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The Swarm
FAMILY ATTACKED BY BEES—TWO KILLED MARYVILLE, N.Y. Sept. 26 (AP)—A family of five on an outing in an isolated spot by a stream were attacked by bees here. Mr. and Mrs. William Peterson died as the result of bee bites. Their three children were also attacked, one, Karen, age 12, severely. The local coroner, Dr. David P. Znac, speculated that both adults had allergies to bee bites, which can be fatal. About 30 deaths a year in the U.S. are attributed to bites from bees, wasps and hornets. What caused the bees to attack is not known. This was the beginning, barely noticed. Then the terror began to spread—terror that was to erupt into a national panic as the strange, seemingly purposeful murderous attacks of a new and vicious species of bees began to mount. Against this background, a band of scientists draw upon their knowledge to fight an enemy they only partly comprehend in a desperate race against time. Built around one of man's most haunting fears—that the forces of nature will overrun his defenses and exterminate the human race—The Swarm is a vividly imagined masterpiece of chilling adventure.
258 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
13 people are currently reading
473 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Herzog III
34 books14 followersArthur Herzog III (April 6, 1927 – May 25, 2010) was an American novelist, non-fiction writer, and journalist, well known for his works of science fiction and true crime books. He was the son of songwriter Arthur Herzog, Jr..
His novels The Swarm and Orca have been made into films. His science fiction novel IQ 83 is being made into a film by Dreamworks.
Herzog was also the author of non-fiction books: The Church Trap is a critique of Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish church organization and institutions particularly in the U.S; 17 Days: The Katie Beers Story, is about the kidnapping and child sexual abuse of Katie Beers.
His novels The Swarm and Orca have been made into films. His science fiction novel IQ 83 is being made into a film by Dreamworks.
Herzog was also the author of non-fiction books: The Church Trap is a critique of Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish church organization and institutions particularly in the U.S; 17 Days: The Katie Beers Story, is about the kidnapping and child sexual abuse of Katie Beers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
June 1, 2023
Well then...
That was a challenge and not nearly as fun as it should have been.
I now know more than I've ever wanted to know about beekeeping, bee sperm, and bee artificial insemination.
The pace is a slog until a weirdly abrupt ending.
I did like the creature feature aspects, though cringed at some of the way the story was told. Definitely vintage, so I won't take points for that.
However, it was...definitely something.
That was a challenge and not nearly as fun as it should have been.
I now know more than I've ever wanted to know about beekeeping, bee sperm, and bee artificial insemination.
The pace is a slog until a weirdly abrupt ending.
I did like the creature feature aspects, though cringed at some of the way the story was told. Definitely vintage, so I won't take points for that.
However, it was...definitely something.
February 22, 2017
Ah, yes, the Killer Bee Panic of the 1970's ... I remember it well.
February 29, 2016
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this!! While listening to it, I kept thinking that it would make an awesome movie, only to realise it was one once upon a time! Before my time though so I can't comment on it!
The plot is easy summarised, basically it's about bees attacking people and the scientists trying to figure out why.Well there's a lot more to it that that, but that's the basic idea. I have to say that I really enjoyed the plot and found it to be quite spooky. The idea of the African bees swarming and attacking people was frightening. Also the idea of the bugs getting immune to pesticides and actually being able to use them against other bugs or humans was truly scary. The best thing about the book was how well researched and executed it was. You can just see from reading it, how much the author put into the story! It really makes the book stand out.
In all, I really enjoyed this. It would definitely make a good movie, once done right that is. It's easily believable and a quick read and I'm glad I listened to it.
Charles Henderson Norman did an amazing job with the narration. There was quite a lot of characters and he seemed to give each their own voice.
*I received a copy of this for review. This inn no way affected my thoughts.*
The plot is easy summarised, basically it's about bees attacking people and the scientists trying to figure out why.Well there's a lot more to it that that, but that's the basic idea. I have to say that I really enjoyed the plot and found it to be quite spooky. The idea of the African bees swarming and attacking people was frightening. Also the idea of the bugs getting immune to pesticides and actually being able to use them against other bugs or humans was truly scary. The best thing about the book was how well researched and executed it was. You can just see from reading it, how much the author put into the story! It really makes the book stand out.
In all, I really enjoyed this. It would definitely make a good movie, once done right that is. It's easily believable and a quick read and I'm glad I listened to it.
Charles Henderson Norman did an amazing job with the narration. There was quite a lot of characters and he seemed to give each their own voice.
*I received a copy of this for review. This inn no way affected my thoughts.*
July 25, 2014
The film may have been an infamous turkey but the book perhaps explains why so many famous actors agreed to appear in it; not only was it a bestseller, but it was deservedly well-reviewed too - 'The Swarm' is extremely thoroughly researched and, for the most part, very well-written. There's the occasional silly bit and Herzog's not great on character development, but this is a superior eco SF thriller. Dare one suggest it might be time for a remake...
February 3, 2019
I loved this one. It only bogged down briefly in a couple of places, but otherwise the story moved along great and keopt me turning the pages. Most books are better than the movies made out of them, but this one is light-years ahead of Irwin Allen's screen version. What I didn't expect was the breathtakingly racist subtext. They could have put a banner tight across the cover, saying "THIS BOOK IS REALLY ABOUT WHITE PEOPLE'S FEAR OF THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT." It was just that obvious.
November 16, 2012
I was going to fill this review with bee puns, but The Swarm is such thoroughly predictable creature-feature horror fare that it doesn't really warrant that much effort. So here are some bee jokes from the internet instead.
What's a bee's favourite American novel?
The Great Gats-bee!
Where did Noah keep his bees?
In archives!
What's the best part of a bee?
Its knees!
Where do bees go on holiday?
Stingapore!
What goes zzub, zzub?
A bee flying backwards!
Why do bees hum?
They don't know the words!
And that old classic…
Knock knock.
Who's there?
The interrupting bee.
The interrup—
Buzzzzzz
I thank you.
