Bedbugs: A Novel of Infestation

By Ben H. Winters

FOR RENT: Top two floors of beautifully renovated brownstone, 1300 sq. ft., 2BR 2BA, eat-in kitchen, one block to parks and playgrounds. No broker’s fee.

Susan and Alex Wendt have found their dream apartment.

Sure, the landlady is a little eccentric. And the elderly handyman drops some cryptic remarks about the basement. But the rent is so low, it’s too good to pass up.

Big mistake. Susan soon discovers that her new home is crawling with bedbugs . . . or is it? She awakens every morning with fresh bites, but neither Alex nor their daughter Emma has a single welt. An exterminator searches the property and turns up nothing. The landlady insists her building is clean. Susan fears she’s going mad—until a more sinister explanation presents itself: she may literally be confronting the bedbug problem from Hell.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 6, 2011
• ISBN: 9781594745379

Ben H. Winters

Ben H. Winters is an author and educator who has written plays and musicals for children and adults, as well as several books in the bestselling Worst-Case Scenario Survival Guide series. He is also the author of The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman, Bedbugs, and the parody novels Android Karenina and the bestselling Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. He lives in Indianapolis.

Reviews for Bedbugs

[lilacwolf · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

From: Lilac Wolf and StuffRemember those Quirk Books that literally redefined the classics of Sense & Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice by adding sea monsters and zombies? Ben Winters even wrote/rewrote Android Karenina...which I did enjoy as much as I did the classic Tolstoy version.Anyway here is a book he wrote all by himself. A thriller with bedbugs at the core of the plot. It was heart-wrenching watching Susan lose her sanity inch by inch. No one close to her believed she had bedbugs but then people farther away started shutting her out just in case. I have heard they are making a comeback so that made this book extra creepy. You will get itchy reading it. And I don't recommend reading it in bed.Fast paced, well written, and most important very scary. Characters are all well developed and either likable or creepy...whatever they need to be. Susan finally finds and ally who comes to her aid after Susan loses it and attacks her husband. The "exterminatrix" comes to her aid, and when Susan tells her what she did the lady laughs and says "Well, you know, infestations place extraordinary strain upon a relationship."Great ending that will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end. I'm so very grateful to Quirk Books for letting me read this one.

[chaostheory08 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a Reading Good Books review.I was contacted by Quirk Books regarding another one of their titles, Broetry. They offered to send over a copy of Bedbugs to read and review. And I’m never one to turn down a free book! And it came with a poster-sized print of the cover art. How cool is that?Susan and Alex Wendt move into their 2-bedtoom, 2-bath Brooklyn apartment with their little girl Emma. The charming space is owned by a flamboyant landlady, Andrea. Susan, who recently quit her job to go back to her love of art, fell in love with the place because of an extra room that was perfect for painting. Not long after their move, strange things begin to happen.Reports of bedbug infestation rock the city. Susan fears that their apartment is one of the unfortunate ones. Susan begins to have welts and bites, even seeing some of the wretched bugs. But it seems she’s the only one. Neither her husband or daughter notice anything wrong. Is it bebugs or… badbugs?I finished this book the day before Halloween. It was a perfect pick for an October read. It is a simple story with very few characters. I love the build up. It was quite an easy read and it was hard to put down. I was halfway through and I still had no idea as to what’s causing the strange events. Although I eventually figured it out and I expected the ending, it still caught me off guard. The author executed it beautifully. And it was really creepy with all the bugs and eccentric people and the bites… some parts literally made my skin crawl.The book is divided into three: Book 1, Book 2, Book 3. Each divider has a different amount of creepy crawlies drawn on them, one having the least up to the third one where the page is fully covered. It’s really creative. It also reflects how bug-infested Susan’s life was in that part of the book.I have to say, I enjoyed the shout out to Tom Kitt. I also enjoyed the mystery plots here and there. I can picture this translated to screen — how gruesome it would look like. I also liked the mythology used to explain some important stuff. I won’t elaborate on that because it’ll spoil the whole thing. One thing that I thought wasn’t all that relevant was the murder of the babies. I didn’t get where it fit in with the big picture. But other than that, this was a great read. A subtle horror that will keep you at the edge of your seat.Rating: 4/5.Recommendation: Something new from the horror genre. I know Halloween is over but this is a perfect Halloween read.

