Genre: Fiction—Science Fiction
Completed: 4 December 2015
Summary & Review:
When several agents of America’s most secret intelligence service go missing while investigating reports of a flying saucer, Sam Cavanaugh, fellow agent Mary, and the Old Man—the head of the service—travel to Iowa to find out what happened. What they discover chills them to the bone: a flying saucer has indeed landed there in Iowa and its payload was an alien species capable of attaching to a human host and controlling everything they do. Will they be able to root out the alien parasite before humanity becomes nothing more than puppets?
This is the second Heinlein book I’ve read, and the second one I’ve really enjoyed. Even though the plot can seem a little dated—flying saucers aren’t really in vogue anymore—the themes were just as relevant now as they were when the book was published in 1951. The action was consistent throughout the novel and there were plenty of twists and turn to keep it exciting. Science Fiction is becoming one of my favorite genres as of late. I love the typically optimistic outlook many of the authors have about humanity and progress. The books often have what appear to be insurmountable problems facing the protagonists but they find a way using human ingenuity, grit, courage, and luck. It’s a nice change of pace from reality where it come often feel like things are just hopeless and we’ll never see improvement. Not so in Science Fiction. There is always hope and a brighter tomorrow to come. As Sam is dashing off to fight the slugs, despite huge odds against him and perhaps even certain death, he states, “I feel exhilarated. Puppet masters—the free men are coming to kill you! Death and Destruction!”
Additionally, this edition of the book came with an excellent afterword by the author Sarah Hoyt. She explored the importance of individual freedom and liberty and had excellent insights regarding the current war on Islamic terrorism. Sample quote, “And eventually it convinced me of the validity of this American idea that right and might reposes in the individual. Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, every man born equal—I wonder if people who grew up with it from birth realize how crazy, how revolutionary, how outrageous these ideas are.” Well, I know our current president doesn’t get it. After the horrendous Islamic terrorist attack that recently occurred in Paris, he said that those ideas, i.e. freedom and personal liberty, were universal values. Um…not so much. Those are values pushed forth by a tiny slice of humanity during a microscopic window of history. We cannot assume the freedoms we love will always just be there if we don’t defend them.
Rating: 8.0
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