What's a bee's favourite American novel?
The Great Gats-bee!
Where did Noah keep his bees?
In archives!
What's the best part of a bee?
Its knees!
Where do bees go on holiday?
Stingapore!
What goes zzub, zzub?
A bee flying backwards!
Why do bees hum?
They don't know the words!
And that old classic…
Knock knock.
Who's there?
The interrupting bee.
The interrup—
Buzzzzzz
I thank you.
April 28, 2022
It’s hard to say anything terribly negative about The Swarm. This is, in essence, a creature feature horror novel about killer bees. Trying to take this too seriously or find fault with this concept means you’re reading the wrong kind of book.
The Swarm was really more fun than anything else. After all, you have swarms of mutated killer bees flying around and stinging people to death. What’s not fun about that?
The book does border on being a bit too scientific at times (I didn’t need a deeply detailed paragraph about the chemical makeup of DDT and other pesticides), and the ending is ridiculously rushed, but again…remember the kind of book that The Swarm is and all that stuff doesn’t really matter.
The Swarm was really more fun than anything else. After all, you have swarms of mutated killer bees flying around and stinging people to death. What’s not fun about that?
The book does border on being a bit too scientific at times (I didn’t need a deeply detailed paragraph about the chemical makeup of DDT and other pesticides), and the ending is ridiculously rushed, but again…remember the kind of book that The Swarm is and all that stuff doesn’t really matter.
May 18, 2022
Oh my god this book was boring. I thought it was going to be a campy pulp horror novel about killer bees. Well, it's certainly about bees. And the life cycle of bees. And the behavior of bees. And beekeeping. And purchasing bees for beekeeping. And breeding bees for beekeeping. And the genetics of bees. And collecting DNA from bees. And there's some math equations. And I fell asleep.
Typical of the 1970's, there's warnings about how humans are destroying the balance of nature through chemicals and pesticides; casual sexism; and a disturbing undercurrent of racism in regards to "the Africans" (in this case, African bees). Yeah a bunch of people get stung to death but even that is boring. For entomology nerds and apiarists only.
Typical of the 1970's, there's warnings about how humans are destroying the balance of nature through chemicals and pesticides; casual sexism; and a disturbing undercurrent of racism in regards to "the Africans" (in this case, African bees). Yeah a bunch of people get stung to death but even that is boring. For entomology nerds and apiarists only.
September 7, 2020
This was a great disaster novel. It was written at a time when killer bees were in the media and thought to be ready to spread across the US. This novel definitely fed off that fear.It held my attention throughout.
December 23, 2025
2.5 stars learned more about bees than I was spooked by the stories flat ending
Want to read
November 8, 2023Stinging our sanity...the beginning of the downfall of the disaster film genre, especially the grace of Irwin Allen's disaster film series.
In this movie, a group of characters, including Brad Crane teams up with General Slater to use military tactics to stop a swarm of bees from reaching and destroying their city with venom. The movie was announced in 1974 (the same year this saw publication) at the peak of the disaster movie craze, and the movie went into production for over four years. The movie went into development hell several times, especially since Irwin Allen had left 20th Century Fox to go to Warner Bros. in order to keep production running. When the movie was finally released on July 14, 1978, it received heavily negative reviews from critics and audiences alike, being widely considered to be one of the worst films ever made, if not the worst in Irwin Allen's line-up of disaster films ever. It was unable to get its budget back, and only made 7 million against its 11 million budget and was considered a fucked-up box-office failure. It is also the last film to be edited by Harold F. Kress. The film was originally released in theaters at 116 minutes, however, when it was released on laserdisc a very long time ago in 1992, it was extended to 155 minutes with additional scenes. This extended version is also included on all DVD releases worldwide in 1996 and 1999, along with a 22-minute documentary titled "Inside The Swarm" and the original theatrical trailer, especially on the Bu-Ray version.
The main problem is that the movie tries to balance the tone between up with a disaster, and a horror film, but however, it didn't work, as it feels more like a comedy-disaster parody film, which ruined the tone, and the movie itself at the very end as a result.
It pretty much heavily lacks what made Irwin Allen's previous disaster films, The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, so great, lacking their charm or charisma, and just doing whatever it can to exist. Irwin Allen's previous disaster films had more effort, and were memorable with a lot of charm.
In fact, it completely misses the spirit from the previous two disaster films that were both produced by Irwin Allen; The first two disaster films, The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, while a bit campy, both managed to have a darker, more serious and emotional tone. With this film, it has tons of campy moments that make for unintentional comedy throughout the entire 116-minute (or 155-minute, depending on the version you watch the) film, despite trying too hard to take itself seriously at the same time.
Very weak storyline. The idea of a killer animal has already been done several times (The Deadly Bees, despite being poorly-received, is another film with killer bees done before); it's preposterous and makes for an uninteresting and unoriginal story, and also heavily contrasts with the previous style Allen's first two disaster movies had.
It can't decide whatever it's a horror film or a disaster film at all. For most of the film, it feels more like a killer bee version of The Birds than being a "disaster" movie.
Sub-par and very cheap special effects for the killer bees, especially the green screen effects.
Despite having an all-star cast, the actors give terrible performances, such as Michael Caine, who was especially not good as Dr. Crane, because he had little knowledge of bees and rarely got any character development because of it. Worst of all, it nearly killed Olivia de Havilland's acting career.
Katharine Ross wasn't good as Helena Anderson either, her relationship with Dr. Crane is completely pointless and feels forced.
As said on WIS#1, It completely misses the spirit from the previous two disaster films that were both produced by Irwin Allen; The first two disaster films, The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, while a bit campy, both managed to have a darker, more serious and emotional tone. With this film, it has tons of campy moments that make for unintentional comedy throughout the entire 116-minute (or 155-minute, depending on the version you watch) film, despite trying too hard to take itself seriously at the same time.
The film focuses on establishing Allen's disaster movies more, rather than being it's own story.
The pacing is extremely poor, which is inexcusable for a disaster-horror film.
