SOLVED. Adult Horror SciFi. Swarms of Bat-like creatures are attacking and killing people in a town. Cover: blue with hideous bat creature? Read early-mid 1990s. Spoiler.

[Paula]

The Silence on Netflix sparked this memory of a book I read as a kid in the early 90's about swarms of bat like creatures attacking a town and killing everyone in it. One part I remember is about a lady being attacked in a car. It ends with a guy taking a plane and flying dangerously high with the creatures following and freezing them up in the atmosphere. I thought it might have been Bats out of hell but it doesn't spark any memory.

[Scott]

Vespers?

[Paula]

No, there are no bats turned into humans... Just looked at the summary of Vespers.

[Amber (Daisymau)]

Bats by William W. Johnstone?

[Paula]

You know, that might be the one! I tried looking for an excerpt online but I just might order from amazon and read. How funny, the title, I searched forever and that never came up! Thank you and hopefully that is it!!

[Kris]

Here's the Google Books preview of Bats by William W. Johnstone - Amber's suggestion:

https://books.google.com/books?id=OLh... There are different cover images.

[Amber (Daisymau)]

Paula wrote: "You know, that might be the one! I tried looking for an excerpt online but I just might order from amazon and read. How funny, the title, I searched forever and that never came up! Thank you and ho..."

You're welcome. Hope it's the right book. I had run across the title when I was looking for something else.

[Trilobyte]

Nightwing possibly this one, I've just started reading it, will confirm if it fits the OP's description

edit: I enjoyed it, but this is not the book you are after.

[Kris]

Note: Paula (OP) was last active on the site in February 2020.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

The rockabilly werewolf from Mars wrote: "Bump"

We're enacting a moratorium on bumping others' threads for a bit - it's gotten a little out of control. Of course you can continue to bump your own threads every 30 days.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

It's hard to say. We're just going to play it by ear for awhile.

[Bargle]

Lobstergirl wrote: "It's hard to say. We're just going to play it by ear for awhile."

I think the Mods need to start a thread up in the "HOW THIS GROUP WORKS" section announcing this, so the people (like me) that do this don't get blindsided by the new moratorium. And the mods won't have to keep telling people in separate threads. If I hadn't been keeping an eye on this thread, I wouldn't have known.
In my own defense on this, I've taken to limiting myself to no more than 3 thread bumps a day and I don't do any on weekends, leaving it more open for new questions.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

I think right now it's more of a casual moratorium, in the sense that realistically there is a very small number of people who like to bump threads, so it seems more appropriate to just remind these specific people when we see them doing a bump or two.

If there were dozens of people doing it, we'd definitely write up a rule for HOW THIS GROUP WORKS.

[Bargle]

Lobstergirl wrote: "It's hard to say. We're just going to play it by ear for awhile."

It's been 6 months now. Could we start again? I would still limit myself to no more than 3 a day and none on weekends.

ETA: Apparently we can.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Ok, now I am seeing this. This is how long it takes to read new comments, because the group is so huge.

No, the moratorium continues.

[Bargle]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Ok, now I am seeing this. This is how long it takes to read new comments, because the group is so huge.

No, the moratorium continues."

OK, back to just doing my own stuff.

[Bargle]

OK, tomorrow the moratorium is one year old. Can we go back to bumping other's threads again? Again, I'll limit myself to 2 threads a day. I'd recommend that to the others. Keeps the bump ups from dominating the first page.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

No, it will unleash another surge.

But what you can definitely do is contact the thread creators and try to get them to bump their own threads. For example, Paula who started this thread was last active on GR in December 2021.

[Bargle]

So, we're now at a year and a half. I'm guessing the moratorium is going to be permanent?

Bat creatures no bumping threads thread.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Please stop.

[Trilobyte]

The Anthrax Mutation possibly, its on archive.org if OP/Bargle wants to check it out

[Bargle]

Trilobyte wrote: "The Anthrax Mutation possibly, its on archive.org if OP/Bargle wants to check it out"

Well, the anthrax is defeated by a counter substance in that one, so looks like it's not it.

[Trilobyte]

I'm told, by someone who has read it, that it's not the William Johnstone novel.

It may be the OP misremembered the bats movie as having been a book as the plot sounds very similar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bats_(f...

[Paula]

I'm back. I have not found it yet. It might be Guy N. Smith Bats out of hell. These books are rare and cost a lot so haven't ordered any. There has been two books from my childhood (late 80s early 90s) that forever stuck with me and this bats one was one of them. I think it had a blue cover with a hideous bat creature. But... I was only like 10

[Kris]

Paula, is this book for kids, teens or adults?

Who was the main character?

Where did the bat-like creatures come from?
What triggered their attack on the townspeople?

I copied a few book details to the topic header and added a spoiler alert. Feel free to edit it.

[Alan]

Maybe have a look through the book Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction, by Grady Hendrix. You may find some pointers (or a cover image) that jogs your memory. It's a good read, anyway.

[Paula]

Kris wrote: "Paula, is this book for kids, teens or adults?

Who was the main character?

Where did the bat-like creatures come from?
What triggered their attack on the townspeople?

I copied a few book detail..."

I was at my grandmothers house in the early to mid-ninties, she had a box of books from her neighbor that wanted her to sell them at her garage sale. I rifled through and started reading it based upon the cover and the description. It was a paperback, it was blue, This was like 30-35 years ago lol. It definitely was an adult book. I remember there was an attack sequence of the bat creatures attacking someone in a car as they were fleeing, the main character was a man... I have EXHAUSTED search of the internet on all I can remember. It probably wasn't a very common or popular book because there is nothing out there, but I know it was real!!

[Kris]

Paula, just to confirm, did you rule out all the suggested titles in this thread?

[Paula]

Kris wrote: "Paula, just to confirm, did you rule out all the suggested titles in this thread?"

Yes, except for Bats out of hell. It's ok, I'll come across it eventually.

[Paula]

I think I may have it solved? I recently acquired Night Wing by Martin Cruz Smith and there is a scene of a bat attacking and ripping apart people that is triggering something in my brain. I do think I confused the ending? I am going to read it soon, but I think this is it, the old cover do have a bat with a blue background!!

[Bargle]

Link Night Wing by Martin Cruz Smith.

[Paula]

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...