Seeders by A. J. Colucci - Novel Review

Isabelle finds out that her father, the reclusive biologist George Brookes has died, and she is mentioned in his will.  But she has to visit his remote Canadian island in order to attend the reading of the will.

Not only does she go, against the will of her overbearing husband, but she takes her two sons, and a random teenage girl along.

Once ariving she finds out she's not the only one on the island.

For a couple of weeks she will be staying on the island with an old lover of her father's  as well as one of his students.

Jules Beeches, also a plant scientist, finds out that Dr. Brookes had been making great strides in plant biological study.  In fact, he might have found a way to COMMUNICATE with plants.

Jules become obsessed with the journal George Brookes left behind, while Isabelle is beginning to think that there might be something much more sinister on the island and the teenagers run around doing the things that teenagers do on isolated islands in horror novels.

My Thoughts

(possible spoilers, proceed with caution)

The cover of Seeders promised the book to be "Gripping and Brilliantly original." (Douglas Preston)

I did find it gripping, other than when Jules would go into scientific talk.  But I didn't find it that original.

As far as seemingly intelligent hostile plants go I think I prefer Scott Smith's "The Ruins" and it even at times brought to mind Shyamalan's movie The Happening.

As the boat left our little group on the spooky deserted island, I was thinking, "Well, Scooby and Shaggy should show up any moment."

I was disapointed in our protaganist.  For a supposedly smart woman she went though much of the novel acting very stupid.  I kept expecting some kind of growth from her, but there really was none.

The secondary characters of Ginny and Monica were pointless.  Well, not entirely pointless.  Monica (a teenage girl that Isabelle's husband had invited to live with them after her prostitute mother was arrested) had to come along or else the elder son would not have anyone to fall in love with.

However, while being somewhat generic in plot, I was still brought into the story.  I kept reading it, thinking that the island plants might somehow "cure" Isabelle's youngest son, who LOVED plants and seemed to be autistic (though his mental problems came after he fell out of a tree when he was younger.)

I also wanted to find out the truth.  Was George Brookes a drug addled mad scientist.  Did he really find a way to communicated with plants?  What is up with all the fungus on the island?

So, I did rate this novel 4 out of 5 stars because I was fully entertained when reading it, though I did see some plot twists coming from miles away.

I would recommend this novel for anyone wanting an entertaining read, but not for someone who is looking for a novel in the intelligence range of Crichton.

You can purchase Seeders  from Amazon, inhardcover or kindle, or you can listen to it FREE with audible.

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About the Author

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