The film feels rather tame as it was rated PG. It would probably make sense if the film was rated R, since it's a disaster-horror film.
While the filmed settings in this movie were decent (despite most of them not being in Texas as it's supposed to be), most of the shots in the first two acts don't exactly give the impression that the film took place in the state of Texas at all. It wasn't until the third act when they actually filmed in the city of Houston, Texas.
Marysville is an unincorporated community in real-life at near the border states of Texas and Oklahoma. In the movie, Marysville has a town square, a train station, and an incredibly tall mountain. In reality, it doesn't have a train station, nor does it have a tall mountain nearby at all. It doesn't help that it was actually filmed at Warner Bros. Studio Tour in Hollywood, California,
Also, when Crane and Helena are standing in front of a cliff on the Gulf of Mexico shores, yet there are no cliffs on the upper Texas coast, where the film supposedly takes place at.
Most of the location for Texas feel more like they're filmed in New Mexico, Nevada, or California instead of Texas. In reality, Texas has fewer mountains in real life, but in this movie, there's a scene where a train is still on it's way to Houston, but with tall mountains in the background, which Texas doesn't even have that tall of mountains in real-life.
The film only involves a group of characters trying to find a way to stop this killer bee invasion in the state of Texas but after the cinemax, the rest of the movie (in the director's cut at least) boils down into more than two-hours of filler in which barely anything goes on in this movie at all.
Numerous plot-holes, severe plot points, errors, corny dialogue, bad writing, and unexplained details everywhere, but not limited to:
At the beginning of the movie, how did the African killer bees manage to kill everybody on the underground base center if they don't have any stairs to go through?
When the large group of soldiers enter the compound near the beginning of the movie, the door to the compound building opens to let them inside in one shot and somehow opens again in the very next shot.
In the shorter version, it is never explained what happened to Paul Durant after he had a chat with Dr. Crane, and went back to the hospital in Marysville before the population of Marysville is evacuated.
However, The extended cut did fix the problem, he was at the hospital, but he suddenly died for an unexplained reason.
The killer bees somehow destroy a helicopter, with it losing all of it's power and crashing into a mountain.
Dr. Bradford Crane tells Paul (who's in a hospital bed) to reach out to make the bee go away, and he states that the bee is not real, which is confusing because the bees are real.
The train scene has a huge amount of flaws:
When the train crashes off the railway track, a carriage explodes. Whether the locomotive was powered by electricity or diesel, the passenger carriages would have carried no fuel and would not have exploded. Although since only one carriage car exploded and spread fire to the rest, it could be conceivable (although unlikely) this was a dining car and contained bottled gas.
When the passenger train is attacked by the swarm, Engineer Ned leans on the (mock-up) automatically pulls the brake handle, which should have applied the emergency brakes, but instead the train accelerates.
Why didn't the train drivers even shut the windows as soon as the African killer bees got towards the train? Also, it makes the bees enter the cab and kill both of the drivers. The sting from the bee also makes one engineer accidentally pull the lever, which results in the train going way too fast and then crashing off the railway track, and a carriage exploding. Whether the locomotive was powered by electricity or diesel, the passenger carriages would have carried no fuel and would not have exploded.
When the train accelerates out of control and tips over on the cliff, the exterior shot shows that the locomotive at the front leans to it's right side. However, the interior shot appears as if the locomotive is tilting to it's left side.
When Engineer Ned leans on the (mock-up) automatic brake handle, which should have applied the emergency brakes, the train instead accelerates.
During the war against the killer bees in the city of Austin, there is literally a scene where the ambulance driver loses control because of the bees and suddenly it's night time during the crashing sequence. When the ambulance crashes into the building at this shot, you can see it's daytime, while it was supposed to be night time.
When testing the anti-venom on himself, the scientist places only one chest wire on himself which would make it impossible to monitor his "z-score" as stated because at least 3 leads would be needed. In addition, the compound is stated to be administered in an "auto-injector" when the instrument shown on screen was nothing more than a 1930's vintage hypodermic needle and syringe.
The movie permanently killed Harold F. Kress's editing career.
The final act of the entire film. During the war against the killer bees, Dr. Crane and Sally Helena escape the checkpoint from the military base in Austin, Texas and they went to the airport the next day to fly a helicopter to the Gulf of Mexico and they just drop to play the signal of floating devices. But that's not it, predictably, all of the millions of African bees go into the sign and the missiles launch into the scene, exploding and killing all of the killer bees in an anti-climatic manner, and that's it, that's how the film literally ends!
Warner Bros. Pictures put a disclaimer before the end credits, stating that the African killer bees portrayed in this film bear no relationship to the industrious, hard-working American honey bee to which they are indebted for pollinating vital crops that feed the nation.
The film still uses the yellow text Futura font on the opening credits, which is a nice throwback to Allen's first two disaster films.
Jerry Goldsmith did an excellent job composing the soundtrack, which adds a bit more more suspense to this film at times.
It is considered to be so-bad-it's-good cinema.
There are some good action sequences during the climax, though not as good as the previous instalments.
In this movie, a group of characters, including Brad Crane teams up with General Slater to use military tactics to stop a swarm of bees from reaching and destroying their city with venom. The movie was announced in 1974 (the same year this saw publication) at the peak of the disaster movie craze, and the movie went into production for over four years. The movie went into development hell several times, especially since Irwin Allen had left 20th Century Fox to go to Warner Bros. in order to keep production running. When the movie was finally released on July 14, 1978, it received heavily negative reviews from critics and audiences alike, being widely considered to be one of the worst films ever made, if not the worst in Irwin Allen's line-up of disaster films ever. It was unable to get its budget back, and only made 7 million against its 11 million budget and was considered a fucked-up box-office failure. It is also the last film to be edited by Harold F. Kress. The film was originally released in theaters at 116 minutes, however, when it was released on laserdisc a very long time ago in 1992, it was extended to 155 minutes with additional scenes. This extended version is also included on all DVD releases worldwide in 1996 and 1999, along with a 22-minute documentary titled "Inside The Swarm" and the original theatrical trailer, especially on the Bu-Ray version.
