‘The Woodlice’ – G.P. Nedloh


Page Count: 131 Pages

If I should ever happen to bump into G.P. Nedloh, I will shake his hand and buy him a pint at the nearest pub. Why? Well… Up until last night, I’ve had a nightmare trying to stay the course with any book that I’ve picked up. Didn’t matter what the book was or who had written it, I was good for about ten pages (ish) and then I’d either be asleep or watching the telly. There are reasons for this, I’ve got a few things going on at the moment, but you don’t need to know about that ;o) Lets just say that for a chap who lives in a flat chock full of books, I was starting to get a little concerned.

And then my copy of ‘The Woodlice’ arrived, yesterday, and I couldn’t put it down until it was done. Had I rediscovered my reading mojo or had I discovered an awesome read? A little bit of A but mostly a generous helping of B. Well played Mr Nedloh, well played :o)

When a secret chemical experiment goes horribly wrong at a remote lab, a horde of woodlice, once harmless, mutates into something far more terrifying.

Armoured in grey chitin and growing by the day, these unstoppable creatures are no longer content to live in the shadows.

The infestation is spreading, the swarm unstoppable. Will anyone survive the grey, chitinous death creeping ever closer?

In the quiet fields of Sussex, terror waits—crawling, skittering, and ready to consume everything in its path...

‘The Woodlice’ is an affectionate homage to the ‘creature features’ of Guy N. Smith, I’m going to go out on a limb and say ‘Abomination’ in particular (maybe a little nod to Gregory Douglas’ ‘The Nest’ as well). The menace is relentless and the tension is ramped up accordingly, resulting in a book where I found it very easy to keep turning the pages. The ending may not be in any doubt (not necessarily in a bad way though, more on that in a bit) but Nedloh peppers the rest of the plot with plenty of moments that hit the spot pretty much every time in terms of sheer grisly spectacle and leave you in no doubt what our heroine is up against.

Yep, I said ‘heroine’ :o) One of the things that I particularly enjoyed about ‘The Woodlice’ is how Nedloh remains true to the spirit of Guy N. Smith while gently steering his book away from certain elements of Smith’s writing that haven’t aged well. The adventure and horror are there and handled well, that’s the main thing. You know how it will end but that’s the whole point and now, with the regular dose of horror and eco-commentary, you also get to see Nedloh flip the script with great results. There was one moment in particular where I swore out loud, apparently I haven’t aged well either ;o)

‘The Woodlice’ is definitely one for fans of Guy N. Smith and fans of the ‘Creature Feature’ as well. After a grim day yesterday, this book ended up being just what the doctor ordered. If we were to see ‘Woodlice Moon’ and ‘Woodlice on the Rampage’, I wouldn’t complain ;o)

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