[crazybatcow · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I got this book because it was on sale and I recognized the author's name from the Last Policeman series (and I have a weakness for apoc stories)... I didn't actually know anything about the story, or even what genre it was. Turns out I quite liked it. It is in the horror genre which does make sense, but it is a terror-horror, not a slash and gash. There is some thought put into the characters, and we get to see the descent of one of them from normalcy to insanity - or DO we? It is not the deepest storyline you'll come across, and it is not The Shining in its psychological deterioration terror, but it is strong enough that I would have been willing to pay full price for it. How could it have been better? Maybe if we liked the main character a bit more (she was really a bit of an entitled beotch, even without the terror component making her more so). Overall, it is an entertaining and quick, non-slashy story and I will keep my eyes open for more books by Winters.

[torsrthidesen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I don't know what it is with Ben H. Winters that I love so much. Maybe it's his seemless and perfect blending of archetypal genre fiction with a contemporary literary sensibility. Like The Last Policeman, Bedbugs plays with all the props of a 80s suspense paperback while making a real connection with the characters. Like Rosemary's Baby, the book spins a dark tale of obssession and madness as its characters have their minds, and home, invaded by bedbugs. Like any Hitchcock move, the story ends with a twist to end all twists. This books ticks all the boxes, surplanting Winters as the consummate contemporary genre-master, fusing the past and future into a suspense fiction tale of the present tense.

[silenceiseverything · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Bedbugs was one of those horror books that made me paranoid. I mean, good horror books always make me paranoid, but this one kind of took it to the extreme. I have huge bedbug paranoia, always have. Bedbugs kind of made it worse. So, Bedbugs gets a point for giving me the creeps.However, paranoia and mild creeps aside, I did find Bedbugs to be kind of...forgettable. I read tons of horror and this one just didn't make that big of an impression.Overall, I found Bedbugs to be just okay. It wasn't bad, but there wasn't anything memorable about it.

[ijustgetbored · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like this type of horror best: the creepy-crawly (no pun on the "bug" theme intended) kind, the psychological type that inches up on your psyche and never lets you know whether your persecuted character is falling into reason or madness. In this case, our main character, Susan, seems to be witnessing a phenomenon of bedbugs (or is it badbugs?) in her family's otherwise perfect Brooklyn apartment-- creatures that no one else, not even a specialist, can see. She begins to deteroriate, mentally and physically, as she searches for the elsusive bugs and for the mysterious couple who occupied the apartment before her family. In the meantime, her quirky-yet-mysterious landlady (yes, she's a bit of a type) and the lurking handyman (yes, he's a bit of a type, too) slink further and further off into left field, while her family grows more and more distant: Susan becomes an urban isolate, which is an interesting subtheme going on in the novel.So we have some very real issues: isolation in the midst of budding Brooklyn, distancing oneself from family, "who can you trust?," etc. Add into that the element of whether the perceived bedbugs are an actual parasite manifestation or something supernatural, and you have a very timely thriller, one that will surely reverberate with the consciousness of readers of this moment. Yet there are other "timely" elements of the writing that just plain irritate-- it's never just a phone, it's an iPhone; it's never just a computer, it's an iMac, etc. The branding of everything from wine to electronics drove me crazy; it does mark this family out as a certain socioeconomic status, but it became very tiresome, almost a heroic catalog of what type of urbanite we could peg these people as. In trying to be so specific, it made them more generic-- and harder to relate to, if you're anything other than that specific type of person.The main characters are a little sketchy at some points. They do have their moments of depth, and they do take you by surprise from time to time, but sometimes they act in stereotyped ways. The child, while it's interesting that she was included, often seems to be "that cute and charming kid" and not much more. As I said before, the landlady is very much of a type-- though this doesn't mean she's not engaging-- and the handyman is also of a type, though he does pull through with some surprises in the end.The ending, when it came, was a little rushed and pat. There had been all this tremendous psychological buildup-- the best thing about the book was this slow accumulation-- and then things just came to a head rather quickly, then they were over. I was not satisfied with the conclusion, though of course I can't say anything about that without getting into spoiler territory.