The main problem is that the movie tries to balance the tone between up with a disaster, and a horror film, but however, it didn't work, as it feels more like a comedy-disaster parody film, which ruined the tone, and the movie itself at the very end as a result.
It pretty much heavily lacks what made Irwin Allen's previous disaster films, The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, so great, lacking their charm or charisma, and just doing whatever it can to exist. Irwin Allen's previous disaster films had more effort, and were memorable with a lot of charm.
In fact, it completely misses the spirit from the previous two disaster films that were both produced by Irwin Allen; The first two disaster films, The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, while a bit campy, both managed to have a darker, more serious and emotional tone. With this film, it has tons of campy moments that make for unintentional comedy throughout the entire 116-minute (or 155-minute, depending on the version you watch the) film, despite trying too hard to take itself seriously at the same time.
Very weak storyline. The idea of a killer animal has already been done several times (The Deadly Bees, despite being poorly-received, is another film with killer bees done before); it's preposterous and makes for an uninteresting and unoriginal story, and also heavily contrasts with the previous style Allen's first two disaster movies had.
It can't decide whatever it's a horror film or a disaster film at all. For most of the film, it feels more like a killer bee version of The Birds than being a "disaster" movie.
Sub-par and very cheap special effects for the killer bees, especially the green screen effects.
Despite having an all-star cast, the actors give terrible performances, such as Michael Caine, who was especially not good as Dr. Crane, because he had little knowledge of bees and rarely got any character development because of it. Worst of all, it nearly killed Olivia de Havilland's acting career.
Katharine Ross wasn't good as Helena Anderson either, her relationship with Dr. Crane is completely pointless and feels forced.
As said on WIS#1, It completely misses the spirit from the previous two disaster films that were both produced by Irwin Allen; The first two disaster films, The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, while a bit campy, both managed to have a darker, more serious and emotional tone. With this film, it has tons of campy moments that make for unintentional comedy throughout the entire 116-minute (or 155-minute, depending on the version you watch) film, despite trying too hard to take itself seriously at the same time.
The film focuses on establishing Allen's disaster movies more, rather than being it's own story.
The pacing is extremely poor, which is inexcusable for a disaster-horror film.
The film feels rather tame as it was rated PG. It would probably make sense if the film was rated R, since it's a disaster-horror film.
While the filmed settings in this movie were decent (despite most of them not being in Texas as it's supposed to be), most of the shots in the first two acts don't exactly give the impression that the film took place in the state of Texas at all. It wasn't until the third act when they actually filmed in the city of Houston, Texas.
Marysville is an unincorporated community in real-life at near the border states of Texas and Oklahoma. In the movie, Marysville has a town square, a train station, and an incredibly tall mountain. In reality, it doesn't have a train station, nor does it have a tall mountain nearby at all. It doesn't help that it was actually filmed at Warner Bros. Studio Tour in Hollywood, California,
Also, when Crane and Helena are standing in front of a cliff on the Gulf of Mexico shores, yet there are no cliffs on the upper Texas coast, where the film supposedly takes place at.
Most of the location for Texas feel more like they're filmed in New Mexico, Nevada, or California instead of Texas. In reality, Texas has fewer mountains in real life, but in this movie, there's a scene where a train is still on it's way to Houston, but with tall mountains in the background, which Texas doesn't even have that tall of mountains in real-life.
The film only involves a group of characters trying to find a way to stop this killer bee invasion in the state of Texas but after the cinemax, the rest of the movie (in the director's cut at least) boils down into more than two-hours of filler in which barely anything goes on in this movie at all.
Numerous plot-holes, severe plot points, errors, corny dialogue, bad writing, and unexplained details everywhere, but not limited to:
At the beginning of the movie, how did the African killer bees manage to kill everybody on the underground base center if they don't have any stairs to go through?
When the large group of soldiers enter the compound near the beginning of the movie, the door to the compound building opens to let them inside in one shot and somehow opens again in the very next shot.
In the shorter version, it is never explained what happened to Paul Durant after he had a chat with Dr. Crane, and went back to the hospital in Marysville before the population of Marysville is evacuated.
However, The extended cut did fix the problem, he was at the hospital, but he suddenly died for an unexplained reason.
The killer bees somehow destroy a helicopter, with it losing all of it's power and crashing into a mountain.
Dr. Bradford Crane tells Paul (who's in a hospital bed) to reach out to make the bee go away, and he states that the bee is not real, which is confusing because the bees are real.
The train scene has a huge amount of flaws:
When the train crashes off the railway track, a carriage explodes. Whether the locomotive was powered by electricity or diesel, the passenger carriages would have carried no fuel and would not have exploded. Although since only one carriage car exploded and spread fire to the rest, it could be conceivable (although unlikely) this was a dining car and contained bottled gas.
When the passenger train is attacked by the swarm, Engineer Ned leans on the (mock-up) automatically pulls the brake handle, which should have applied the emergency brakes, but instead the train accelerates.
Why didn't the train drivers even shut the windows as soon as the African killer bees got towards the train? Also, it makes the bees enter the cab and kill both of the drivers. The sting from the bee also makes one engineer accidentally pull the lever, which results in the train going way too fast and then crashing off the railway track, and a carriage exploding. Whether the locomotive was powered by electricity or diesel, the passenger carriages would have carried no fuel and would not have exploded.
When the train accelerates out of control and tips over on the cliff, the exterior shot shows that the locomotive at the front leans to it's right side. However, the interior shot appears as if the locomotive is tilting to it's left side.
When Engineer Ned leans on the (mock-up) automatic brake handle, which should have applied the emergency brakes, the train instead accelerates.
During the war against the killer bees in the city of Austin, there is literally a scene where the ambulance driver loses control because of the bees and suddenly it's night time during the crashing sequence. When the ambulance crashes into the building at this shot, you can see it's daytime, while it was supposed to be night time.
