Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Infested

Colón, Angel Luis. Infested. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9781665928410.


Manny is upset, and rightfully so. It is the summer before his senior year of high school, and his mother has decided to move the family from Texas to the Bronx, in New York City, to be with his stepfather, who has just secured employment as caretaker for a condo building. One of the perks of the job is a free apartment, and her mother is thrilled she will be able to save some money for Manny's college. Plus, maybe New York will be a better place all of them, including Manny's sister, who is not yet in school.

As a result, Manny moves away from his friends in Texas, and has to quit his job. Al, his stepfather, tells him he can work for him in the building to make some spending money. Manny also has to find a new school to enroll for his senior year, something he dreads. When he meets Sasha outside the building, he learns that she is protesting the building being turned into luxury condos, to the detriment of the neighborhood. Sasha is also soon to be a senior, and she knows a lot of people, so despite his misgivings about her protesting Al's place of work, Manny soon becomes friends with her.

Manny also connects with Mr. Mueller, the elderly German immigrant who owns an extermination company. With his son Peter, Mr. Mueller has been hired to removes all bugs from the building, and for some strange reasons there are cockroaches everywhere. Manny even dreams that they enter his mouth! Soon, however, what was merely annoying and gross becomes horrific as Manny finds roaches crawling under his skin, and in other places they should not be. Then Manny and Sasha discover that Mr. Mueller actually died in a fire he had deliberately set decades ago on the same spot that the condo building now stands.

With his family still living in the building, Manny and Sasha must devise a way to defeat Mr. Mueller and his insect minions before this building also goes up in flames!

Creepy and fast-moving, Infested will keep the reader on the edge of their seat as they discover with Manny the dastardly deeds Mr. Mueller has committed and his reasons for doing so. Fans of horror and paranormal will enjoy this scary tale.

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