[jessicareadsthings · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a great little horror story if you want a quick scare that doesn't really linger. I wouldn't call it cinematic necessarily, but it does read like the plot of a movie. We have the story from an increasingly unreliable narrator whose monomaniacal obsession (with bedbugs) begins to rival that of Captain Ahab's (with the white whale). And then the story it goes from psychological torture to "what the hell, where did that come from." So, like a lot of horror stories (films included), it suffers from third act issues. There are a lot of avenues left unexplored, unexplained, and just completely incongruous with the rest of the story. But it is diverting, and, for a good while, it is scary. Ultimately enjoyable, so long as you don't over think it.

[kikoa_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It definately says more about me than the book, but I really liked it a lot. I itched all the way through it, so clearly well written. I discovered this author by way of The Policeman 1 and am so glad I did. His stories flow effortlessly filled with descriptive prose.

[lesindy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book reminded me of the movie "Bug", I was certain the woman was nuts. The ending was just so out there and kind of ruined the whole experience.

[bookwormteri · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book made me itchy. Seriously, I couldn't put the damn book down, but I itched the entire time I was reading it. Family moves into a extremely affordable apartment and cannot believe their luck. The landlady seems a little odd, but she's old and kind of eccentric. The wife thinks she sees bedbugs and becomes obsessed. No one else can find any. Are they bedbugs or badbugs?Ending totally surprised me. Was not expecting it and being caught off guard is a nice surprise. Good read!

[titania86_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

usan and Alex Wendt have found the most perfect apartment: in Brooklyn Heights, 1300 square feet, 2 bedroom, 2 bath, top two floors of a beautiful brownstone, and recently renovated. The price is crazy low and is totally worth having a weird landlady with a creepy handyman and an odd fixation with the basement. The couple moves in with their daughter and everything is fine at first. Then everything starts to crumble. First Susan finds out a kitten died in her apartment, leaving a horrible smell. Then the bites come. She's absolutely convinced they have bedbugs, despite the rest of her family being bite free and an exterminator examining the house and reporting no bedbugs. Her mental health deteriorates as she becomes obsessed with the bugs, researching ways to get rid of them, covering their house with dirt to deter them, itching, and becoming increasingly covered in bites. Are the bugs real or are they all in Susan's mind?Bedbugs is a very fast read that packs a punch and goes places I didn't expect. Susan Wendt used to be a high powered lawyer, but gave it up to focus on her art. I didn't really like her for most of the book because she claimed to want to do art and then spent all of her time on errands, chores, and generally agonizing over unnecessary things. She is high strung and quick to freak out about random things, so I personally thought the bugs were going to be all in her head. She treats people she views as subservient to her pretty badly, especially the nanny, and that never reflects well on people. The financial problems put a strain on her relationship with Alex, a photographer who want to return to art photography, but has to support their family. By paying an unnecessary nanny an exorbitant amount plus pushing to move to a more expensive location, Susan doesn't help matters and is combative instead of supportive to her stressed husband. This all before the bedbugs even come to light, but establishes Susan as not a very sympathetic figure.Then the bedbugs come in. Just reading about them made me paranoid and itchy. Yuck. They are gross creepy crawlies that I hope I never encounter. After she starts freaking out over bedbugs, Susan becomes marginally more sympathetic than before. She freaked out really early about them before she even saw signs, which was weird. Plus when she researched them and read something about badbugs (bedbugs from hell), she believed it! How gullible is she? The solution to get rid of the bugs according to the book is just psycho and she attempts it. After that point, I felt sympathetic towards her. I think she was insufferable through most of the novel and it would have been nice to feel for her a little before the ending. I kept reading because I was curious where the novel was going rather than caring what happened to Susan. Bedbugs is a fun horror novel. I read it within a few hours and the momentum really builds well. Although I really disliked Susan, the story and side characters were interesting and kept me turning the pages. The ending has a bit of a twist and I never saw it coming.

