A.J. Colucci, a veteran newspaper reporter, editor and now full-time novelist, became a sci-fi star with her first novel, The Colony, a page-turner about an army of vicious mega-ants bent on destroying New York City. In her second novel, Seeders (St. Martins Press), the baddies are plants rather than pests.
The story begins on fictional Sparrow Island in Canada, where reclusive botanist George Brookes endures a series of mysterious attacks until jumping off a cliff to his death. When his daughter, Isabelle, learns of his death, she travels to the island with her three teenagers. There they meet a fellow botanist, Jules Beecher, who is obsessed with George’s research and the circumstances of his death. A fierce storm hits just as Beecher discovers George may have achieved a great scientific breakthrough: communication between humans and plants. Things go awry when a giant storm hits. The island, it seems, has a mind of its own.
Colucci, a Mahwah resident, creates a horrifying alternative reality while exploring the nature of human courage and maternal bonds. Ultimately, Seeders serves as an ominous yet thrilling reminder of how little power we have in the face of nature’s whims.