When testing the anti-venom on himself, the scientist places only one chest wire on himself which would make it impossible to monitor his "z-score" as stated because at least 3 leads would be needed. In addition, the compound is stated to be administered in an "auto-injector" when the instrument shown on screen was nothing more than a 1930's vintage hypodermic needle and syringe.
The movie permanently killed Harold F. Kress's editing career.
The final act of the entire film. During the war against the killer bees, Dr. Crane and Sally Helena escape the checkpoint from the military base in Austin, Texas and they went to the airport the next day to fly a helicopter to the Gulf of Mexico and they just drop to play the signal of floating devices. But that's not it, predictably, all of the millions of African bees go into the sign and the missiles launch into the scene, exploding and killing all of the killer bees in an anti-climatic manner, and that's it, that's how the film literally ends!
Warner Bros. Pictures put a disclaimer before the end credits, stating that the African killer bees portrayed in this film bear no relationship to the industrious, hard-working American honey bee to which they are indebted for pollinating vital crops that feed the nation.
The film still uses the yellow text Futura font on the opening credits, which is a nice throwback to Allen's first two disaster films.
Jerry Goldsmith did an excellent job composing the soundtrack, which adds a bit more more suspense to this film at times.
It is considered to be so-bad-it's-good cinema.
There are some good action sequences during the climax, though not as good as the previous instalments.
January 30, 2022
Killer African bees from Brazil are in the US. They are swarming and killing people. Scientists are trying to figure out how to solve the problem and save the US from ruin.
Good thriller which could happen. A little dry in a couple of places but overall a good thriller.
Good thriller which could happen. A little dry in a couple of places but overall a good thriller.
August 20, 2024
En realidad 3,5 ⭐ redondeado al alza, los puntos negativos la traducción y un final muy precipitado
February 6, 2016
Very dated
From the computers that take punch cards and have to have time sharing to the scenes where no one can pay attention to what they are doing because it is so unusual to have a female scientist.
It had some neat scenes that can be fun to contemplate, stuck inside a new york apartment with no where to go because of a bee attack, but still not too good of a book.
From the computers that take punch cards and have to have time sharing to the scenes where no one can pay attention to what they are doing because it is so unusual to have a female scientist.
It had some neat scenes that can be fun to contemplate, stuck inside a new york apartment with no where to go because of a bee attack, but still not too good of a book.
October 15, 2023
Easy reading creature feature, but also dated and weirdly racist
April 3, 2020
Excellent
November 10, 2021
En USA las grandes ciudades entran en caos cuando un gigantesco enjambre de abejas africanas furiosas arrasan por donde pasan.
Esta novela me nació leerla por recordar películas de terror animal que en mi infancia me marcaron con terror pero mas con interés, me refiero a películas como enjambre y Marabunta, me hacian preguntarme si era posible que pasara eso, ciertamente genera un pequeña fobia.
Pues bien la novela con un argumento mas documentado plantea justamente eso, aunque de una manera exagerada y usando el típico argumento gringo de desastres, en dónde se ignora el peligro por un mando superior hasta que ocurre lo que se ha advertido, entonces recurren a medidas desesperadas, en este caso Wood y su equipo científico intentaran frenar la amenaza que son las abejas africanas.
Lo mejor de la novela es la caracterización científica que es prácticamente el 80 %, que se ve que realmente estuvo asesorada por zoologos y entomologos, donde se toman aspectos muy reales del modo de vida de las abejas, el daño que ha causado especies invasoras como son las abejas africanas, el control por medio de cuestiones genética, adaptación y mutación de especies y en menor grado se refleja el contexto histórico del daño al ambiente por pesticidas, de hecho el libro en cierta parte es una protesta contra el DDT, todo esto con toques de ciencia ficción pero que parece muy real, todo esto en una trama muy interesante y amena para el lector.
Sin embargo el gran pero que tiene esta novela de terror que justo carece de terror, se enfoca mucho en lo científico, pero no desarrolla ni explota al 100 los ataques de las abejas, son un par de escenas de los muchos ataques que realmente transmite la angustia de ser picado por miles de abejas. Otro detalle son los personajes no tienen profundidad, aunque si reflejan muy bien el ámbito científico e incluso se aborda el ego de las personas dedicadas a la ciencia, pero mas alla no veo un arco de personaje en los principales e incluso al final no son útiles, ya que impacto mas un personaje secundario.
En conclusión es un libro con falla en su argumento como terror, pero es lo bien documentado y la parte de ciencia ficción es lo que hace valer la pena el libro por qué lo hace muy disfrutable.
Esta novela me nació leerla por recordar películas de terror animal que en mi infancia me marcaron con terror pero mas con interés, me refiero a películas como enjambre y Marabunta, me hacian preguntarme si era posible que pasara eso, ciertamente genera un pequeña fobia.
Pues bien la novela con un argumento mas documentado plantea justamente eso, aunque de una manera exagerada y usando el típico argumento gringo de desastres, en dónde se ignora el peligro por un mando superior hasta que ocurre lo que se ha advertido, entonces recurren a medidas desesperadas, en este caso Wood y su equipo científico intentaran frenar la amenaza que son las abejas africanas.
Lo mejor de la novela es la caracterización científica que es prácticamente el 80 %, que se ve que realmente estuvo asesorada por zoologos y entomologos, donde se toman aspectos muy reales del modo de vida de las abejas, el daño que ha causado especies invasoras como son las abejas africanas, el control por medio de cuestiones genética, adaptación y mutación de especies y en menor grado se refleja el contexto histórico del daño al ambiente por pesticidas, de hecho el libro en cierta parte es una protesta contra el DDT, todo esto con toques de ciencia ficción pero que parece muy real, todo esto en una trama muy interesante y amena para el lector.