[mhanlon_19 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

"Jesus H Christ," you're saying. "Get off the Ben H. Winters kick, for the love of all that's holy and good. It's like you're feckin' stalking him, for crying out loud."Look. Let's just everybody calm down, okay?What *happened* was I was in the library. I was nearly done with The Last Policeman. I searched the library database (no card catalog, what are we, barbarians?). They had Countdown City! Woohoo! Upstairs, in fiction!So up I went. W - W - W - W, Winters, here we go... The Last Policeman... Bedbugs... ugh. That's it. No Countdown City. The computer lied to me. So I grabbed Bedbugs. It looked reasonably entertaining, anyway.Trudged downstairs. The kids and I checked out our books. Thought of the shelves near the checkout desk, the new releases shelves... figured I'd check it out... No, no such, HANG ON! COUNTDOWN CITY! Woo!So I *did* get Countdown City... and then I *did* get World of Trouble on the iPad, because I couldn't make it to a bookstore or wait for Powells to mail it off to me.And when I was done with those... well, I had this other library book to read... and so I did.Bedbugs was fine. A fun little horror story. Not The Last Policeman, by any means, but the writing wasn't bad. I hated the protagonist, she just wasn't a likable character, as other people have mentioned, but it was an interesting experience, reading a horror book about someone to whom you kind of hope bad things are going to happen. Again, as with The Last Policeman, you kind of knew how it was going to shake out... and, as I've professed elsewhere, I don't usually go out of my way to try and figure out whodunit, so maybe Ben Winters just isn't great at disguising mysteries. But, hey ho, it gave me something to read.I *was* interested in the differences between the bios for Mr. Winters between Bedbugs and the Last Policeman trilogy -- Bedbugs, pre-Last Policeman he mentions his past as co-author with Jane Austen on some of the Jane Austen Book and Some Sort of Monster series, but once he gets his trilogy he seems to have buried that a little deeper, so much so that it doesn't warrant a mention in the bio. Of course, with his recent success, why would he, right?Next up, a review of Ben H. Winters's shopping list from last Friday.

[jen6e6moore · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not great. Not terrible. It was a book I read. Surprising degree of violence at the end, entirely out of whack with the rest of the book.

[zenhead_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

creepy like stephen king. made my skin crawl. a wicked fun quick read!

