Jericho Falls

by Christopher Hyde

1st edition paperback, vg++

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery

501 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Christopher Hyde has worked as a researcher, editor, TV interviewer specialising in stories of technology, intelligence and the environment.
He also writes using the pseudonyms

A.J. Holt.
Paul Christopher.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice, nail-biting thriller by Hyde, and oh so 80s! Jericho Falls, situated in New Hampshire, is a town of about 5000 people. This starts the first section with a briefing from a military protocol regarding a special situation and how to contain it. So, we know something nasty is going to come down the pike. That nasty takes the form of some virulent, classified biological warfare stuff being transferred from a research lab in New Hampshire to Washington, D.C. by way of Jericho Falls, where it is quietly flown from the town's rudimentary airport. The driver of the van carrying the stuff had a heart attack and then crashed his van near Jericho Falls, and one of the cops on the scene checked out the cargo-- big mistake!

Our main protagonist is Police Chief Slater of the six person police force in town. Other leads are the town's eldest doctor and medical examiner, Slater's teenage daughter and some of her boyfriends, an aging hippy who lives in a commune in an old, converted textile mill, and a Bird Colonel named James Wright, the head of the classified military unit designed to deal with outbreaks of the chemical and biological warfare research agents undertaken by various clandestine research labs across the US. Of course, it was Reagan who was pushing the effort for such nasties (this was first published in 1986).

Col. Wright's unit arrived shortly after they were informed about the crashed van and quickly moved to quarantine the town, and they did so quietly and brutally, killing anyone who ventured out of town (the first killing is of a young teenage walking his dog). Slater, finding that the phones and every other means of communicating with the outside are down tries to drive to the next town to get some help as it is pretty apparent that the some really nasty bug was released in town; it actually killed the cop on the scene of the crash in just a few minutes. Needless to say, but Slater barely escapes alive from the unofficial roadblock outside of town.

So, what should the townies do? Wright eventually calls Slater and tells him everyone needs to be evacuated from town and they will be even if they have to use force. Slater, and a number of others say piss on that and decide to fight back....

Jericho Falls therefore combines the outbreak of a truly nasty biological agent with a battle of wills (and arms) between Slater's rag tag group of volunteers pitted against a ruthless military unit seeking to suppress the outbreak by any means necessary. Brutal, but as the New Hampshire tags say, "Live free or Die." Really liked this one and looking forward to exploring more of Hyde's work. 4 stars!

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ultra formulaic 80s virus in a small town trash that is a lot of fun even if it isn’t that original

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before my review I have two declarations to make.

First Declaration. I first became aware of this book a couple of years ago when I found it in a charity shop. I loved the cover and story description. At this time I was not on GR's, whereas now I am and I use the app when browsing books to check out the reviews and make a decision whether to buy. This book was on sale for £1 ($1.29) but I decided I would check it out when I got home online and return to buy it. Doing the research made me want to buy the book even more and I returned in the next few days to the shop. Alas, the book had been sold. Nooooooooooo!

I thought I would never see the book again. That I had missed my chance! Fool! However, to my delight I did find another copy while browsing in a different shop! It was a couple of years later and I had joined GR's. I did not need to do my book checks on Jericho Falls this time. I grabbed it off the shelf and held it tight! Who would have thought it! A book this wanted is going to get a high rating.

Second Declaration. I have an 80's vibe right now. I listen to synthwave/dreamwave tunes (Timecop1983 is my favourite), re-watched Flight Of The Navigator (with the great Alan Silvestri soundtrack) and get all nostalgic. A book first published in 1986 set in a small american town is going to get a high rating.

A vehicle carrying a deadly cargo crashes in Jericho Falls releasing a biological weapon which kills the people of this small town. The military are quick to act and quarantine the town. It soon becomes clear the military are not in Jericho Falls to help but to do whatever it takes to keep this incident secret by killing and destroying this small town, making up a cover story to hide the truth. The story moves at a great pace as the biological weapons creation and transportation is revealed. The residents of Jericho Falls have to fight for their survival and seek to escape to reveal what is really going on.

There are a number of characters the book follows. The sheriff, the mayor, the doctor, a Vietnam vet, the schoolteacher and a couple of kids. All are at risk of death and not everyone survives. All the characters are under constant threat and no one is safe.

This book has an inescapable 80's feel to it which is why I enjoyed reading it. It took me back to that decade.

I have put this on my horror shelf although it can be read as a thriller with horror elements.

[Jak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember really enjoying this. It’s a good thriller with and element of horror centered around the small town of Jericho Falls in which a truck carrying a biological weapon crashes releasing it’s deadly cargo. The residents start to drop dead in a horrific manor and the government/army try to contain the outbreak and cover up what’s really happened.

While the story was entertaining I remember the authors note at the end scaring the crap out of me when he revealed that the deadly bio-weapon actually existed and the death it would cause was accurately depicted in the book.

[Ron Del · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obal knihy dost odradza, ale to je asi to posledne. Vyborne napisany thriller a teraz v case korony aj trochu latentnej paranoje nezaskodi :)

[Ignacio Senao f · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pintaba guay por su sinopsis y portada. Mi cabecita imaginaba un pueblo condenado por presencias o monstruo. Resulta que narra la plaga por una alergia (así es, no enfermedad) que tiene lugar en este pueblo. La lucha coral de sus habitantes por sobrevivir y escapar al asedio de militar.

Típica historia que entretiene sin más.

