SOLVED. Adult Science Fiction - Spider like alien crashes (with a meteorite) and attacks a town, lays eggs; includes cannibal subplot. Cover: man (foreground) facing a monster (background). Read early 2000s. [s]

[Ruby]

Looking for an old science fiction book that I recall reading in the early 2000s (though the book itself felt much older, I'd guess 50s through 70s but I can't be sure.) An alien crashed in a town after landing with a meteorite, and it had spiderlike features in that it used webbing and laid eggs, which someone had to destroy near the end of the book.

The cover featured a man in the foreground facing a monster in the background, there was an escape through some caves where a man in a wheelchair went over a ledge to his death, and there was a subplot about a hidden group of cannibals who killed and ate at least one named character. I remember said character was killed with a lethal injection, and it described it as "went to sleep standing up [and] with a curse in his throat" - unsure of the exact wording. Any help would be appreciated!

[Kris]

Ruby, can you describe the main character(s)?

Could it be an asteroid that crashed?

I copied some book details to the topic header. Feel free to edit it.

[Ayshe]

The Spinner? It looks to have the exact quote, too: "Jerome went to sleep standing up and with a curse in his throat."

[Ruby]

Oh my god, looking at another of the covers that is the exact one I remember! Combined with the quote and skimming the sample and the way it talks about the alien, this is it! Thank you so much!