[donaldmcobb · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure what kind of story Ben Winters was trying to tell in Bedbugs, and perhaps more troubling is that I don't think he did, either. The story bounces back and forth between hinting that it's a reality-based thriller and a supernatural horror, and while this can be an effective way of telling a story, it only works if you're competent with that kind of change-up. Unfortunately, Mr. Winters is not.The story beings with Susan Wendt searching for a new apartment for her family. She's a lawyer that has quit working to pursue her art. Alex, her husband, is a photographer specializing in catalog photos for jewelry stores. Emma, their daughter, is three and does cute things. As the story begins, Susan has found that too-good-to-be-true ad for an apartment in Brooklyn; a two bedroom, two bath that occupies the top two floors of a brownstone. Alex is skeptical, but agrees to go check it out with her. They meet their potential future landlord, Andrea, like what they see, and sign a lease.From here the story just kind of meanders for a bit about the moving process; mail fowarding forms, hiring movers, finding new stores, etc. All very thrilling. Thing start going south for Susan when she finds a picture of the previous tenants hidden away in a window frame. Then she starts suspecting her apartment is infested with bedbugs. Are these pests real, or just a figment of a troubled mind? And what happened to the previous tenants? We do get answers to these questions, and they're not terrible.One of this book's larger problems is that Susan is not a likeable protagonist. She obsesses over inane and unrelatable details. She also has a tendency to just gloss over things that while perhaps not terribly important to the actual plot, probably deserved a little more focus. At one point she starts worrying that Alex's business isn't doing so well (and in fact he ultimately confirms as much), yet she repeatedly goes out and spends like she has a money tree in the back yard. It could be argued that this is part of the potential psychotic break Winters tries to set up, but the details of that break we're presented with don't mesh well with this interpretation. The largest problem, though, was that Winters couldn't decide if he wanted a thriller or a horror story. It's not unusual for a reader to be left in the dark until the very end; as I said, that kind of confusion can be very effective if used properly, but it wasn't in this case. In fact it really seems like Winters had decided exactly what kind of story to write and come to an appropriate ending, but then he tossed in an epilogue that basically says, "OR IS IT?! *dun dun duuuuuuuuun*" It was just very clumsily done.All of that said, I think there was real potential here. Though he skipped between tones a lot, when Winters was exploring one possibility, he moved things along nicely and set up a bit of actual suspense. He also nailed the characters of Alex and Emma. Alex is a loving father and husband that is supporting his family through difficult economics times, and is under some stress because things aren't going so well for his small business. Emma is a three year old, and does three year old things; colors, plays with toys, runs around, says cute stuff, etc. I suspect the bases for these characters were pulled from examples in Winters' life.

[scrabblenut · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well, this book hooked me for sure. I thought I would be reading about the horror of bedbugs, and by the time I got the hints about a different kind horror lurking in the new apartment the family moves into, I just had to keep reading to find out what happened. Horror is not my favourite genre, but Winters is a great story-teller. As in a lot of the good horror books, we are lulled into a story that seems perfectly ordinary and plausible. Like some of the Stephen Kings books that I have read, the first part of the book is great, and the ending gets really weird. A good quick read though, that keeps you guessing. And who isn't horrified by just the thought of bedbugs?

[marcejewels · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

From my blogThis had great buildup but a little to long and such a fast closing that it ended up weird, I thought, how odd and disappointing.It did have a great creepy factor on the kindle version where it had bedbugs on each beginning page of Part 1, 2 and 3. I am sure many felt as if something was crawling on them while reading, that was a good touch. Enough detail to make you a little paranoid and unsure if Susan is paranoid, going crazy or really dealing with bedbugs. I enjoyed the moving into a new home and then the irrational fear that no one else noticed or was affected by. Then I got mad about why her husband didn't notice and get her help or some ointment at least. He did get her help but I think he was a little in denial also on how bad it really was. Susan said this situation of dealing with badbugs is really bad but wow it hit both her and Alex like a ton of bricks. I loved the scenario of dealing with bedbugs versus badbugs. When bedbugs latch on, they feast on blood for ten minutes and fall away; badbugs feast not only on blood, but on body and soul. And when they latch on, they feast forever. The characters were classic horror characters; weird, unsuspecting and eccentric.

[whereissoledad · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book for the most part. It was well-written, decently paced, and definitely creepy. I just felt like the too much build-up for too little payoff. After spending so much of the novel with Susan obsessing over not painting, having a nanny even though she wasn't working, and MacLaren strollers, the ending almost felt like an afterthought. In fact, I had to read the ending a second time before reviewing the book because I couldn't remember what happened. So, it's not a memorable book, but it's still a nice read. It will keep your interest and definitly have you checking your mattress.

