Brood X in Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie

Dec 18, 2019 Miranda Reads rated it really liked it

Shelves: received-to-review

Do you hear that? It's the sound of me breaking down and giving into my addiction...aka another tierlist video ranking all my January Books. Now that you know where this one stands, check out the video to see the rest!

The Written Review:

Satellite stopped hours ago...It's Armageddon.

All summer long, everyone talks about the swarm, aka Broad Ten, aka cicadas - lots of them. All set to hatch and eat everything in their path.

In the midst of the theorizing and stockpiling ...more

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Apr 29, 2013 M.M. Hudson rated it it was amazing

Being from the Midwest and especially from the country section, I know all about the noises of Spring and early Summer. It is not uncommon to hear birds, crickets and cicadas chirping their mating calls or for that matter to see them.

So, to read a book that puts the bugs, cicadas in the forefront of the story did not seem like it could be that big of deal. I could have not been any more wrong!

The thriller book, Brood X by Michael Phillip Cash starts out in a typical upscale suburbia with the cha Being from the Midwest and especially from the country section, I know all about the noises of Spring and early Summer. It is not uncommon to hear birds, crickets and cicadas chirping their mating calls or for that matter to see them.

So, to read a book that puts the bugs, cicadas in the forefront of the story did not seem like it could be that big of deal. I could have not been any more wrong!

The thriller book, Brood X by Michael Phillip Cash starts out in a typical upscale suburbia with the characters of Seth and his wife, Laura. Seth has just bought a new camcorder and has found out Laura is pregnant with their first child. His intention is to use his camcorder to record Laura's pregnancy.

The story moves into anything but typical as they begin to hear stories of a great cicada invasion, dubbed Brood X, that is going to be hitting their area. The hype of it causes neighbors to begin preparing in mass as stores sell out of everything. Seth ignores the warnings but appeases Laura with some things like a brand new freezer to stock food.

As the story unfolds, Laura's college friend, Marni and her husband, Dominic literally move in to Seth and Laura's lives. The inevitable drama ensues as they try to live together in some semblance of harmony. On one lazy afternoon of swimming pool side, the first of the invasion begins with a sting to Dominic's chest. From this first incident the plot thickens as more and more cicadas arrive.

Unprepared, Seth, Laura, Marni, and Dominic find themselves in a dire situation where death and destruction seems to come commonplace. Sadness and fear are prominent in Seth and Laura's lives and replace the happiness they should be enjoying at this time during Laura's pregnancy.
Seth promises Laura that he will protect her and their unborn baby throughout and learns a bit about himself and the friends along the way. All the while everything about the brood invasion is documented on the camcorder.

What happens to Seth, Laura, their unborn baby, Marni and Dominic is left up to you my readers to find out for yourselves.

In many twists of writing, Michael Phillip Cash weaves a horrifying tale of what the real life brood of cicadas could be like when they wake up from a 17 year sleep. Although admittedly I am not a fan of the thriller genre, I found this book to be excellent and kept me wanting to read more.

This book:5 stars!

~Naila Moon

Disclosure: I received a Kindle edition of this book for my open and honest opinion. The opinions expressed here are 100% my own.
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Jun 25, 2013 Gayle Pace rated it it was amazing

REVIEW:

The author has written a book that is great horror novel which places you back in biblical times. At first you think it's about this little bug that makes a lot of noise. This bug can be so horrifying and deadly that you won;/t ever see it as a little noisy bug again. Zombie's step aside, you are nothing compared to this.

You don't think much about the cicada since it is dormant for such long periods, up to 17 years. They then come to the surface and feed and breed for about 6 weeks. The n ...more

