Customer Reviews

The Hephaestus Plague

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

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.

If that sounds familier it was filmed as Bug (1975)
The book as is almost always the case is so much better .

This is a pretty mixed bag, and a person's enjoyment of it will most likely depend on how rabid a sci-fi/killer insect fan they truly are.

This is one of those novels released for the sole purpose of advertising the movie, and indeed, it says so right on the cover. You have to love a book with an unpronouncable mouthful of a title like The Hephaestus Plague, when it features the blurb above the title begging you not to miss the theatrical release of the film version called "BUG".

The intellectual contradiction on the cover pretty much continues through the book as well, as this slim novel contains great sci-fi premises and situations, yet some of the worst characters, dialogue, and pointless transitions you'll ever stumble across in print. This is probably the only instance where I would strongly recommend readers just skip the first chapter entirely to avoid losing hope and abandoning the book right there.

But despite the rocky prose, it is interesting, and the truly painful parts are easy enough to glide over for the good stuff, of which there is plenty. So, if you like sci-fi, killer bugs, or just a quick read to pass the time, and don't mind a bit of the "I could have written this better" blues, then this is the book for you.