The Fire Ants

by Saul Wernick

Scottsville, a small farming community in the Deep South, sits in a valley overlooked by the Colonnade, a lavish holiday retreat for wealthy city folk personally invited by mega-rich Senator Walker Coley. When the fire-ants arrive in their millions, destroying the impoverished peasants crops, Coley's response is to barricade the Colonnade and beef up security. His main man in this department is Billy Joe Wyatt, a local lad made good and, unbeknown to his employer, a psychopathic killer. Resentment festers among the farmers, reaching a peak when young Callie Ricketts is devoured by the ants during the inevitable al fresco sex session with her boyfriend (who, miraculously survives). After consulting the Good Book, Evangelist nutter Reverend Luke Coxey, founder of the Repentance Church of Christ the Redeemer, addresses his bereaved congregation with the news that Callie's death was due to "fornication" and, therefore, thoroughly deserved. Also, God in His infinite wisdom has cursed the valley with this Biblical plague of Fire-Ants on account of their corruption by those sinners up at the Colonnade.

Genres: Horror

220 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1976

Reviews

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was shockingly good. While it is very much a trashy "man vs. nature" novel of the type that were so prevalent in the 70s and 80s, the story itself goes far beyond killer ants. The story is set in a fictional valley where a senator has a resort that caters to rich clientele. When mutant fire ants began to overtake the area and kill people, the senator tries to keep it quiet so it won't effect his resort, which isn't exactly a new plotline. Then a preacher in town decides the ants are the work of God, who has unleashed a plague due to the sins going on at the resort. He convinces all of the fanatical farmers in the area of the same thing, and it all falls apart from there. There's also a truly vile villain that you probably won't find anywhere but these type of novels.

There's some overtly gruesome deaths and descriptions, a little graphic sex, pretty much just what you'd expect from this type of novel, but just a step above the usual.

[Phrique · Rating 3 out of 5]

You pick up this book looking for a good (bad) creature feature, and for that it delivers. It also has me side-eying any ant I came across this summer. You come for the fire ants but stay for the Christian fanatics vs. the corrupt senator who basically owns the town, the fornicators vs. the fire ant mounds they unwittingly have drunken premarital sex upon, the unchecked psychopath vs. just about everyone, & the simmering tension between all of the above that ends in a gruesome, explosive battle. Along with some of the most detailed deaths via engulfment and shotgun I’ve ever read & an unnerving defilement scene via ants I never would have fathomed. If you’re looking for high-brow literature, you wouldn’t have picked up a book called “The Fire Ants” from the 70’s in the first place. You know what you were getting into. Now don’t leave that ice cream on the sidewalk. Do you want ants? Cuz that’s how you get ‘em.

[Alan Smithee · Rating 1 out of 5]

The invasion of fire ants in a small Georgia town brings long-simmering resents to a boil. Soon a war erupts and suddenly it's all townspeople vs farmers, religious fanatics vs the moneyed elite, netscape navigator vs internet explorer, cola nuts vs un-cola nuts and so on. Can Deputy Henley stop the valley from tearing itself apart? Will Rev. Coxey rid the countryside of sinning, fornicating and neoplatonism? Has Billy Joe already jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge? Who cares? Go read Faulkner if you're really into Southern Gothic and give this book a miss.

[Jeff Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to know what to make of this forgotten author and his debut novel, “The Fire Ants” (1976).

On one hand it was quite the page-turner, but on the other hand much of the tension and suspense seemed the result of manipulative plotting (e.g., one-third of the way through there’s a character so loathsome that you’re pretty much forced to finish the novel, just for anticipation of his comeuppance). There’s also a scene describing the ants’ defilement of a corpse that’s almost nausea-inducing (which could be good or bad, depending on what the reader is looking for with such novels).

So, a tough call. It does pique my curiosity re: his other novels, though.