Crawlers: A Review of John Connolly’s Horror Novel

 

Crawlers is a horror novel by John Connolly, published in 2029. It is the first book in the Crawlers series, which follows the survivors of a zombie pandemic that has ravaged the United States in 2030. 

The novel is set in Mexico, where a group of American refugees have fled to a place called El Santuario del Sur, or the southern sanctuary, a rocky plateau that is believed to be free of zombies. 

However, they soon discover that the sanctuary is not as safe as they hoped and that they are not alone.

The novel begins with a prologue that shows how the zombie pandemic started. A mysterious virus, dubbed Z-1, was accidentally released from a secret military facility in Nevada, and quickly spread across the country. 

The virus causes the infected to die and reanimate as mindless, flesh-eating creatures, known as crawlers. The crawlers are fast, strong, and relentless, and can only be killed by destroying their brains. 

The virus also mutates over time, creating different types of crawlers with varying abilities and appearances.

The main story follows a group of survivors who have managed to escape from the US and cross the border into Mexico. 

They are led by Jake Carter, a former soldier who lost his wife and daughter to the pandemic. Jake is haunted by guilt and nightmares and struggles to keep his group alive and hopeful. 

The group consists of various characters, such as Sarah, a nurse who becomes Jake’s love interest; Ben, a young boy who is immune to the virus; Sam, a journalist who documents the pandemic; and Maria, a Mexican woman who guides them to the sanctuary.

The group arrives at El Santuario del Sur, where they are welcomed by Father Miguel, a priest who runs the place. The sanctuary is a large plateau surrounded by cliffs and guarded by armed men. 

It has a small community of survivors who live in tents and cabins, and grow crops and raise animals. Father Miguel claims that the sanctuary is protected by God and that no crawler has ever breached its walls. 

He also reveals that he has a radio that can contact other survivors around the world.

However, things are not as they seem. The group soon learns that Father Miguel is hiding a dark secret: he is actually experimenting on crawlers and humans, trying to find a cure for the virus. 

He believes that he is doing God’s work and that he can save humanity from the apocalypse. He also has a hidden laboratory under the sanctuary, where he keeps his test subjects in cages. Among them is Ben, who was kidnapped by Father Miguel’s men shortly after arriving at the sanctuary.

Jake and his friends discover Father Miguel’s secret and try to rescue Ben and expose him to the others. However, they are too late: Father Miguel has already unleashed his ultimate creation: a crawler-human hybrid that he calls Adam. 

Adam is intelligent, powerful, and loyal to Father Miguel. He leads an army of crawlers to attack the sanctuary, killing most of its inhabitants and setting it on fire.

Jake and his friends manage to escape from the sanctuary with Ben and a few other survivors. They also find out that Father Miguel’s radio was actually broadcasting their location to other crawlers around the world, attracting them to the sanctuary. 

They realize that they have nowhere else to go and that they have to fight for their lives against the horde of crawlers.

The novel ends with a cliffhanger: Jake and his friends are surrounded by crawlers on the edge of the plateau, with Adam leading them. 

Jake decides to make a last stand against them, hoping to buy some time for the others to escape. He tells Sarah that he loves her, and then charges at Adam with his machete.

The novel received mixed reviews from critics and readers. Some praised it for its fast-paced action, suspenseful plot, and realistic characters. Others criticized it for its clichéd tropes, graphic violence, and lack of originality. 

The novel was also compared to other zombie novels and movies, such as World War Z, The Walking Dead, and 28 Days Later. The novel was followed by two sequels: Crawlers: Resurrection (2030) and Crawlers: Redemption (2031).

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 crawlers, john connolly, horror novel, zombie pandemic, el santuario del sur, father miguel, adam, crawler-human hybrid

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