The Swarm A Novel

By: Andy Marino

Published by Orbit, 2024

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