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Instinct
Hidden in a remote corner of the South American jungle is a clandestine research facility known simply as MEROS. Here, working in laboratories buried a thousand feet underground, military scientists have developed the most astonishing and deadly weapon known to man...
Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, a Chinook helicopter lands a highly trained squad of special forces soldiers deep in hostile territory - their mission: to clean up a black-ops killzone. As they enter the cave, they hear the faint buzz of the weapon - like the beating of a thousand pairs of insect wings...
Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, a Chinook helicopter lands a highly trained squad of special forces soldiers deep in hostile territory - their mission: to clean up a black-ops killzone. As they enter the cave, they hear the faint buzz of the weapon - like the beating of a thousand pairs of insect wings...
500 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2010
3 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
January 17, 2011
Predictable, corny and cliche with cardboard cut out characters you already know from watching B-movies. In fact this book reads lilke a cheesy B-movie. But because of this it's hilarious and fun. The pace is quick and it doesn't require heavy thinking just enjoying. Perfect for a long flight or something like that.
August 16, 2012
Finished reading Ben Kay[s - Instinct. A great book where a an experiment goes wrong and brings out the aggression from the insects and wasps at a MEROS facility. With soldiers and the scientists they must escape as the place is set to self destruct. Their only challenge is getting out alive however their foes are Super sized bugs which are really big and they are hungry and pissed!!! :)
July 4, 2013
load of old rubbish.
February 14, 2024
I wrote this after 100 pages: "There isn't a clear protagonist, and no real pattern to when it's going to switch perspective so sometimes I don't know who's point of view I am reading until a few sentances have gone by, this switch happens often and in the middle of a paragraph with no warning, I think I'm getting whiplash.
Beyond that it has just about every simile and metaphor you can imagine and then some extras you'd probably have thought better left unsaid.
This gem is of particular interest "Strangely it was brighter down here than it was on the surface. As they were led from the elevator Laura and Andrew blinked hard and tried not to feel like a couple of stains on a hotel bedsheet" Andrew is 10yrs old, Laura is his mom... Just. Ick.
Blegh. Y'all I might not make it, if I die from this please know... It wasn't worth it."
After completing this book I decided it may be the worst book ever written.
Truly and astonishingly awful, punishingly so.
As an entomology enthusiast it's especially offensive.
Just wow.
Beyond that it has just about every simile and metaphor you can imagine and then some extras you'd probably have thought better left unsaid.
This gem is of particular interest "Strangely it was brighter down here than it was on the surface. As they were led from the elevator Laura and Andrew blinked hard and tried not to feel like a couple of stains on a hotel bedsheet" Andrew is 10yrs old, Laura is his mom... Just. Ick.
Blegh. Y'all I might not make it, if I die from this please know... It wasn't worth it."
After completing this book I decided it may be the worst book ever written.
Truly and astonishingly awful, punishingly so.
As an entomology enthusiast it's especially offensive.
Just wow.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 23, 2019
Well written but, after a good start, entirely predictable... cliched characters, far too predictable plot-twists, and as for the ending/epilogue... who could possibly have guessed that was coming?
All that was missing was the two main characters falling in love through all the adversity, to call House!
What started out so promising was, frankly, a disappointment
All that was missing was the two main characters falling in love through all the adversity, to call House!
What started out so promising was, frankly, a disappointment
Read
November 5, 2022Published 2010 was on bookshelf so guess I’ve read it - don’t remember it but reviews say ‘entirely predictable’ so not motivated to have another look!
Sending to charity…
Sending to charity…
August 11, 2025
3.5. interesting premise, some parts a little too out there and the gore was a bit much for me personally. But a good, fast paced story
December 29, 2025
2.5
Not even sure what I just finished really. I don't think I can read the word wasp again without having a visceral reaction.
Not even sure what I just finished really. I don't think I can read the word wasp again without having a visceral reaction.
September 4, 2021
Randomly picked up at an airport,solely due to the nice and striking book cover, this was a decent read.
It is not the most amazing and revolutionary story, i went into the book expecting it to be "Jurassic park, but with wasps", which was exactly what i got.
The premise is quite interesting and the book is quite well read, but it is quite predictable. This is not helped by the fact that i compared it to Jurassic Park from the start, and my mindset was already in that ball park from the start and you could see similarities in the stories as it unfolded. That is not to say that there weren't some twists and turns that was unexpected, but the overall story was predictable.
Nothing bad per say, just be prepared to not be in for anything new, but regardless, still a neat story that was worth the read.
It is not the most amazing and revolutionary story, i went into the book expecting it to be "Jurassic park, but with wasps", which was exactly what i got.
The premise is quite interesting and the book is quite well read, but it is quite predictable. This is not helped by the fact that i compared it to Jurassic Park from the start, and my mindset was already in that ball park from the start and you could see similarities in the stories as it unfolded. That is not to say that there weren't some twists and turns that was unexpected, but the overall story was predictable.
Nothing bad per say, just be prepared to not be in for anything new, but regardless, still a neat story that was worth the read.
March 15, 2017
Very well written. The first couple of chapters made me think it was going to be about terrorism and politics but no. It does involve terror and lot and lots and LOTS of bugs that can kill!
April 6, 2012
Da hilft auch kein Insektenspray: BEN KAY spielt in seinem Thriller "Das Nest" mit den Urängsten der Menschen. In einem geheimen US-Labor im Dschungel gerät ein Expertiment mit genmanipulierten Wesen außer Kontrolle. Die Biologin Laura Trent soll Abhilfe schaffen, doch die Tiere haben sich schon so weit verändert, dass sie eigenständig und intelligent handeln.
