First came the news that a flying saucer had landed in Iowa. Then came the announcement that the whole thing was a hoax. End of story. Case closed.
Except that two agents of the most secret intelligence agency in the US government were on the scene and disappeared without reporting in. And four more agents who were sent in also disappeared. So the head of the agency and his two top agents went in and managed to get out with their discovery: an invasion is underway by slug-like aliens who can touch a human and completely control his or her mind. What the humans know, they know. What the slugs want, no matter what, the human will do. And most of Iowa is already under their control.
Sam Cavanaugh was one of the agents who discovered the truth. Unfortunately, that was just before he was taken over by one of the aliens and began working for the invaders, with no will of his own. And he has just learned that a high official in the Treasury Department is now under control of the aliens. Since the Treasury Department includes the Secret Service, which safeguards the President of the United States, control of the entire nation is near at hand.
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"Robert Heinlein writes an excellent sci fi story, but also just a darn good page turner. The movie wasn't a classic, but my daughter and I still enjoy watching. The book is great, with gritty secret agent battling invading aliens and protecting his family. Great. "
— Bill (5 out of 5 stars)
" Vintage Heinlein. "
— Stefan, 1/31/2014" Awkwardly written and a bit unbelievable at points.. Operation Sun Tan (weird!). I just saw the movie with Donald Sutherland playing the old man. It was a pretty good rendition...glad they left out some of the sillier aspects of the book. "
— Lori, 1/31/2014" Typical Heinlein fodder. I liked it, but his books are kinda always about a guy with a gun shootin' up the enemy and beating the arrogant scientists and smug pen-pushers and getting the girl (who is always just as tough, muscular and no-nonsense as him, until they get married five minutes after meeting, at which point she becomes a giggling squealing bunny who says "Yes dear" a lot). Not bad. "
— Corinne, 1/17/2014" Interesting premise, but difficult to stay engaged beyond the first hundred pages. Heinlein escalates the plot too early, and then doesn't give enough ebb and flow; the war simply keeps dragging on with little progress. The interactions between the two lead protagonists are entertaining, but about halfway through the book the female becomes painfully two-dimensional. "
— Phebe, 1/16/2014" I did an oral report on this in 8th grade. The teacher laughed at the complicated plot, and my attempts to summarize it! "
— elissa, 1/12/2014" One of my favourite Heinleins, although maybe not a 'classic'. "
— Nell, 1/12/2014" Kill slugs wherever they may be "
— Jonathan, 1/5/2014" Well, this book have something that we have to fear but we don't. Description of captured mind does't sound something unusual it feels more like a hard medical procedure, not more. And emotions of heroes kind of a unnatural. They look like puppets. "
— Ivan, 12/31/2013" Sci Fi: slug-like monsters take over human bodies and want to run the world. Fun. "
— Patty, 12/23/2013" Read as eBook. Interesting "alien invasion" concept; good main characters (Sam, Mary, Old Man). "
— David, 11/27/2013" Everyday xenophobia and fear of foreign invasion is writ large in this novel where aliens attached themselves to humans and take control of their minds. More right wing fodder from Heinlein. "
— Caleb, 7/30/2013Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) is widely recognized as one of the greatest science fiction authors of all time, a status confirmed in 1974 when the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America gave him their first Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement. A four-time Hugo Award winner, he is best known for such works as Starship Troopers, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, and the sensational bestseller Stranger in a Strange Land. Several of his books were New York Times bestsellers, and his worldwide bestsellers have been translated into twenty-two languages.
Bronson Pinchot, Audible’s Narrator of the Year for 2010, has won Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Awards, AudioFile Earphones Awards, Audible’s Book of the Year Award, and Audie Awards for several audiobooks, including Matterhorn, Wise Blood, Occupied City, and The Learners. A magna cum laude graduate of Yale, he is an Emmy- and People’s Choice-nominated veteran of movies, television, and Broadway and West End shows. His performance of Malvolio in Twelfth Night was named the highlight of the entire two-year Kennedy Center Shakespeare Festival by the Washington Post. He attended the acting programs at Shakespeare & Company and Circle-in-the-Square, logged in well over 200 episodes of television, starred or costarred in a bouquet of films, plays, musicals, and Shakespeare on Broadway and in London, and developed a passion for Greek revival architecture.