[Davey18 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book many years ago, and have re read it several times since. I have owned several different copies and have given them to my sister and a couple of cousions (pre Harry Potter) to try and engage them in reading. In the case of my sister and at least one of my couisons it worked.

A great introduction to adult fiction for mid teeanged boys and girls and a great reminder of how a book could make you feel as you get older. This is not a classic work, its a multi charectered action thriller which is exiting to read with a decent plotline.

Take it for what it is and enjoy it.

[Geoff Battle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hyde's got a knack for writing suspenseful tales and Jericho Falls is suspense on a grand scale, involving a township under threat, somewhat akin to the structure of Stephen King tale. There's evidence of Hyde's research behind this macabre tale of a deadly biological agent unleashed upon the sleepy town of Jericho Falls and this aids the suspension of disbelief. The characters are well rounded and entertaining and although the story meanders a little at times it's a decent and overlooked thriller.

[Megan Diedericks · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Rounded up from 2.5 stars.]

Jericho Falls is well-written, but there are many factors that come into play with my rating, so hopefully this review makes some sense.

The biological weapon/virus concept is very interesting and daunting—a lot of reality bleeds in, and that's what gives Jericho Falls its terrifying edge.

The small-town vibes are eerie, and claustrophobic, which is something you want given the content.

The only thing that tanked this novel for me is how the author found it necessary to be graphic when it came to the teenage-characters (two were around 15, and the other around 13) being intimate. I suppose there's a level of realism, with puberty and all, but I couldn't tell you how much “realism” is needed when these parts added little to nothing to the plot, and were uncomfortable to read.

I think the idea was to try and portray children acting too grown up, and being put into situations even adults couldn't handle well (also the hormones—which has something to do with the virus that I won't spoil). However, it appears Hyde forgot that they are STILL children. Implication is a tool that could have been used.

That being said, the gore (which was less uncomfortable to read than what I stated above 😂) was a favorite part of mine. I am aware I sound insane complaining about those scenes, while praising the horrific death scenes... I suppose we all have our limits.

Overall, Jericho Falls is a pretty good Horror read, but some things you just can't ignore—so I'm very much on the fence about whether or not I'd recommend it to someone if they asked.

[Marty Solotki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was solid, although not a horror at all (which is why I grabbed it from Thriftbooks), but more a “war games” type thriller. The action is dark, the tale is dreary but with a positive ending. However there’s some major plot holes and some odd underage sex scenes that just…no, thank you.

[Curlyhair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember I loved this when I read it. Compelling thriller, that had me hooked.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy read but I didn't find the characters well rounded so found it hard to really care.

[Danica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nebolo to zlé, ale už na tom bolo cítiť, že je to trošku staré (z 1986). Jediné, čo mi tam naozaj vadilo, boli časté a zbytočné vsuvky o sexe, najmä ten o 15-ročnej s 13-ročným . . . WTF?

[Scott Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Much like the andromeda strain gone wrong but with less technical details

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Familiar story but well told and quickly paced. And more timely than ever.

[Nathan Johnstone · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolute rubbish. I threw it in the bin

[Roger O · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is really a 2 star read that gets rounded up for the random carnage that ensues and the sheer amount of characters that show up just to die 2 pages later. laughed a lot.

[A.J. Blanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

After thoroughly enjoying A Gathering of Saints by Hyde, I decided to check out some of his other works and Jericho Falls just happened to be next on my list. I have to admit, I almost stopped reading JF around chapter 3, because I felt the manner in which the 'outbreak' started was pretty ridiculous, but I'm glad I hung in there because it was very much worth the read.

I won't get into too much detail about the plot, since you can get that from the write-up or other reviews, but basically the small town of Jericho Falls, NH is under seige by the Army due to the accidental release of a deadly disease. The townspeople have to decide whether to believe the curt Army commander, Colonel Wright, or their local physician of the last fifty years. Guess which one they choose?

As per his style of writing, Christopher Hyde goes above and beyond with his research into... pretty much everything. I said this in my review for A Gathering of Saints, but because it's so rare in writing today I'll say again that some realism in writing goes a long way, and I for one greatly appreciate it. I particularly liked the glimpse into growing up in a small town; the way everybody knows your business or could find out quickly enough was spot-on.

SPOILERS TO FOLLOW!! Aside from what I mentioned above, I think the story would've worked much better if the military was a bit more neutral; just there to prevent the spread of a highly contagious disease instead of slaughtering American citizens like they were lab rats. Wright especially seemed like a run-of-the-mill, mustache-twirling villain who was more interested in keeping the power of his position intact by covering up the accident rather than actually helping resolve the situation or the people who are suffering through no fault of their own. That's just my my two cents of how the story could've improved. END SPOILERS!!

Having said all that though, I'd still recommend Jericho Falls to anyone who enjoys this author, or military thrillers in general based on a fair amount of hard science. However, parents may want to note that JF does contain some graphic sex and violence so tread carefully when considering.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is exactly what anyone would expect from an outbreak in a small town. However, it keeps you going, with many characters; some fascinating, some not. The action/suspense is greatly detailed, as well as the imaging of death. Not apocalyptic, but it will give you a good idea of what might happen behind closed doors.

[Janice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad book. You read it and like most things you expect it to have a "happily ever after" or "things will get better" perspective and this just didn't really. Which was a nice change. Started reading it and was interested, got bogged down in the middle but did finish it eventually.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

First book I stayed up--literally--all night to finish, back in the day...

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this many years ago and currently trying to source a new copy. Very fond memories of this little gem; wonderful B Movie story line that will delight horror fans

[Rochelle Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haunting and captivating.