It happened ... because of THE PLANTS! Author Kenneth McKenney delivers a very English apocalypse in the classic vein of Wyndham and Roberts, wherein some cosmic quirk overturns our complacency in our not-so-solid civilization. Here it's in the small village of Brandling, nestled in the southern country of Somerset. Place is always important in these English affairs - Brandling isn't too far away from the Mendip Hills where Keith Roberts' survivors take shelter in The Furies. It's a sleepy sort of town, with but a single pub and no traffic to speak of save the locals, fixed in lifelong circuits, wearing ruts through the social space of Brandling.
As Brandling's citizens go about their days as best they can, numbed by the record breaking heat, a riot of life is growing around them. Some are overjoyed at the profligate growth of their roses and gardens, some are irritated at the explosion of weeds and thorns, but all anyone can really do at first is make small talk in the pub. Until Charlie Crump smashes up his own prize winning squash in a fit of drunken paranoia. And then old Ted Wilkes finds Charlie's crumpled body lodged in a rose bush. And then something pulls the phone lines down, leaving the town cut off. And then suddenly the patrons in The Bunch of Grapes have a lot more to talk about.
Some of the more straightforward urgency of McKenney's volcano thriller The Fire Cloud might have been helpful here, as he's maybe a little too effective at conjuring the anesthetizing atmosphere of the dog days of summer. The feeling is enough to put you to sleep at times, and THE PLANTS themselves are in no hurry, moving at their own alien, inexorable pace. The result is honestly a bit of a bore! We know where things are going, we know something is wrong in Brandling, so just get on with it! Our human characters finally get with the program and piece together the plan of the plants: coexistence, at a price. McKenney's a strong writer and the conclusion of the story is satisfactory, but it feels like we took an afternoon snooze in the middle.
The cover blurb doesn't help things, as this is more of a thoughtful science fiction piece than outright horror. The Plants earn 2/4 for their rather languid assault on humanity.
Golden Apple Books, 1984 (original pub 1976)
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