book cover of The Fire Ants
 

The Fire Ants

(1976)
A novel by

 
 
Scottsville, a small farming community in the Deep South, sits in a valley overlooked by the Colonnade, a lavish holiday retreat for wealthy city folk personally invited by mega-rich Senator Walker Coley. When the fire-ants arrive in their millions, destroying the impoverished peasants crops, Coley's response is to barricade the Colonnade and beef up security. His main man in this department is Billy Joe Wyatt, a local lad made good and, unbeknown to his employer, a psychopathic killer. Resentment festers among the farmers, reaching a peak when young Callie Ricketts is devoured by the ants during the inevitable al fresco sex session with her boyfriend (who, miraculously survives). After consulting the Good Book, Evangelist nutter Reverend Luke Coxey, founder of the Repentance Church of Christ the Redeemer, addresses his bereaved congregation with the news that Callie's death was due to "fornication" and, therefore, thoroughly deserved. Also, God in His infinite wisdom has cursed the valley with this Biblical plague of Fire-Ants on account of their corruption by those sinners up at the Colonnade.



Used availability for Saul Wernick's The Fire Ants


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