Ellery Adams talks Invasive Species: Horror in the Neighborhood
There’s a monster in the neighborhood. And she lives next door. But who are the real monsters among them?
Think Stranger Things meets Circe with a dash of Desperate Housewives.
“I’ve always written about violence and the impact a violent death has on a small community—what’s different here is that the violence has more teeth and there is a supernatural element that I haven’t added to previous books.”
After like 40 mysteries, bestselling author Ellery Adams jumps in a bold new direction with her neighborhood monster novel Invasive Species. For much of her writing career, she’s explored how the power of women’s relationships can change a community for the better—but now they’re struggling with a world of mythology, fantasy, and folklore horror.
Adams talked to Monster Complex® about Invasive Species—including what inspired her to stretch in this new direction, why it carries a lot of the same weight as her regular fiction, and how it draws on her own childhood memories.
About Invasive Species
Set in 1982 Cold Harbor, on Long Island, New York, Invasive Species centers on four women living in a waterfront community. These women are doing everything in their power to be perfect wives, mothers, co-workers and friends.
As the pressure of their busy and competitive lifestyles increases, it becomes more challenging to tamp down their simmering rage. What if there was a manifestation of that collective frustration in the form of an ancient, terrifying, mythological female sea monster, with tentacles and all?
In Invasive Species, the monster is disguised as an agoraphobic woman named Mrs. Smith, who lives in a family-centered neighborhood in a crumbling mansion on the hill. But as the rest of Cold Harbor sinks into anger, fear, and jealousy, the townspeople will be forced to confront the question: Who are the real monsters among them?
Author Clay McLeod Chapman (Wake Up and Open Your Eyes) calls Invasive Species “a beautiful, brackish blend of monstrous mythology and domestic drama.” And says we “should consider it The Real Housewives of Eldritch Horror.”
Ellery Adams talks to Monster Complex®
Invasive Species is such an exhilarating mashup of all kinds of stuff: Author Ellery Adams mixes her own personal history with mythology and horror stories and feminism and scary neighbors (and probably even more).
“When I started writing Invasive Species, I knew it would be based on my childhood and that it would feature a female monster as well as a healthy dose of suburban drama,” Adams tells Monster Complex®. “But nothing about the early drafts came easily. It went through many versions before I really allowed myself the freedom to give Mrs. Smith the level of complexity I wanted her to have while also exploring how thwarted hopes and dreams can turn a human into something monstruous.”
The author knew it was going to be set in her hometown in 1982—because she wanted to include an over-the-top bar mitzvah. (She attended a few as a kid).
“Twelve and thirteen are tough ages for kids,” she says. “I definitely wanted a coming-of-age element to this book. It’s one of the things I’ve always loved about Stephen King novels—he writes kids so well.”
Adams wanted to feature two kids who wouldn’t normally hang out and have them thrown together by sinister circumstances.
“They see dangers no one else sees. I always wanted the youngest and the oldest characters to be the heroes. Everyone else is too distracted by their own stuff to recognize the threat right under their noses.”
As primarily an author of mysteries, this horror novel is Adams stretching way out of her normal zone as an author. But Invasive Species is still infused with the same amount of heart she puts into her mystery novels.
“I’ve always written about violence and the impact a violent death has on a small community—and in that way, this book is no different,” she says. “What’s different here is that the violence has more teeth and there is a supernatural element that I haven’t added to previous books.”
The complex female characters will be very recognizable to her current readers. That said, she admits that the new novel is definitely darker than anything she’s written before.
“I’ve seen reviewers comp it as Circe meets Stranger Things and I love that comparison,” Adams says. “Throw in a helping of Desperate Housewives and that’s my book. Anyone who likes those comps will enjoy this read.”
But what about her current readers who don’t like monster stories?
“I would say that Invasive Species is the perfect gateway book to the horror genre,” she says. “It’s not a jump-scare type of book.”
The dread slowly builds as the novel unfolds, she says. But the dread is balanced out by moments of tenderness or levity between the characters. There are funny scenes and campy scenes. There are themes that will make readers pause to think.
“And running through it all is the delightful throwback to the 1980s,” Adams says. “With bike trips to the library and lots of time spent in nature and the outdoors. The time period is also important because the slogans of the day were telling women that they can ‘have it all,’ but was that true? Is it true now? What is the price a woman pays balancing family, career, a home, health, beauty, social graces, and ladylike behavior? That kind of pressure did (and does) cause fissures in relationships.”
Of course, Mrs. Smith isn’t the only monster in this novel…
“I hope readers will identify the invasive species in the novel,” Adams says. “Is there more than one? I also hope they’ll reflect back on the characters they didn’t like and see them through a 1980s filter, especially the women. Above all else, I hope they are wildly entertained!”
Find Invasive Species online:
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There’s a monster in the neighborhood. And she lives next door. “Circe meets Stranger Things. Throw in a helping of Desperate Housewives and that’s my book.”