I like spiders, though admittedly I don't enjoy touching or holding them. But I like to look at them because I find them fascinating. So reading a book about killer spiders was basically just another man vs. nature thriller for me, and I thought The Hatching was pretty good. It's a fast read and it's to the point. Spider egg sacs are dug up from the prehistoric era and start hatching. These super spiders are not only pack-hunters, but flesh-eaters that burrow inside humans and burst out Alien style. The spiders start popping up all over the world en masse leaving death and destruction in their wake. There's not much in terms of character development, though I do like most of the protagonists. There are quite a few of them from all around the world, and each chapter is about one of them from somewhere in the world. It alternates mainly between Melanie, a spider specialist, Kim, a Marine fire team leader, and Mike, a special agent. But there are a half dozen other characters that get special screen time throughout the book. This brings me to my first complaint: there are just too many characters for a three hundred page book. This was definitely intended to be an introduction to a much lager and more complex story that I assume we will see in future entries. I believe it is planned to be a three-book series. The problem is, just when things start to heat up, the book ends because so much time is spent introducing every character and a little of their backgrounds. The spiders are here, but The Hatching largely serves as an appetizer for the main course. That aside, the story held my attention and kept me interested enough to want to read the upcoming Skitter which is scheduled for May 2017. One of the things I liked was the wealth of strong female roles, such as the president being a woman, and a few female Marines as well. Unfortunately a few of the female protagonists spend quite a bit of time sleeping around, which offsets some of their respectability. But no matter, that will only bother some readers and I didn't find it too distracting. Also, the author has a fascination with the "F" word and the cup runneth over, shall we say, a bit too often for my tastes. It's hard to take the author seriously at times when it's "f-this", "f-that" every other paragraph. Also, the cause behind the spider outbreak is very basic and you won't find any detailed or fascinating scientific explanation as to why things are happening. Boone is no Crichton, but then again, nobody is. All in all it's decent for what it is and I enjoyed it for the most part.