Horsefly
Canadian authors (Fiction), Science fiction, Ghost and horror stories, Serious and literary fiction
Human-transcribed braille
Summary
A chilling tale about what happens when we mess with nature. In 1942, a young entomologist, Thomas, is sent on a secret mission to a remote island to work on biological weapons for the Allied military. The scientists live like… prisoners while they look for the perfect carrier for anthrax among the island's many insects, trying at the same time to keep the local population in the dark. Until one of the islanders becomes ill. Eight decades later, in 2025, in the same region of Quebec, a heat wave unleashes horrendous swarms of horseflies, while humans fall prey to strange flights of rage and violence. Theodore is living a simple life, working double shifts at the factory and drinking to forget, when a horsefly bite stirs him from his apathy and he impulsively kidnaps from the nursing home his grandfather Émeril, whose dementia has him living in the past during the Grosse Ile biological weapons experiments. The two men end up on that same remote island, digging into the past. The horsefly, meanwhile, knows a few secrets... Loosely based on historical fact, Horsefly is a terrifying tale about the ways in which we try to dominate nature, and how nature will, inevitably, wreak retribution upon us.