Sin embargo el gran pero que tiene esta novela de terror que justo carece de terror, se enfoca mucho en lo científico, pero no desarrolla ni explota al 100 los ataques de las abejas, son un par de escenas de los muchos ataques que realmente transmite la angustia de ser picado por miles de abejas. Otro detalle son los personajes no tienen profundidad, aunque si reflejan muy bien el ámbito científico e incluso se aborda el ego de las personas dedicadas a la ciencia, pero mas alla no veo un arco de personaje en los principales e incluso al final no son útiles, ya que impacto mas un personaje secundario.
En conclusión es un libro con falla en su argumento como terror, pero es lo bien documentado y la parte de ciencia ficción es lo que hace valer la pena el libro por qué lo hace muy disfrutable.
June 4, 2021
This is a reread from a long, long time ago. My dear friend Brian "Zot" Szurgot, gone but not forgotten, turned me on to this one and it really was as horrific as he asserted. Thus when a copy appeared at a library book sale a few years ago, I snapped it up, if only for old time's sake. Think maybe I gave a dime for it. I also picked up a copy of another title destined to become an Irwin Allen disaster epic, "The Glass Inferno", but that's another book for another day.
Zot knew though. One thing he was aware of was that I harbor a deep fear for stinging winged beasties that dates back to age 5 or thereabouts. Also, our home was infested with wasps, which had a really bad habit of entering my bedroom at all hours of the day and night. Ever woke up from a sound sleep to the sound of wings? Well, maybe that's why I remember this book so vividly...
Anyway. While it's true that the African honeybee panic of the early 70s sort of fizzled out, it's equally true that things very easily might've gone the other way, and this book relates in gruesome details the "could've been" scenario rather well, up to and including the climactic "Battle of the Bees". Author Arthur Herzog weaves a convincingly real tale here, and one terrifying enough to capture the attention the public, which snapped it up pretty handily. This obviously included Master of Disaster Allen, who turned it into a legendarily bad film. Well, maybe not all *bad*, as in a "Mac and Me" or "Battlefield Earth", but more along the lines of a "Plan 9 From Outer Space" that is so awful it ends up being lovable. Seriously.
But. The book. It really is that good, with a pacing that will keep you turning the pages well into the night. It's a low down dirty shame it couldn't have been made into a better film. The story seems to end rather abruptly, but Nature works that way sometime. And the science is pretty well done too, up to and including what the scientists are called upon to do to save the country. Herzog clearly knew that of which he wrote. Pick up a copy and give it a try. But don't blame me if you have bee nightmares for a few weeks afterward...
Zot knew though. One thing he was aware of was that I harbor a deep fear for stinging winged beasties that dates back to age 5 or thereabouts. Also, our home was infested with wasps, which had a really bad habit of entering my bedroom at all hours of the day and night. Ever woke up from a sound sleep to the sound of wings? Well, maybe that's why I remember this book so vividly...
Anyway. While it's true that the African honeybee panic of the early 70s sort of fizzled out, it's equally true that things very easily might've gone the other way, and this book relates in gruesome details the "could've been" scenario rather well, up to and including the climactic "Battle of the Bees". Author Arthur Herzog weaves a convincingly real tale here, and one terrifying enough to capture the attention the public, which snapped it up pretty handily. This obviously included Master of Disaster Allen, who turned it into a legendarily bad film. Well, maybe not all *bad*, as in a "Mac and Me" or "Battlefield Earth", but more along the lines of a "Plan 9 From Outer Space" that is so awful it ends up being lovable. Seriously.
But. The book. It really is that good, with a pacing that will keep you turning the pages well into the night. It's a low down dirty shame it couldn't have been made into a better film. The story seems to end rather abruptly, but Nature works that way sometime. And the science is pretty well done too, up to and including what the scientists are called upon to do to save the country. Herzog clearly knew that of which he wrote. Pick up a copy and give it a try. But don't blame me if you have bee nightmares for a few weeks afterward...
February 23, 2024
I purchased my copy of this book used in hardback at an antique mall in Independence, MO about a week ago. The antique mall was having a big sale, and I picked up this title for the princely sum of one American dollar. The copy I bought was printed in 1974 by Simon & Schuster, and boy does it read like a 1970's science fiction thriller. I recall that in the mid-1970's the possible invasion of North America by "killer bees" was all over the news (and who can forget the Saturday Night Live "Killer Bees" skits with John Belushi?), and this book took that timely topic and ran with it down a very deep rabbit hole. The book is written in a style that veers wildly back and forth between dense scientific jargon and high melodrama. There is much technobabble about the life cycle and mating habits of bees. The killer bees arrive on America's shores unexpectedly and chaos ensues. The bees mutate and somehow wind up with tabun, a compound manufactured for use in chemical warfare, in their venom so that a single sting is fatal. The unprotected public is dying like flies as the bees swarm and multiply. A group of scientists holes up at Ft. Detrick in Maryland (formerly used by the US military for biological and chemical warfare research) to throw some science at the problem. And finally the bees take over New York City but science prevails and the bees are vanquished. The characters are pretty one-dimensional and the sole significant female character turns out to have some scientific chops, which I found surprisingly forward-thinking for a book written in the mid-1970s by a man. But overall it's not that great a book. The 1970s were the heyday of disaster movies, and as I recall a really crappy movie was made based on this book, that I think had Henry Fonda in it??? Three out of five stars.
January 6, 2024
Heads up - my ratings are all based on my personal enjoyment of the book, not it's literary merits or what have you. . .
(4 or a 4.5)
When I picked up this used book (the version where there is a swarm of bees on the cover and red letters for the title), I expected a typical creature feature with a horde of giant bees tearing people apart from limb to limb. However, this book is more about killer African bees that have mixed a deadly pesticide with their own special venom and have then decided to enter the states and sting people to death. Well, a few people at first, before the rest of the book turns its focus to the group of scientist who live in a secret bunker trying to use the almighty science to stop this imminent threat upon the good ole' U-S-of-A!