[elvisettey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like this type of horror best: the creepy-crawly (no pun on the "bug" theme intended) kind, the psychological type that inches up on your psyche and never lets you know whether your persecuted character is falling into reason or madness. In this case, our main character, Susan, seems to be witnessing a phenomenon of bedbugs (or is it badbugs?) in her family's otherwise perfect Brooklyn apartment-- creatures that no one else, not even a specialist, can see. She begins to deteroriate, mentally and physically, as she searches for the elsusive bugs and for the mysterious couple who occupied the apartment before her family. In the meantime, her quirky-yet-mysterious landlady (yes, she's a bit of a type) and the lurking handyman (yes, he's a bit of a type, too) slink further and further off into left field, while her family grows more and more distant: Susan becomes an urban isolate, which is an interesting subtheme going on in the novel.So we have some very real issues: isolation in the midst of budding Brooklyn, distancing oneself from family, "who can you trust?," etc. Add into that the element of whether the perceived bedbugs are an actual parasite manifestation or something supernatural, and you have a very timely thriller, one that will surely reverberate with the consciousness of readers of this moment. Yet there are other "timely" elements of the writing that just plain irritate-- it's never just a phone, it's an iPhone; it's never just a computer, it's an iMac, etc. The branding of everything from wine to electronics drove me crazy; it does mark this family out as a certain socioeconomic status, but it became very tiresome, almost a heroic catalog of what type of urbanite we could peg these people as. In trying to be so specific, it made them more generic-- and harder to relate to, if you're anything other than that specific type of person.The main characters are a little sketchy at some points. They do have their moments of depth, and they do take you by surprise from time to time, but sometimes they act in stereotyped ways. The child, while it's interesting that she was included, often seems to be "that cute and charming kid" and not much more. As I said before, the landlady is very much of a type-- though this doesn't mean she's not engaging-- and the handyman is also of a type, though he does pull through with some surprises in the end.The ending, when it came, was a little rushed and pat. There had been all this tremendous psychological buildup-- the best thing about the book was this slow accumulation-- and then things just came to a head rather quickly, then they were over. I was not satisfied with the conclusion, though of course I can't say anything about that without getting into spoiler territory.

[sovranty · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's a quick read but a delightfully bizarre and haunting read. This book will leave you feeling a bit itchy and perhaps a little paranoid. By following the thoughts and seemingly mundane actions of the main character as she moves, unpacks. and settled into a new apartment, the reader is able to more easily parallel her slip into perceived psychosis. Given the short length of the book, this makes the ending more of an impact.

[lauramoore_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Susan and Alex Wendt are on the hunt for a new apartment, but living in the city and finding afforable housing is hard to overcome, so when they find a beautiful and extremely afforable brownstone in Brooklyn it seems too good to be true, but how could it be? With the sweet widowed landlord living downstairs, and the handman Larry, who is there at their wake and call for anything that goes aray. So why then is Susan waking up with Bites, and seeing bedbugs attacking her, while nobody else in her family seems to be effected. When a well-renowned exterminator to the stars, gives the apartment the all clear, is when Susan really stars to get fearful, because she feels her visions and the bites are getting 10x worse, and her husband and doctor are starting to think she's a little crazy?? What is it about this apartment and the Badbugs, or bedbugs that Susan can't seem to shake? This story in my opinion could have been super cheesy with this concept, but it wasn't that at all. Ben Winters made this story so creepy, and fantastic that I couldn't put it down. It was creepy and gave me the creepy-crawly feeling, but not to the point where I was up all night with nightmares (which is not a bad thing, in my opinion). The ending of this story is absoultly fantastic, and unexpected. I had no idea that they story was going to take a turn in the direction, but It was so good, and was happy with how the book played out. I cannot say enough good things about this book, if you want a creepy, halloweenish read, go pick up BEDBUGS, the book not the bug! haha

[burnit99 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Susan and Alex Wendt and their little girl Emma have moved into a dream apartment in a lovely New York brownstone, with a surprisingly low rent. Before long, Susan finds out some disturbing things about past tenants, and that the apartment seems to have a bedbug problem, although she is the only one who seems to ever see them. This is a well written scary story, with a lot of parallels to Steven King's "The Shining". Listing them would be an interesting exercise, but this is best left to the reader after finishing the book, rather than give away too many plot twists.

