You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
3.5
The purple prose made this a bit of a slog in parts, but the action scenes are delightful (depending on your definition of the word). A strong recommendation if you like descriptions of people being eaten by bugs.
The purple prose made this a bit of a slog in parts, but the action scenes are delightful (depending on your definition of the word). A strong recommendation if you like descriptions of people being eaten by bugs.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I enjoyed the book for what it was, a fun creature feature that makes your skin crawl. The roaches were and the horrors they brought were wonderfully detailed and vividly brought to life. Although the writing felt clunky at times as it often felt the author put half of the words through a thesaurus and purposefully picked out the longest/most obscure synonyms. The scientific “lectures” from the scientists felt like they dragged and the way the task force responded felt very formulaic and unrealistic. The destruction of the main nest felt anti-climactic and the twist of the second group of roaches didn’t feel like much of a surprise. The epic battle of man versus nature seemed to come to a shockingly easy and neat end. But those issues aside, this was a fun read, and I enjoyed that no characters were safe or off-limits to the roaches.
Lately I find myself wanting to read some of the books from Paperbacks from Hell. I have a couple Ruby Jean Jensen books and plan to read a few other one off paperbacks from the iconic non-fiction book. The Nest has always been one of the most iconic covers in 1980s horror and captured me the first time I saw the cover in the collection. I feel like creature features resonate with me alot; i recall William W. Johnstone's "The Uninvited"and "Bats" with fond recollection like Herberts rat filled books I read in my teenage years. The Nest runs a little long and wraps up too quickly to be amazing but is a profoundly intelligent and well written paperback from hell. I found the character development a little missing and the author used too much scientific wording/definitions throughout. Overall, I'm glad I finally read The Nest but doubt it will last in my unconscious memory like other horror novels of similar age/ilk.
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Man, I thought sharks were scary. Killer roaches are way worse.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Absolutely, magnificently unhinged. It’s like if William W. Johnstone was a community college English professor with a penchant for purple prose. The numerous horror scenes are overwritten in the best way. The “spooky cockroach situation”, as the book refers to it, is like no other. Naked “punks”, teen girls, husbands and wives, a whole boatful of little children, no one is spared from winged cockroach death. Every death scene manages to top the one before it. These scenes are revolting and tasteless, but I can’t help but admire Douglas’s sheer chutzpah. There’s a perverse EC comics glee behind all the jaw-dropping grue. Unfortunately, things peter out by the end, because it turns out the third act Big Bad is just a big pile of cockroaches. That’s a bit of a letdown after the sheer insanity of all the previous roach encounters. I was hoping that this would include the cockroach/person hybrid that’s apparently in the movie version, because that’s way more interesting than a mound of bugs. That said, the first two-thirds of this are so bugnuts crazy I would gladly read this again in the future. This is definitely a highlight of the resurgent popularity of old horror paperbacks.