Ezekiel Boone knows a thing or two about darkness. The pen name of author Alexi Zentner, Boone exemplifies a special blend of horror and suspense, science fiction and thriller.
No matter which book you start with, it really feels like Boone has caught wind of a peculiar and resonant view of our world. More than the underworld, more than mere criminal spectacle, Boone’s fiction feels like it’s been rendered from the grime found on the underbelly of human society.
And that’s not even factoring what Zentner has published under his own name.
We gathered Boone’s must-reads along with other books by the author that will have you rushing to read every page.
The Hatching: A Novel (The Hatching Series Book 1)
Are you afraid of spiders? Well, in The Hatching, the first in a sequence of three books, spiders become the menace and, as they so often do, the stuff of nightmares.
The Hatching is an apocalyptic and some might say arachnophobic thriller depicting the onset of a species ready to leave its home, the jungles of Peru.
After a tourist group is attacked and its lone survivor manages to flee on a plane that subsequently crashes in Minnesota, the very same survivor found to be a carrier—or rather, a vessel—for a large black spider’s international travel to the states, the world quickly finds out that a looming presence is ready to take over, aiming to be at the top of the food chain.
An expert on spiders, Melanie Guyer, is brought in to study this mysterious series of events, but as it soon becomes apparent: They are unstoppable and a crisis is inevitable.
Skitter
Skitter is a direct sequel to The Hatching. Crisis has become a catastrophe, and quite possibly the end of the world. Millions are dead due to these horrible flesh-eating spiders.
Melanie Guyer, protagonist and spider expert, remains hopeful, despite how it doesn’t take long to find something unexpected, a pulsating sack ready to hatch in Japan.
Skitter takes the same feverish, paranoid pace of The Hatching and introduces readers to a world that has become lost, save for the clingers-on who hold onto the idea that these arachnids can be stopped.
Zero Day
In the trilogy's finale, Zero Day finds the human world effectively at its final hour. The spiders are winning; really, they look to have already won. The lone standout seems to be Melanie Guyer who has developed a theory to stop the menace: Kill the queens.
Except everyone has a theory of their own—and an equally popular one involves the mass destruction of the arachnids. In Zero Day, Zentner does a wonderful job of showcasing how humans at death’s door often become their own worst enemies.
Though the threat may be flesh-eating and horrible spiders, internal dissension may prove to be the real winner.
Touch
Touch is Alexi Zentner’s first novel and a fantastic example of the author’s range. Under Boone, he crafts horror and vicious darkness.
Here, we see him opt to tell a grief-stricken story of a pastor named Stephen Boucher who returns home to spend what little time that’s left with his dying mother.
As is often the case, death jostles free the memories of the past, particularly those that one regrets. It is here, last night at his mother’s side that he goes into the past, the Boucher family and all their unexpected missteps.
It’s harrowing as much as it is heartfelt.
The Mansion
The blending of science fiction, thriller, and horror can be seen fast at work here in The Mansion, Alexi Zentner writing under the Ezekiel Boone penname after the conclusion of The Hatching trilogy.
Two programmers, Shawn Eagle and Billy Stafford have spent the last two years in a decrepit mansion working on a computer called Eagle Logic.
After their friendship dissolves due to internal issues, Shawn takes the technology and creates a powerhouse company up there with the bigwigs like Apple and Microsoft. Billy is left behind, impoverished and broken.
He resurrects an AI named Nellie, capable of controlling every function of the mansion. Like something out of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Nellie proves to be more intelligent and powerful than intended, forcing Billy to call upon the only person who might be able to help stop Nellie, his friend-turned-enemy, Shawn.
The Lobster Kings
Zentner’s novel The Lobster Kings sends readers into the sea town of Loosewood Island where the Kings family has endured for 300 years.
Equal parts historical and magical, The Lobster Kings is a family epic about an island lobster fishing community befalling the ever-changing times, all its peaks and pitfalls, and particularly the internal changes that are inevitable.
Cordelia is next in line in the Kings family fishing empire, but in order to actually have the community and family business survive, she will need to battle both sibling rivalry and a drug ring that has begun to sift outward from the mainland.
With a palpable atmosphere, The Lobster Kings is a thoughtful look at how generations occupy and stand the test of time.
Copperhead
In Zentner’s latest novel, Copperhead, the author explores racism in America from the perspective of 17-year-old Jessup, a senior at Cortaca High, aiming to land a scholarship for football.
Things are looking up for Jessup; he has the grades and the social cache to boot. Still, financial strain drags him down and if he doesn’t get that scholarship, he won’t be able to escape his current life.
His brother and father are both incarcerated for the murder of two black college students. A messy situation is complicated by the knowledge Jessup carries, that of his family being part of a white supremacist community.
Jessup doesn’t follow the lines his family has defined, and throughout the novel, readers are given a front-row seat to the complexities and troubles that befall someone stuck in such a tumultuous situation.
Featured image: Pawel Czerwinski / Unsplash