[spiceca_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a very quick read. It has its moments but wasn't anything brilliant. I had some facets of the plot figured out before they were revealed. I did enjoy the read and since it is very short- I recommend it if you enjoy thrillers and don't want to think too much.

[mclane_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A really creepy book! "Rosemary's Baby" for the 2010s! New York City in the 1960s had devil worshipers, but today it has something worse! When Susan Wendt and her family find the perfect apartment in Brooklyn, at an amazing rent, things couldn't be better. But is the elderly landlady more than eccentric? And what about that maybe too friendly handyman? And if the apartment absolutley doesn't have bedbugs, why is Susan so ITCHY! Highly recommended--if you're not too suggestible!

[punkeymonkey529 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

what a frightful and itching book... literally. i read this with great speed. i loved it. although i have not yet read 'Rosemary's Baaby' i've read in other reviews that this was partially inspired by the book. i have seen the movie and reading about the movie it's said the movie follows the book almost to exacts so comparing this book the the movie of 'Rosemary's Baby' yes i see a huge resemblance, and 'Rosemary's Baby' is one of my favorite horror movies. i really love being scared, horror being my favorite genre of anything, and bugs to creep me out like no other. So where do i read this, no other than my bed, yes i read some on the couch, but bed bugs are still known to roam there, so the creepinest still had effect. Susan,. her husband Alex, and there daughter Emma just moved into a new apartment, and it couldn't be better, a nice upscale brownstone Brooklyn aprartment for a great small price, hard to pass up right? there must be a catch, leaky pipes? loose floorboards? no none of that. everything seems just right, and plus there's an extra 'bonus' room. sure the landlady is a little loony but nothing to pass up about. Soon after the move in Susan starts experiencing problems with bugs, bed bugs to be exact. Only one problem, Alex and Emma aren't experiencing anything at all. So what's Susan to do? Going crazy over these bugs she'll do anything to rid of them.This book left me itching all over. i didn't even sleep in my own bed last night cause i finished it. in fact i slept on the couch. finally falling asleep around 2am. i tried sleeping i think i lost sleep due to this book and the fact of my medication. but i think i'll mostly rather blame it on this amazingly written horror novel. i actually even was awake so much last night i had time to start and finish another book. a small book at that but it was at least something. So go read this book.....if you dare, and you'll be itchy for more at the end. or feeling like you want to burn everything you own by the end.

[bagambo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reading this book gave me the creeps. I felt like bedbugs were crawling all over me - YUCK!! So, it really was the perfect way to kick off Carl's, R.I.P. VI Challenge. There was a bit of the supernatural mixed in with some crazy people and tons of creepy crawly blood suckers swarming about to make you itch and gasp in surprise. Bedbugs tells the story of the Wendts - Susan (wife), Alex (husband), and Emma (daughter) - a small family looking for a dream home in a better neighborhood. Susan wants space to set up an art studio where she can paint and Alex wants a kitchen big enough so that he can cook up gourmet meals for his family. All they want is a good school for their daughter and parks nearby where she can run and play. Oh, and a monthly rental payment that will still leave them with money to spare. Talk about pipe dreams, right? Especially considering that they live in NYC, where rent is anything but cheap. Well, consider Alex, Susan, and Emma extremely lucky, because thanks to the internet, it looks like they have struck gold - a brownstone apartment in Brooklyn Heights for under $4000 a month ( aka DREAM HOME). After checking out the place and talking with the landlady, Alex and Susan decide to go for it and are soon faxing over a signed copy of the lease. The topic of bedbugs does come up, but only as an afterthought. Soon boxes are being moved and excitement fills the air. Life for the Wendts appears to be good. They are adjusting to their new digs and the surrounding area nicely. Alex is working crazy hours, Susan has set up an art studio and Emma has made friends in the park - everything is moving along smoothly. Until a tiny speck of blood appears on Susan's pillowcase one morning. Bedbugs! The thought crosses her mind rather fleetingly, but she pushes it away and chalks up the stain to paint. However, strange things begin to happen that start to make Susan think that maybe her house isn't as bug-free as she had thought. As the story progresses, bites are discovered, exterminators are called, accusations are thrown and a family is torn apart. Oh, and some pretty creepy stuff begins to happen that makes you wonder if the house is haunted or if Susan is possessed and doesn't even know it. You even start to wonder about the old handyman who takes care of the property and the dotty old landlady, whose moods shift at the drop of a hat. Now, I'm not going to provide any more details, except to say that the ending will definitely leave you SURPRISED - and feeling itchy all over. Bedbugs was a good, fun, and creepy read. The writing was solid, the storyline current and the characters were caricatures of people you probably know in real life (so they were interesting to read about) - overall a good book to have on a rainy fall day. You will not be disappointed!

