Frank Schatzing The Swarm

The Swarm

Frank Schatzing

HarperCollins, May 2006, $24.95

ISBN: 0060813261

In the first week of March off Trondheim, Norway research scientist Dr. Sigur Johanson notices that polychaetes have been found in a methane environment particularly harsh for that species; these bristleworms should never have survived let alone multiply into a colony of millions in Norwegian continental shelf.

By the twelfth of March, marine biologist Dr. Leon Anawak wonders why the whales he has watched for years are two weeks late on their annual migration along Vancouver Island. Not long afterward, Leon learns that four different species of whales attacked with military precision a cargo ship and two tugboats towing it. Leon scoffs at the report as these whales do not cohabitate.

Other sea related incidents occur as crabs poison Long Island's water supply and in Paris lobsters explode like suicidal bombers while deadly bacteria enters the drinking water. World leaders become concerned that the worms will disturb oil deposits on the North Sea Shelf. Scientists struggle to understand why and how the seven seas seem to be taking back the world. When the North Sea Shelf collapses from the burrowing worms, thousands of Europeans die leading to an international panic. Scientists discover the intelligent Yrr are enacting revenge for the environmental abuse that humanity has wrecked upon their ecological system deep in inner earth. War is now with the losing species cleansed from this orb.

Reminiscent of the 1950s environmental horror movies and the works of HG Wells, THE SWARM is a terrific science fiction thriller. The action-packed story line contains insightful interwoven scientific explanation that is easy to comprehend leading to a powerful cautionary tale that brings Rachel Carson's warnings of The Silent Spring into the twenty first century. Though the intelligent design crowd will scream bush level fiction, readers will appreciate this deep tale wondering What's Going On?

Harriet Klausner