninvited

[kooshmeister]

A trucker is driving a load of toxic chemicals to be taken into the middle of the ocean (!) and sunk (!!), but his truck hits a bump, causing the tanker trailer's nozzle to come loose, spraying the deadly toxic brew all over the road. By the time our friend the truck driver realizes that his tanker is awful light, it's too late and the damage is done. However, he just closes the lid more tightly and drives on and the whole thing - the truck, the tank trailer and (what's left of) the chemicals - are sent to the bottom of the sea as planned. In fact, the only thing that doesn't get sent to the bottom is him. All's well and good, right...?

Wrong.

The leak happened between two different towns. And in fact between two different counties. The rain washes the nasty concoction away and into the woods and swamps, where it begins affecting the cockroach population. Soon, the sheriffs of two entirely different counties find themselves faced with a sudden plague of surprisingly aggressive roaches. At first they're just an annoyance. Then they begin preying on livestock. And soon... people. Most victims don't even realizes they're doomed until they look down and realize that the field they've walked into is covered in a living carpet of bugs. And if that wasn't enough, the people who survive their encounter with the creatures but get bitten begin turning into cockroach-human hybrids!

This was a fun but kinda goofy read. I especially liked the angle of the victims who get bitten turning into bug monsters themselves. Author William W. Johnstone must just have a thing for were-creatures, considering he also wrote the novel Wolfsbane, which appears to be about (what else?) werewolves.

[humgoo]

Thanks for the review. The cover is interesting, like one of those by Alun Hood.