Book Review: The Invaders: Alien Missile Threat by Paul S. Newman
The Invaders was a Quinn Martin production that ran on American television from 1967-1968. Architect David Vincent (Roy Thinnes) discovers that aliens from a dying planet are infiltrating Earth (particularly America) in human disguises for the purpose of making our planet their planet. Since the aliens controlled technology that allowed them to hypnotize humans and erase their memories, and their bodies and anything alien they were touching disintegrated when they were killed, evidence and reliable witnesses were hard to come by. Thus Mr. Vincent’s battle against the invaders was a lonely one.
Like many Sfnal television series, there were tie-in books. “Alien Missile Threat” is a trifle unusual in that it’s a Big Little Book. Big Little Books were marketed to children by the Whitman publishing company. Four inches long, three inches long, and about an inch thick, the chunky volumes were almost all tie-ins to other media. Each page of text would be faced with a full page illustration, making it feel like a comic book with extra writing.
In this volume, David Vincent connects an explosion in space to a report of strange metal having fallen from the sky in the American Southwest. That metal was found by engineer Steven Brent, but when he unlocks his shed to show it to Mr. Vincent, it’s missing! When they attempt to report the theft to the local police, an Officer Gort(!) shows up, and Mr. Brent is suddenly saying that he made up the find as a publicity stunt.
David investigates the crash site and determines to his own satisfaction that there was indeed something alien there, and the invaders try to murder him, showing they’re in the area. He makes contact with Mrs. Brent, who’s noticed that Steven has been acting oddly.
It’s soon apparent that the aliens have further use for Mr. Brent. David and Mrs. Brent investigate, learn of the upcoming plan to launch missiles (at what is never made clear), free Mr. Brent of the brainwashing, and thwart the plan. Naturally, all evidence that the aliens were there is destroyed. Mrs. Brent suffers traumatic amnesia, and while Mr. Brent now believes David’s story about the invaders, he decides the best option is to remain mum to avoid a second visit.
The human disguises of the aliens are imperfect; the fact that they can’t bend their pinky fingers is mentioned several times. (In the television series other giveaways are not bleeding and lower-ranked aliens not being able to mimic human emotions.)
This may be a book aimed at children with simple language, but it reflects the adult nature of the source material. Not only do many aliens die, but the narrative doesn’t shy away from the fact that the invaders are trying to kill Mr. Vincent. Officer Gort succeeds in killing the police chief to keep him from interfering.
One touch I especially liked was that the author (who also wrote for the Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom series) allowed the fact that David Vincent is an architect be more than just a biographical detail. David admires the lines of the Brents’ home, mentions that he once designed a laboratory building, and uses his knowledge of Native American architecture to evade capture at one point.
The art is so-so, but does a nice job of complementing the text.
As a tie-in book, it can’t really change anything, but due to the heavily episodic nature of the television show, that just makes it fit in fine and you can easily slot the story in anywhere in the first season.
Not great literature by any means, but a fun collector’s item for the fan of classic science fiction television shows.
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