The Swarm

There's nothing like reading a big, fat thriller novel every now and then. It's a specialised genre, with its own rules, and for me the pleasure comes not so much from any literary quality, but from the fast-paced action and laughable plot. Sometimes, over the top can be just right.

Frank Schatzing has followed the rules: he's taken some stock science fiction concepts unknown to the broader community, a large dose of science from magazine articles, thrown in some action, novel threats and a ticking clock. The Swarm has apparently been a successful seller in its original German and in translation.

I can't see why. Perhaps it captured some of the zeitgeist at the right time. But for me the intriguing story promised in the book's blurb was smothered by layer upon layer of bloat. The book would have been so much more enjoyable if it was half the size. Perhaps Schatzing was being paid by the word? Or the pound.

Schatzing can write some decent action scenes, and has some fun ideas, but the book is weighed down
by screeds of exposition, half-baked theorising, debates with straw men and authorial eco-haranging. I don't have a problem with any of these in moderation. And I certainly don't care about dodgy science or plot holes when I'm reading a pulp thriller. These books aren't supposed to make sense.

Normally if you're slumming in the thriller genre you look for a fat book, but if the thrill/page ratio drops, you just want to start skipping pages. Length isn't the problem, so much as the pace. The book needed some serious editing to make it move faster.

I don't need to tell you much about the book's plot. If you've read John Wyndham's book The Kraken Wakes, then you'll have a pretty good idea. Imagine a rewrite or sequel by a wannabe Michael Crichton.

Wyndham's novel featured a threat to the human race from beneath the sea, and I'm surprised that The Swarm didn't mention it, the author instead limiting his numerous submarine suspense references to cinema.

The Swarm is abysmal in every sense of the word, but I'm not giving it a zero because I found some mild entertainment from the creatures Schatzing created.