The Hephaestus Plague [Import] [Mass Market Paperback]

Thomas Page (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Books; New Ed edition (January 1, 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0552097225
• ISBN-13: 978-0552097222
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,605,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Compelling and too little known sci-fi /horror novel, February 10, 2005

By 

F. J. Harvey "Cricket ,country music and a go... (Birmingham England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Hephaestus plague (Hardcover)

This is a novel about bugs ; they are not the giant variety common to low rent science fiction movies or books ,but while unprepossessing in appearance they are none the less deadly .They are a primordial species ,thrown up into the world when an earthquake dislplaces them from their natural habitat at the earth's core .The bugs are blind and have become carriers of their own bacteria but , more deadly yet , they feed on carbon ,and when none is available in their immediate environment they create it ,by the simple expedient of burning any combustible material in the vicinity .
The problem seems containable by virtue of their inability to procreate but then a scientist .Parmittler .decides to mate one with a giant cockroach .The result is a species that threatens to incinerate the whole world as they spread out from their original grounds in small town USA .
Page has done a great deal of entomological research and it shows ,sometimes to the detriment of moving the plot along briskly enough ,but the book is logical and well worked out .The threat it postulates is rendered realistic enough to make this disturbing as well as engrossing .
It should be a great deal better known than it is at present

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A story from the depths of the Earth, August 1, 2005

By 

C. Campagna "apocalyptic hunter" (Montreal, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Hephaestus plague (Hardcover)

I have just finished reading Dust from Charles Pellegrino where the death of insects heralds the end of the human race. Here, the appearance of a new kind of insect might do the same. Entomologist irony.
The relation between the excentric scientist (James Parmiter) and the bugs was very well developed. I wish that the author would have explored more the properties of the bacteria which supposedly gives intelligence to the roaches. The story is short and was made into a movie, which I did not see, yet.
I would have liked to give this book 3 and a half stars but since the rating system is limited, I will settle for three.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's attack of the carbon eating, flame farting cockroaches!, October 21, 2000

By 

Chadwick H. Saxelid "Bookworm" (Concord, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Hephaestus plague (Hardcover)

Forget the cheeseball movie called BUG that was made from this fine doomsday thriller. This book is a fairly creepy sci-fi monster story about a misanthropic entomologist that tampers with a newly discovered, and quite dangerous, cockroach that is unleashed during a small earthquake in North Carolina. These creatures eat pure carbon and can make fire by rubbing their rear legs together, thus creating a food supply whenever, and wherever, needed. When James Parmiter unlocks their secrets, then the true fear, and even greater threat to humankind, really begins. Worthwhile reading for monster fans.