[agnesmack · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In a word, Bedbugs was flawless. I loved every frightening and overwhelming page. The marketing fellow at Quirk Books was kind enough to send me an advance copy and thank goodness he did because I would likely have missed this book, which will certainly go down as one of my favorites of the year. The story is simple yet full of twists and turns. A young family moves into an apartment in Brooklyn Heights, NY that seems too good to be true. And so, of course, it is. The characters were authentic, the pacing was impeccable and the scary bits were, well, scary! Part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much is because I've been reading a lot of contemporary novels recently and have been struck by how many authors try way, way too hard to write a sort of modern hipster character. They do so by just throwing in random, misplaced and often downright irrelevant cultural references in or quote some hipster author or hipster film and god damn does that get on my nerves. Mr. Winters is clearly an actual hipster, or has at least spent time in actual hipster habitats, because he managed to write a totally believable, spot-on novel that feels authentically modern. The characters shop at Trader Joes and Ikea, they're constantly messing around on their iPhones and for goodness sake there is a cat named Catastrophe! It really did work though and had an honest, natural vibe that I do believe will stand the test of time.Overall, this novel was crisp, original and terrifying. I would recommend it to the non-faint-of-heart but a warning: it'll make you want to burn your bedding.

[roydknight · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If anything related to "bugs" repulses you, then I would advise you NOT to read this book! Then again, it would probably make for a wonderful page-turning, nail-biting, terrifying experience.Young family moves into a ridiculously low-rent apartment complete with eccentric, but affable, landlady. Previous tenants had "left" in a hurry (or course, they did!) and now what with reports of bedbug infestations in the news, is it any wonder that Susan Wendt has early suspicions that they might have bedbugs, too? But then how come she is the ONLY one to see them or to have mysterious bites?Author Ben Winters does a wonderful job of keeping the reader asking questions (like a mystery writer would) and turning page after page in looking for explanations and answers. Pretty soon Susan isn't the only one who thinks she might be crazy. As a reader I thought I was losing it at some instances.A very good read!

[ken1952 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm still itchin' and scratchin' after reading this creepy horror novel set in a New York brownstone...possibly located near Guy and Rosemary Woodhouse's place. Strange things certainly happen in those old New York apartments. Oof! I started the novel this morning as I waited in my foot doctor's office, continued reading it when I stopped for lunch, read it while I waited for a friend at the movie theatre and finished it tonight. Ben Winters sets quite the mood and certainly gave me my share of shivers. What's that red welt on your cheek? Could it be....a bedbug bite? Agggghhhhh!

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is basically a ghost story, except with bedbugs. Young family moves in new place with weird landlord; the mother begins to suspect something is very wrong, something only she can perceive. Set in Brooklyn, it capitalizes on the worst fear of the privileged; there is even an exterminator to the stars. The over-the-top tone worked for this short novel, which echoed the tropes and the hint of shlock of some of my favorite 1970s horror stories.