And I don't know if I'm an incredibly boring person or if this information is indeed fascinating, but learning the little hypotheticals and tiny details about bees and other insects was much more entertaining than I'd imagined. That takes up the bulk of this novel. Afterwards though it does paint a pretty horrifying picture of what 'could' happen with a deadly swarm of African Bees (those of you who found the lockdown fun, will enjoy knowing that these ideas were floating around and shockingly similar in practice to what most of the world experienced).
All in all, bees are good. Wasps are okay. Yet, killer bees with mutated venom are bad. Plus, we as humans are not as powerful as we think we are. . . that is if bees with a vengeance ever decide to band together against us!
(4 or a 4.5)
When I picked up this used book (the version where there is a swarm of bees on the cover and red letters for the title), I expected a typical creature feature with a horde of giant bees tearing people apart from limb to limb. However, this book is more about killer African bees that have mixed a deadly pesticide with their own special venom and have then decided to enter the states and sting people to death. Well, a few people at first, before the rest of the book turns its focus to the group of scientist who live in a secret bunker trying to use the almighty science to stop this imminent threat upon the good ole' U-S-of-A!
And I don't know if I'm an incredibly boring person or if this information is indeed fascinating, but learning the little hypotheticals and tiny details about bees and other insects was much more entertaining than I'd imagined. That takes up the bulk of this novel. Afterwards though it does paint a pretty horrifying picture of what 'could' happen with a deadly swarm of African Bees (those of you who found the lockdown fun, will enjoy knowing that these ideas were floating around and shockingly similar in practice to what most of the world experienced).
All in all, bees are good. Wasps are okay. Yet, killer bees with mutated venom are bad. Plus, we as humans are not as powerful as we think we are. . . that is if bees with a vengeance ever decide to band together against us!
October 16, 2025
You know, there’s a stretch towards the end of this where the killer bees are descending on NYC that there are definitely some chillingly prescient beats of the world falling apart. Definitely a pre-Stephen King paperback horror/thriller that feels like The Birds (but bees) mixed with some of the scientific jargon gobbledygook of Andromeda Strain – which feels a bit more inserted to give a whiff of legitimacy to the proceedings (as opposed to Andromeda Strain where it was more smoothly integrated – Crichton using this method in Jurassic Park as well). It’s not deep but the descriptions of bee stings were pretty grueling. And the imagery of the massive swarm taking over did reflect the microbial infection of Andromeda writ large: If the bees are moving like this swarm and stinging everything in their wake, how different is that from a virus or nasty bacteria moving through a bloodstream? My favorite exchange came late in the novel –
“Can bees fly forty miles?”
“I’m afraid these bees can.”
I have not seen the infamous film adaptation which supposedly was one of the stepping stones to the Golden Raspberry film awards – according to Wikipedia, the two films that truly led to the Razzies were Xanadu and Can’t Stop the Music – but even now, with CG mania sweeping the world, I still think a Manhattan/NY set disaster on the scale of the Swarm would be tough to pull off. I will seek out the film though, and revel in its glory.
“Can bees fly forty miles?”
“I’m afraid these bees can.”
I have not seen the infamous film adaptation which supposedly was one of the stepping stones to the Golden Raspberry film awards – according to Wikipedia, the two films that truly led to the Razzies were Xanadu and Can’t Stop the Music – but even now, with CG mania sweeping the world, I still think a Manhattan/NY set disaster on the scale of the Swarm would be tough to pull off. I will seek out the film though, and revel in its glory.
May 19, 2017
It's good pulp style fiction fun-nothing fancy. Plot is easy, African bees start swarming the US, man vs bees war. Thankfully, most of it it told from the prospective of the scientists trying to come up with a solution to the problem. The characters would have been too brainless if told from the everyman's point of view. Occasionally, it would even tell the story from the bees' point of view, that was really great. I would have liked a bit more of that, but you take what you can get.
Best part was the author did put some research into the story, when it came for ways to halt the bee advance. The solutions aren't just easy ones like 'use a piss-pot of pesticides,' they involve introducing genes, different kinds of drones, antitoxins, etc. That really helped the story.
Nothing really bad to say about this, just a good, quick story that is fun enough to keep the pages turning. One other bonus-no real gore factor, makes it a nice change of pace for me. Reading the sicko authors can wear you down a bit after a while.
Best part was the author did put some research into the story, when it came for ways to halt the bee advance. The solutions aren't just easy ones like 'use a piss-pot of pesticides,' they involve introducing genes, different kinds of drones, antitoxins, etc. That really helped the story.
Nothing really bad to say about this, just a good, quick story that is fun enough to keep the pages turning. One other bonus-no real gore factor, makes it a nice change of pace for me. Reading the sicko authors can wear you down a bit after a while.
November 19, 2017
Ugh, what a let-down.
Angry African bees almost the size of your fist that have evolved to eat and break down man-made plastic into a deadly venom? Man vs. nature? I was ready for some great B-movie horror. But this was a very dry book.
The extremely awkward relationship between the scientist and Brazilian lady was randomly shoved in here. I can just see the author chuckling to himself as he wrote the scenes between them. There were a couple of swarming bee attack scenes that were cool, and there was an abundance of interesting bee facts. But the majority of the book was dry commentary between the scientists as they tried to figure out a way to stop the bees. I skimmed many pages to get to more exciting scenes.
Definitely a commentary on nature's ability to adapt, which I love. We try to control the world around is, but life....finds a way. Just could have done with more bees and less human commentary.
Angry African bees almost the size of your fist that have evolved to eat and break down man-made plastic into a deadly venom? Man vs. nature? I was ready for some great B-movie horror. But this was a very dry book.
The extremely awkward relationship between the scientist and Brazilian lady was randomly shoved in here. I can just see the author chuckling to himself as he wrote the scenes between them. There were a couple of swarming bee attack scenes that were cool, and there was an abundance of interesting bee facts. But the majority of the book was dry commentary between the scientists as they tried to figure out a way to stop the bees. I skimmed many pages to get to more exciting scenes.
Definitely a commentary on nature's ability to adapt, which I love. We try to control the world around is, but life....finds a way. Just could have done with more bees and less human commentary.
