Mourners' Web

“You say ‘giant spider’ like it’s a bad thing.”

Dr. Kate Mangold never let doubters discourage her admiration for the j’ba fofi, legendary man-eating spiders of the Congolese jungle. She spent years tracking down specimens to rescue from extinction. To begin their relocation to a safe new habitat, Kate chose North America’s most haunted forest, Mourners’ Woods. Shunned for centuries, this isolated wilderness would let these rare spiders secretly thrive — and multiply.

Now Kate has hired nature guide Olivia “Oblivious” Tack to escort her back into Mourners’ Woods to inspect the results. But this experiment has worked too well. J’ba fofi spiders have conquered Mourners’ Woods, depleted native wildlife, destroyed nature’s equilibrium, and now devour anyone who trespasses into their domain.

Can Oblivious and Kate escape the giant spiders of Mourners’ Woods alive? Will Kate’s misguided project save one endangered species by ravaging our ecosystem? Can Oblivious restore balance to nature by exterminating these invasive monsters? Will Kate let her try? Or will this heartland wilderness die under one great silken shroud to become Mourners’ Web?