The Swarm

A Novel

By: Andy Marino

Narrated by: Candace Fitzgerald

Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

From the bizarre and audacious imagination of horror author Andy Marino comes a harrowing tale of the insect that will herald the apocalypse…

"The literary equivalent of swallowing a wasp that's crawled inside your Coke can. Do yourself a favor and read this book."–Nick Cutter, author of The Troop

"Creepy, crawly, and endlessly dark, this is Marino's best novel yet."–Gabino Iglesias, Bram Stoker award winning author

It begins with cicadas. It will end with the swarm.

When a bizarre murder case lands on the desk of Detective Vicky Paterson, it's just the start of her nightmare. On the same day, her young daughter, Sadie, is swarmed by cicadas emerging off-cycle from their seventeen-year pattern. Sadie barely survives, and her condition is critical.

Across town, Will and Alicia, two dysfunctional private investigators, are on the trail of a missing girl and the shadowy cult involved in her disappearance. But after the first wave of insects hit, they are forced to barricade themselves in a motel where they must work together with a group of strangers to outlast the invasion.

Soon the infestation is impossible to contain. Humanity rests on the knife's edge of extinction. And there is a terrible purpose behind the emergence–one that Vicky, Will, Alicia, and a small group of unlikely allies must unravel if they are to survive.

"Marino's work is unlike any other's in the genre–horrifying, complex, fascinating, and utterly unique."–Hannah Whitten, New York Times bestselling author

"Relentless, brutal, and brilliant. An apocalyptic tour de force."–Craig DiLouie, author of How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive

"Marino has taken the safety of sensations away from me. Every prickle along my arm, the slightest buzz anywhere near my ear–it's all fodder for nightmares now. Suggesting your skin will crawl after reading this unnerving novel doesn't come close. Your flesh will fly away."–Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Ghost Eaters

©2024 Andy Marino (P)2024 Redhook

Critic reviews

"Moving with the relentlessness of a winged insect coming straight for your face, Andy Marino's The Swarm is a fiendishly compelling assault on the senses. Its procedural elements are reminiscent—in all the best ways—of horror classics like The Wolfen or The Manitou, while its more apocalyptic scenes are as thrilling as the best that subgenre has to offer. This is a weird, wild ride you'll want to revisit more than once every seventeen years."—Nat Cassidy, author of Nestlings

"Relentless, brutal, and brilliant! Andy Marino's The Swarm reads like an apocalyptic tour de force, a Michael Crichtonesque fever dream that goes all the way with its terrifying premise. A five-star read."—Craig DiLouie, author of How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive

"The literary equivalent of swallowing a wasp that's crawled inside your Coke can, The Swarm is a burst of bright, unexpected, feverish prose blazing straight across your brain-pan. If you like that kind of thing (and I very much do) then do yourself a favor and read this book."—Nick Cutter, author of The Troop