January 9, 2024
Pasable
Novela pasable. Comienza entretenida pero en la segunda mitad se torna un poco sosa.
Como punto a favor podemos rescatar que teniendo en cuenta el año en el que fue escrito (1974) y estando en plena guerra fría, no se sube a la moda de los "yankees contra los rusos" y decide reflotar un tema ampliamente explotado en los 50's y 60's pero con un renovado punto de vista: la novela apocalíptica... y en este caso el origen no son los extraterrestres ni las armas nucleares. Por el contrario, es algo tan común como las abejas.
Es aquí donde el autor se las ingenia para atraparnos con una creíble especulación que da sustento a la trama, pero que pareciera ser que ni él mismo pudo, durante la novela, desarrollar para darle continuidad a la historia.
Respecto al final podríamos decir que es abrupto y malo.
Igualmente vale la pena su lectura.
Recomendable para los fanáticos de las novelas apocalípticas.
Novela pasable. Comienza entretenida pero en la segunda mitad se torna un poco sosa.
Como punto a favor podemos rescatar que teniendo en cuenta el año en el que fue escrito (1974) y estando en plena guerra fría, no se sube a la moda de los "yankees contra los rusos" y decide reflotar un tema ampliamente explotado en los 50's y 60's pero con un renovado punto de vista: la novela apocalíptica... y en este caso el origen no son los extraterrestres ni las armas nucleares. Por el contrario, es algo tan común como las abejas.
Es aquí donde el autor se las ingenia para atraparnos con una creíble especulación que da sustento a la trama, pero que pareciera ser que ni él mismo pudo, durante la novela, desarrollar para darle continuidad a la historia.
Respecto al final podríamos decir que es abrupto y malo.
Igualmente vale la pena su lectura.
Recomendable para los fanáticos de las novelas apocalípticas.
August 1, 2020
2.5/5
‘The Swarm’, unfortunately, is part crap, and part bedlam. If you have doubts about reading this, just read the synopsis, and after reading the first couple of chapters, you’ll realize that you have wasted your time. In fact, the synopsis is a clear coated representation of what he rest of the writing style is like. It reads like an undisclosed military report handed in by Gregory Heffley, and honestly, Mr. Heffley’s doodles and journal entries regarding bees would be far more appealing and inviting.
A microscopic ounce of hope DOES exist when we get to the more climactic shocks in the novel-deadly African queen bees ARE a scary thing, but the passages are short, and by that time, readers have already wasted their time.
‘The Swarm’, unfortunately, is part crap, and part bedlam. If you have doubts about reading this, just read the synopsis, and after reading the first couple of chapters, you’ll realize that you have wasted your time. In fact, the synopsis is a clear coated representation of what he rest of the writing style is like. It reads like an undisclosed military report handed in by Gregory Heffley, and honestly, Mr. Heffley’s doodles and journal entries regarding bees would be far more appealing and inviting.
A microscopic ounce of hope DOES exist when we get to the more climactic shocks in the novel-deadly African queen bees ARE a scary thing, but the passages are short, and by that time, readers have already wasted their time.
August 14, 2020
I admire the depth of knowledge the man has on the topic of bees and the research gone into the preparation of this book.
The plot is gripping as killer bees swarm across America, it plods along nicely. It uses scientific-y language at parts masterfully as it is still very readable in-spite of the jargon.
My only main criticism being it was a bit of a bee overkill ... bee ... bee ... bee. I enjoyed the book overall but felt a good deal of relief when I had reached the end.
...
This book reminded me of Cujo, Stephen King’s rabid rabbi infested dog. Another book in the animal terror genre.
Preferred The Swarm as it is more concise and entertaining.
The plot is gripping as killer bees swarm across America, it plods along nicely. It uses scientific-y language at parts masterfully as it is still very readable in-spite of the jargon.
My only main criticism being it was a bit of a bee overkill ... bee ... bee ... bee. I enjoyed the book overall but felt a good deal of relief when I had reached the end.
...
This book reminded me of Cujo, Stephen King’s rabid rabbi infested dog. Another book in the animal terror genre.
Preferred The Swarm as it is more concise and entertaining.
July 21, 2024
Swarm is probably the most well-known of the 70s eco thriller novels, launched a B movie and feels like nonfiction rather than fiction. Herzog employs fairly accurate science and technology jargon, formulae, theories, real events and believable characters. Like Crichton later and Asimov earlier, his narrative is very believable. The X-FILES homaged this plot at least twice and many ripoffs followed.
Genus apis or bees or African killers (adansonii specifically) do exist and have killed dozens rather than thousands, mainly in the southern and western USA, over the past 3 decades.
Any worthwhile read provides knowledge to a Reader and I feel more intelligent after this effort. Recommend.
Genus apis or bees or African killers (adansonii specifically) do exist and have killed dozens rather than thousands, mainly in the southern and western USA, over the past 3 decades.
Any worthwhile read provides knowledge to a Reader and I feel more intelligent after this effort. Recommend.
February 3, 2019
This was a pulpy read that started out amusing but got slow in some places and pretty info-dumpish in others. Also, I'm pretty sure this book is an extended (and thinly veiled) metaphor for white supremacy. Something about the way the characters kept saying "Africans" and not "African bees" just made it seem that way, but that may just be the lit classes talking! XD
April 16, 2021
I love this book! It was like I was lost in an old school monster movie. All these characters just thrown together to solve the problem of the bee. I really like the fact that it didn't concentrate on the killing itself but the science behind the bees. I was fascinated with how they mutated and how they stopped them. Focusing on the science to drive the story. Refreshing to say the least!
August 16, 2022
I think I vaguely remember watching the movie based on this book years ago. When I found the book, I thought, Hmm, might be cool. And I guess it was. Some of the writing had the feel of being cheesy sci-fi-esque. Reminiscent of the cheesy sci-fi movies of the 60's and early 70's. In that respect, it was an entertaining read.
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