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Nov 16, 2014 Charles rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Despite the fact that periodic pestilence is a recurring theme of disaster in the Christian Bible, regularly appears in other historic documents and still occurs in the modern age of chemical pesticides, it rarely is the primary cause of disasters in fiction. Other major events such as nuclear war and contact with an asteroid have been more often used, even though they are far less likely than a plague of locusts.
In this book Cash uses the Cicada, specifically those that spend years under ground Despite the fact that periodic pestilence is a recurring theme of disaster in the Christian Bible, regularly appears in other historic documents and still occurs in the modern age of chemical pesticides, it rarely is the primary cause of disasters in fiction. Other major events such as nuclear war and contact with an asteroid have been more often used, even though they are far less likely than a plague of locusts.
In this book Cash uses the Cicada, specifically those that spend years under ground and then hatch out in a massive swarm. Some emerge 17 years after the hatching of their eggs and others 13 years after hatching. Any mathematician can tell you that there will come a year when both broods will hatch, creating an incredible mass of cicadas. Add in a few other random factors all serving to expand the number of cicadas in a year and the premise of the book is plausible.
Seth has lost his job and his wife Lara is pregnant, due sometime in late summer. Scientists are warning everyone that this is going to be a year with a massive Cicada population, so people are urged to be prepared. Although Seth and Lara are madly in love with each other, Seth has an obnoxious sense of humor and as long as his unemployment payments still arrive, he has no burning desire to get a job or to do much of anything.
Although the outbreak of Cicadas provides the excitement and danger, this book is about how Seth and Lara interact as well with Lara's best friend Marni and her boyfriend Dom. Most of the people in their area leave when the Cicada outbreak is due but the four of them stay and fight it out in Seth and Lara's home. That part is human interest as the four of them fight over many things, including the fact that Marni and Dom have moved into Seth and Lara's home and are not the best behaved of houseguests.
Although Cash takes some poetic license with the size and danger of the Cicadas, it is not so great that the premise is rendered implausible. He keeps the story moving along with humorous dialog until and beyond the point where the danger arrives. Anyone that has been on the Mississippi River during mayfly season can attest to the plausibility of a massive Cicada infestation. It is an incredible sight to drive on roads slick with mayflies or to see them completely covering a vehicle or a structure. I have experienced this and found it easy to imagine it being worse to the point described in this book.

This book was made available for free for review purposes.
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Apr 11, 2014 Shelly Itkin rated it really liked it

Ok I must admit living on Long Island we have had lots of different scares and many people are still recovering from Sandy but this book was a page-turner from start to finish.

When we meet Seth and Lara they live on the North Shore in a lovely house and a beautiful neighborhood with a built in swimming pool. The first problem is that Seth is laid off and having a very hard time finding a job. Then we learn that Lara is pregnant and although they are happy they are worrying about expenses.

While ...more

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Jan 14, 2016 Wanda Maynard rated it it was amazing

My interest was piqued from the get go with this amazing story, and skillfully planned plot that wouldn't stop. Michael Phillip Cash has come up with yet another masterpiece of horror. BROOD X is not only filled with fear and dread, but is also filled with enough suspense that will take the reader into the unknown; and once there the uncertainties are limitless.
The characters were great! Seth's character made me laugh at times, when he came up with a joke or two to relieve the tension in the ai My interest was piqued from the get go with this amazing story, and skillfully planned plot that wouldn't stop. Michael Phillip Cash has come up with yet another masterpiece of horror. BROOD X is not only filled with fear and dread, but is also filled with enough suspense that will take the reader into the unknown; and once there the uncertainties are limitless.
The characters were great! Seth's character made me laugh at times, when he came up with a joke or two to relieve the tension in the air. Marni, on the other hand, her character was a little bit too out-spoken, and she didn't care to say what she pleased, whether it hurt your feelings or not. She made you want to reach out and shake her and say, please shut up! She got on Seth's nerves and everyone else's. Lara was more on the quiet side. She seemed more sensible when it came to peoples feelings, and things like house-hold items or making a list for things that were needed. She had a lot of patience too, because she had to put up with both of them.
This story was like a movie right out of science fiction . I pictured these ugly bugs working their way out of the walls, and they were outrageously huge. They were everywhere. Nothing but a black sea of a moving nightmare from which there seemed no escape. Seth, Lara and Marni were right in the middle of the whole mess. There were so many cicadas flapping their wings that it would be like listening to hundreds of airplanes taking off all at once, or hundreds of rattlesnakes rattling their rattles at once, and they were landing on the people causing them to run everywhere to try and get away.
As the cicadas swarmed and filled the houses, people began fighting them to no avail. It seemed like, the more the people killed these ugly creatures, the more the cicadas fought back and became more abundant. No matter how often they were sprayed with the toxic poison, it was like fighting a never-ending battle.Will Seth, Lara, and Marni find a way out of this madness, or will the bugs win in the end? This is a must read! I loved it! ...more

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