Along comes Quirk Books, tapping into the discussion with Ben H. Winters' Bedbugs, much as they latched on to the vogue for zombies with their successful and, well, quirky Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. I enjoyed that effort, which I can't say of some of the follow-ups, including Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters, also by Winters, which seemed like it had the same winning combination (Jane Austen and bizarre creatures) but fell a bit flat to me - probably because it did not tap into the zeitgeist in the same way.
With Bedbugs, though, Quirk hits the mark, even though they've retreated a bit from the public eye (as bedbugs will do) since the book came out last year. The story concerns a young couple and their young daughter who are miraculously able to find an apartment they can afford in a nice area of Brooklyn. The elderly landlady gives off a slightly spooky vibe, but of course they shrug it off - New York real estate being what it is. Once they move in, their initial slight misgivings start to grow - or at least, the wife Susan's do. They start to notice little things wrong, hear noises, see doors that weren't there before.
Susan's escalating paranoia reminded me a bit of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but the book jacket makes the comparison to Rosemary's Baby - which I haven't seen in a very long time and yet immediately saw all the connections to. Or think of your favorite X-Files episode.
My one fairly minor complaint about it was that it felt a bit "written for the screen" at times; but since it was intended as an homage to Rosemary's Baby, it might be intentional. Apart from that, though, Bedbugs is a quick and fun read and once I finally picked it up and got through a couple of chapters, I couldn't lay it aside.
FTC Disclosure: I won this book in a Facebook contest.
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