Die übergroßen Killerinsekten lassen Laura und ihrem Team keine Chance zu entkommen, es sei denn, durch einen vor langer Zeit versiegelten Trakt des Labors. Niemand weiß, was sich dahinter verbirgt!
Obwohl man das ein oder andere typisch amerikanische Klischee in diesem Roman findet, entbehrt er keinesfalls einiger - wenn auch nur kleinerer - überraschender Wendungen und hält den Leser von Anfang bis Ende gefangen - genau wie diese Insekten. Insgesamt verrät "Das Nest" solide Schriftsteller- und Unterhaltungskunst. Der Leser erlebt dabei, dass nicht nur die Bösen ihr Leben verlieren, sondern auch so manch ein Held der Story. Es geht teilweise ganz schön brutal und blutig zur Sache, hier hätte etwas weniger Detailtreue auch nicht geschadet! Abgesehen davon ist der Ehrgeiz der Genforschung in der heutigen Zeit so massiv gestiegen, dass man sich ein durchaus machbares Zukunftszenario vorstellen kann. Also könnte man dieses Buch auch in das Science Fiction Genre stecken. Bleibt nur zu hoffen, dass sich kein Wissenschaftler diesen Romanstoff als Vorlage nimmt!
Die übergroßen Killerinsekten lassen Laura und ihrem Team keine Chance zu entkommen, es sei denn, durch einen vor langer Zeit versiegelten Trakt des Labors. Niemand weiß, was sich dahinter verbirgt!
Obwohl man das ein oder andere typisch amerikanische Klischee in diesem Roman findet, entbehrt er keinesfalls einiger - wenn auch nur kleinerer - überraschender Wendungen und hält den Leser von Anfang bis Ende gefangen - genau wie diese Insekten. Insgesamt verrät "Das Nest" solide Schriftsteller- und Unterhaltungskunst. Der Leser erlebt dabei, dass nicht nur die Bösen ihr Leben verlieren, sondern auch so manch ein Held der Story. Es geht teilweise ganz schön brutal und blutig zur Sache, hier hätte etwas weniger Detailtreue auch nicht geschadet! Abgesehen davon ist der Ehrgeiz der Genforschung in der heutigen Zeit so massiv gestiegen, dass man sich ein durchaus machbares Zukunftszenario vorstellen kann. Also könnte man dieses Buch auch in das Science Fiction Genre stecken. Bleibt nur zu hoffen, dass sich kein Wissenschaftler diesen Romanstoff als Vorlage nimmt!
April 18, 2012
I found Instinct while browsing the shelves of one of my local book stores, and decided to buy it based on three things: the jacket compared it to
Jurassic Park
(one of my absolute favorites); it featured giant, genetically engineered killer wasps (who can say no to that?); and the cover was really nice looking (the Graphics major in me approved). I was pretty pleased with my purchase until I started actually reading it.
I have to admit that I only got about thirty pages before I gave up, but what I saw of the plot and characterizations was enough, because they were both cheesily bad (think on the level of the Syfy Channel's recent masterpieces). This in itself wasn't much of an issue (I watched and almost enjoyed Sharktopus, after all), but the writing itself was so subpar that I just couldn't keep going (not to speak of the dialog!).
I ended up returning the book and buying one of Matthew Reilly's latest instead. Good decision.
I have to admit that I only got about thirty pages before I gave up, but what I saw of the plot and characterizations was enough, because they were both cheesily bad (think on the level of the Syfy Channel's recent masterpieces). This in itself wasn't much of an issue (I watched and almost enjoyed Sharktopus, after all), but the writing itself was so subpar that I just couldn't keep going (not to speak of the dialog!).
I ended up returning the book and buying one of Matthew Reilly's latest instead. Good decision.
March 12, 2011
Great idea for a book... a secret miltary project is developing a new strain of wasps; bigger, tougher, meaner; to act as killing machines. The head boffin is killed and Laura, an English entomologist is head hunted against her wishes to take his place at the underground lab hidden beneath the Venezuelan jungle. So far, so good. Sadly, the great idea never realises it's potential. The story unfolds in a flat and predicatable way. If it were a movie, it would star Jean-Claude Van Damme, The Rock or Vin Diesel. It was an easy read, due the the large typeface used and the language used, but there was no thrill to it, no can't-put-it-down feeling. It wasn't that bad, just mediocre.
March 5, 2012
Bishop made me wanna punch him so many times.You could sense that whatever his decision,it was leading to trouble.And if you really visualised about the larger then life experiments and you admist them,I would have shot myself way early in the story.It's has potential for a B-grade sci-fi flick like "The Insect" or something along those lines.
March 9, 2014
It's funny how my worst character isn't Bishop but the bloody Dr Heath!
Good story, awful writing in so many places by the author. Too many things didn't click. Like how Webster was able to carry an able bodied man with a sprained ankle. Seriously now...
And Bishop? Retard.
End of rant.
Good story, awful writing in so many places by the author. Too many things didn't click. Like how Webster was able to carry an able bodied man with a sprained ankle. Seriously now...
And Bishop? Retard.
End of rant.
March 25, 2015
I LOVE THIS BOOK !!!! It is great and it really keeps you going, it goes to the point and don't have to wait up to a 100 pages to start the action !!!! it really changed my tasting of the books. I would like to read more books from this author :D
June 4, 2016
A truly excellent endeavour by the author to take you on a journey through what could happen or may have already? Shockingly good and gory in parts. A great read one to anticipate your time with. Thank you for such a great book.
April 24, 2015
terrific read......i definitely like bishop's character.....loved the super wasps and love ben kay's easy writing style
August 12, 2015
A surprisingly good read. Definitely an Author I'm going to be keeping my eye out for in the future.
January 18, 2017
Interestzing story with well thought out characters. Very thrilling.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews