The once cutesy bedtime, tuck-in adage “Don’t let the bed bugs bite” becomes an actual warning to be heeded in Ben H. Winters latest novel “Bedbugs.”
The Wendts, a seemingly ideal New York couple with a toddler seek more family oriented digs outside of the city. While sporadically looking, the wife, Susan, sees an ad on Craigslist which she knows is too good to be true. The lure takes her, husband Alex and child Emma to Brooklyn Heights where they meet Andrea Scharfstein, the aging owner/landlord of the brownstone duplex in which she herself lives.
The Wendts fall in love with the seemingly perfect oasis that meets all their needs and move into 56 Cranberry Street #2. Shortly thereafter the invasion begins.
Bedbugs abound, yet only Susan seems to have any physical proof of their existence. No one in her family is in the least affected, except of course by her progressively disturbing behavior as she claims to being eaten alive by the beasts. A professional is consulted (Dana Kaufman, exterminator to the stars) on the recommendation of her best friend Jenna and after thorough examination declares the home clean. Yet Susan is still getting bitten.
Susan spirals downward into what appears to be a nervous breakdown all the while putting tremendous strain on the marriage, which turns out may not be so perfect after all. In the process of attempting to uncover the bedbugs (no pun intended) a mystery of the previous tenants comes to the fore along with the revelation that Andrea’s husband had shot his own head off in the basement. All is not Mayberry on Cranberry.
This is a somewhat moody piece, with a tad of suspense, some horror but mostly psychological thriller. It purposely leads the reader down the road of the supernatural but ends up in a different place entirely… or does it?
If you don’t like creepy crawlies this story is not for you. Real or imagined the descriptions and manifestations of the bed bugs in the life of the Wendt’s as written is tangible and disturbing-though let’s be honest the mere mention of bedbugs is enough to make my skin crawl.
The relationship between the Alex and Susan are believable and a good job is done of fleshing out of their characters. Alex is the hard working, Top Chef loving, supportive husband who, though patient definitely has the affinity to escape home trouble via work. Susan is a loving mother and wife trying to uncover the artist-self she had set aside to be a responsible professional, as well as wife then mother. Though she has the support of her husband, it is her own sense of inadequacy which ultimately helps drive this story and her descent into, well, hell with bedbugs.
The somewhat stereotyped landlord, Angela Scharfstein, is more than reminiscent of Minnie Castavet from Rosemary’s Baby, an intrusive landlady/neighbor who is quirky with something odd lurking beneath the surface. Though a fun image, it is a tad cliché (of course I too am a landlord, and being in no way like Minnie or Angela, perhaps I am somewhat biased). We also are given Louis the oafish, elderly handy man who could be an axe murderer lurking along with a few other characters who add color as well as help drive some of the action.
Though other clichés emerge during the unfolding and unraveling of the lives of the Wendt’s during their battle of bedbug infestation, “Bedbugs” ultimately delivers a fun ride of psychological suspense peppered with some horror. It’s a compelling read and kept me turning the pages even though, being an apartment manager, at first I wanted to put it down with the apt description of the Wendt’s hunt for a new apartment. Just having “Craigslist” in the first few pages ilicited a visceral response from me. I guess therefore I can credit the writer Ben H. Winters as doing a good job.
Though the subject matter is not whimsy, there is something easy and simple about this story. Pretty straightforward with a decent reveal, “Bedbugs” is worth a look. Just don’t read it in bed.
