Reader Quotes
Crawlers had me reading non stop for two days… I LOVED IT. It was insane, thrilling, and how do I put this... AMAZING!!!!!
Christina,14, via Facebook
Revoltingly entertaining.
Ali Sparkes, from The 50 Best Summer Reads of 2010 in The Independent
A squirm-inducing schlock horror, CRAWLERS tells the story of eight children – four boys and four girls – who find themselves trapped in the Barbican Theatre by a horde of squidgy, slimy, spider-like creatures. These horrible little beasties can latch on to a human host, placing the unsuspecting person completely under the control of the spider-creatures' deliciously sinister queen. Thrown together, the children must overcome their differences as they try to find a way to escape the theatre and avoid becoming slaves to the queen. But as tensions mount so their paranoia begins to grow, threatening to tear the group apart. Only two of the group – Jasmine and Ben – seem to have what it takes to pull the others through the ordeal, and they must do all they can to force the others to listen to them before it's too late. Be sure to catch CRAWLERS because if you don't, the crawlers may well catch you. It's part Alien, part Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 100% flippin' brilliant.
I found myself completely hooked and there were some great twists which I wasn't expecting at all. I like my horror and CRAWLERS is definitely one I'll be telling everyone to buy.
Simon Key, The Big Green Bookshop
The pages of CRAWLERS turn faster than the wheels of a demon-infested runaway train. It's a 'seat-of-your-pants-ride' of terrifying zombies and a sinister alien queen who wants to take over the world – I believe she might have a lot in common with the author!
Fact One: Sam Enthoven is a good writer.
Fact Two: Sam Enthoven is a deeply weird and disturbed person.
Fact Three: We love him for it.
Who else could possibly conceive a nightmare so bloody awful and real that I still feel a bit twitchy between my shoulder blades whenever I think about it? If you’re someone who is easily frightened then trust me when I hand you this warning: WALK AWAY, DO NOT READ CRAWLERS FOR FEAR OF NIGHTMARES. But if you’re a fan of critters that go bump in the night, things that creep and crawl, then read on! CRAWLERS is breathtaking and scary and cinematic and it freaked me out quite a bit. The ending is wow and the finale is ... waitaminute, did I just feel something crawl up my leg!?
Elizabeth de Jager, The Book Zone
Horrible creatures marauding through the Barbican, a group of mismatched, trapped teenagers who don't trust one another, hordes of zombified adults, and a clock ticking towards a massive explosion - what more could you want?! I'm not the world's greatest fan of schlock, but I have to say I found Crawlers immensely enjoyable. It's clear that Sam Enthoven had an absolute ball writing it and the enthusiasm comes across in spades. All the action is squashed into a six-hour timeframe, and so the writing is smart, snappy and pacy. The characters represent the standard stereotypes - bully, nerd, hanger-on, reluctant hero, etc, but they are given much better treatment than is the norm in some genre novels. Each of the trapped children gets a fully-rounded personality and some backstory, too. And it isn't only the two central characters, Ben and Jasmine, who get to behave heroically. The monsters are suitably disgusting - as is the cover art, ugh! - and you get an amusing nod to the evils of greedy corporations, which I thoroughly enjoyed. If you have a junior horror fan at home, they are going to love this book.
Jill Murphy, The Bookbag
Sam's skill lies in his ability to write properly believable characters. Oh, he can also write scary set-pieces, and his plotting is nice and tight, but the fact that his main characters aren't cardboard-cut-out heroes/ bullies/ villains means that there's more to the book then there might appear. The characterisation in Crawlers really stands out. I really enjoyed this, and if I was a kid, I'd have been blown away by it.
Marcus Gipps, Books Wot I Have Read
If you're looking for a truly contemporary horror story this is a must-read.
Tracy Ann Baines, Tall Tales and Short Stories
It's always important for a horror novel to be visual and making me see the scene in my head is the most terrifying thing a writer can do. I'm really pleased to say that Sam Enthoven is a master at this and reading Crawlers was a brilliant experience from beginning to end.
Carly Bennett, Chicklish
Crawlers was great, fast paced and exciting - like a cross between the movies Alien and Resident Evil. The fast paced writing style added to the claustrophobia and the feeling of being trapped. The plot was fluid and the book was a riveting read.
David, 16
Praise for Sam's previous books The Black Tattoo and Tim, Defender of the Earth:
'Will be snapped up by restless boys who can never find books written just for them' -School Library Journal
'No, seriously, dude, this is the best book I've read in two years. You know, if all books were this good, I bet more kids would be reading' –Mark, 12
'Imagine a literary world where Philip Pullman meets Darren Shan' –Books For Keeps
'I think Sam could be the next Anthony Horowitz' –Charlie, 11
'Sam Enthoven's energy creeps into the words on every page' –Philip Ardagh
'If you don't like books with action-packed chapters with big scary monsters wrecking national monuments and giant cockroaches killing people, you will not like this book. I loved it' –Finn, 12
