Bedbugs: A Novel of Infestation

FOR RENT: Top two floors of beautifully renovated brownstone, 1300 sq. ft., 2BR 2BA, eat-in kitchen, one block to parks and playgrounds. No broker's fee.

Susan and Alex Wendt have found their dream apartment.

Sure, the landlady is a little eccentric. And the elderly handyman drops some cryptic remarks about the basement. But the rent is so low, it's too good to pass up.

Big mistake. Susan soon discovers that her new home is crawling with bedbugs . . . or is it? She awakens every morning with fresh bites, but neither Alex nor their daughter Emma has a single welt. An exterminator searches the property and turns up nothing. The landlady insists her building is clean. Susan fears she's going mad--until a more sinister explanation presents itself: she may literally be confronting the bedbug problem from Hell.

Ben H. Winters was nominated for an Edgar Award for his novel The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman. He is also the author of the New York Times best seller Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. He lives with his wife and children in Boston.