An astonishingly inventive and terrifying debut horror novel about the emergence of an ancient race of carnivorous spiders, dormant for ten thousand years but now very much awake. There's a reason we're afraid of spiders...

A local guide is leading wealthy tourists through a forest in Peru when a strange, black, skittering mass engulfs him and most of the party. FBI Agent Mike Rich is on a routine stakeout in Minneapolis when he's suddenly called by the director himself to investigate a mysterious plane crash. A scientist studying earthquakes in India registers an unprecedented pattern in local seismic readings. The US president, her defence and national security advisers and her chief of staff are dumped into crisis mode when China "accidentally" drops a nuclear bomb on a desolate region of its own country. As such unsettling occurrences mount, the president's old friend (and her chief of staff's ex-wife), spider expert Melanie Guyer, receives a box at her lab at American University that contains an ancient egg unearthed at a South American dig.
So begins The Hatching, the hair-raising saga of a single week in which an ancient, frighteningly predatory species of spider re-emerges in force. When the unusual egg in Melanie Guyer's lab begins to vibrate and crack, she finds herself at the epicentre of this apocalyptic natural disaster. Working closely with her ex-husband and his very powerful boss, she has to find some way to stem the brutal tide of man-eating arachnids.

Ezekiel Boone's profile page

EZEKIEL BOONE is a Canadian writer who lives in upstate New York with his wife and children.

“What Peter Benchley did for sharks, James Herbert did for rats and Michael Crichton did for dinosaurs, Ezekiel Boone does for those eight-legged freaks that lurk in dark corners of our houses. The Hatching is a full-throttle pulse-pounder that will keep you up all night feverishly flipping its pages—and make you check for webs spun under your bed before you reluctantly turn off the lights.” —Nick Cutter, author of The Troop and The Deep

“The Hatching is old-school global plague horror of the freakiest sort. A deft and nasty thriller.” —Andrew Pyper, author of The Damned and The Demonologist
“Ezekiel Boone spins a terrifying yarn about the reawakening of a long-dormant race of predatory and carnivorous spiders in The Hatching.” —Quill & Quire

“This novel should come with a warning label: The Hatching is scary as hell and addictively fun. Check your sheets, spray your basement and attic, flinch away from anything that scurries, because Ezekiel Boone has spun a globe-spanning web of terror that elevates everyone's favourite household baddie—the spider—to the level of supervillain.” —Benjamin Percy, author of The Dead Lands, Red Moon, and The Wilding
“Monsters, mad science and meat-munching mayhem. . . . Boone weaves believable dialogue and characterizations into an apocalyptic extravaganza of doom and heroism. . . . [An] addictive literary assault.” —Publishers Weekly

“It’s been too long since someone reminded us that spiders are not just to be feared, but also may well spell doom for mankind. Fortunately, Ezekiel Boone has upped the ante on arachnophobia. This is a fresh take on classic horror, thoroughly enjoyable and guaranteed to leave your skin crawling.” —Michael Koryta, author of Those Who Wish Me Dead

“You know those people who claim spiders are more afraid of us than we are of them? When it comes to The Hatching, they lied. Great gory fun—and creepy, in every sense of the word.” —John Connolly, author of the Charlie Parker mysteries

“[I] feel like I’m itching everywhere after reading this brilliant, creepy and thrilling first novel in Ezekiel Boone’s new trilogy. It reads like a love child between Stephen King and Michael Crichton. . . . In a rarity for this type of novel, with so many intersecting storylines and different characters, I enjoyed almost every person that Boone depicted with such elegant skill. . . . I’m eagerly awaiting the next novel in the series.” —Doves Falling
“One of [Stephen] King’s greatest talents as a writer is his ability to ground his horror in genuine human emotion, and that’s something Boone manages to achieve here. . . . I can’t wait to see what new horrors Boone conjures up for the second instalment.” —Crazy Genre Town

“[The Hatching] is nothing like any other arachnophobic terror trip you’ve ever taken. . . . Boone bounces around from place to place and character to character with the confidence and adeptness of a major player in the horror industry. . . . He has an aptitude with character-driven story and dialogue-driven action and plot development that is unsurpassed—even unmatched—by few modern masters of the genre. Boone writes like a man possessed, his plot as twisted and tangled as the Peruvian jungle but never confusing, the storyline never falling off track as he guides you on an apocalyptic horror fest through a world being rapidly consumed by a plague unlike anyone’s ever prepared for. . . . If Boone stays on track and continues to produce this level of quality fiction, it won’t be surprising to hear his name mentioned in company with Brian Keene and Stephen King on a regular basis. . . . If you’re looking for a story that will truly scare the hell out of you and skitter around the inside of your skull long after you’ve read the last word, you’ve found it in The Hatching.” —This is Horror
“The first book in a chilling new disaster series, The Hatching is a fast-paced nail-biter with a creepy-crawly twist. This isn’t just the far-fetched story of a zombie outbreak or a terrifying epidemic; it starts with something that many of us already fear (or at least dislike), capitalizing on readers’ fears and taking them to extremes. . . . [I]t’s . . . sure to have readers eager to pick up the next book in the series, to see where the spiders end up next.” —NightsandWeekends.com

“The Hatching is creepy, terrifying, and would make the perfect horror movie adaption. . . . Boone’s ability to weave a story with a great number of perspectives and remain engaging throughout is that of a seasoned author, even though this is his debut. The premise is chilling, but the story is spine-tingling.” —Kathy Reads Fiction (blog)

“Ezekiel Boone’s debut novel brings an epic apocalyptic horror worthy of summer blockbuster proportions. . . . Invoking the classic old school horror spirit, Boone’s novel effectively captures the massive scope in which the story is set. . . . Boone’s writing style and creation of a very unique foe makes for one spellbinding page-turner. It’s a new take on a horror classic, and it’s downright addictive. Damn you, Mr. Ezekiel Boone, I’m hooked.” —Modern Horrors

“One of [Stephen] King’s greatest talents as a writer is his ability to ground his horror in genuine human emotion, and that’s something Boone manages to achieve here. . . . I can’t wait to see what new horrors Boone conjures up for the second instalment.” —Crazy Genre Town (blog)