The Cockroach King by Andrew Cull
Not only did the cover of The Cockroach King by Andrew Cull intrigue me, but I was a goner after I read this line from an online excerpt:
“We’d been in the house two weeks when Tommy pulled the first bones from the garden.”
I didn’t need to go any further, and I didn’t. That line and the combination of a skeleton composed of roaches as well as the title curving along the top of the bones like a spine had me clicking “buy now” and waiting impatiently for the novella to appear on my e-reader. Kudos to the creator of this cover. It’s fantastic!
What’s even better is the story you’ll unearth beneath that gruesome cover. This novella weighs in at 65 pages and was published on November 30, 2020 by Beneath Hell Publishing. (Talk about a fun publisher name!) The Cockroach King is a quick read that’s easy to follow and holds your attention. It’s a first person POV story, which is great in those moments that are written to make your skin crawl. I’ll be shocked if you don’t get a cold chill or two while reading this!
This is a story about Cassie, a young mother who buys a house on Cedar Street after her mother’s death. She longs for the nostalgia it brings as well as a homey environment where she can raise her young son Sam. When her friend Tommy comes over to help spruce up the landscaping, he unleashes a horror that has Cassie wondering what she’s gotten herself into and how she can make it stop.
The characters in this story are easy to follow and differentiate from each other. I didn’t need to look back to make sure I was thinking of the right person in different scenes. There aren’t too many names, which otherwise could be overwhelming in a story of this length. Cull makes you care about the main character and her son, and I found myself wanting to yell at her to get out of the house! After learning that the author has directed films, as well, it makes total sense to me after reading this. The story gave me a classic horror movie vibe - in a good way!
This isn’t a terrifying book in a sense of gory horror. The creepy situations mixed with a realistic backstory for the main character draw you in, though. Mixed with that first person POV, you’re fully invested as you read this and can feel those tense moments and frightening situations. Cull does a great job with visceral reactions, and I never thought I would have such different emotions rise up while reading this story. As a warning, if cockroaches are too much for you, you might skip it. I’d encourage you to enjoy the thrill of getting keyed up and jumpy in certain scenes, though. The roaches aren’t the only despicable things in this story, so don’t let them scare you away from The Cockroach King.
If you need a creepy, what-the-hell, I never want to dig in the garden again experience, grab this novella! The Cockroach King was such a fun read, and I couldn’t help but tell my family about parts of it - much to their chagrin. They don’t always enjoy the macabre like I do.
About the Author: Andrew Cull is a writer and director from England. He is known for The Possession of David O'Reilly (2010), In the Dark (2007) and Urban Gothic (2000). He is also the writer and director behind the Louise Paxton mystery hoax. You can find him on Facebook @OfficialAndrewCull , on Twitter @andrewcull and on Instagram @andrew_cull. Check out his other books that are available on Goodreads. Also, on a fun note, I want to shout out that Andrew walked 100km in 24 hours in 2012 to raise funds for Save The Children.
