Invasion of the Body Snatchers: A Novel

This was first published as a short story in 1954 'Collier's' magazine, then expanded into a novel in 1955. This is the 1978 version. It was made into a film in 1956, 1978, and in 2007. A good story bears repeating, like those 'James Bond' films.

Dr. Miles Bennell, M.D. practices in Mill Valley California. His father has a successful practice in this town. Late at night Becky Driscoll asks him to talk to her cousin Wilma, who believes her Uncle Ira is somehow "different". Becky was his teenage girlfriend. Miles was married and divorced at age 28. Doctor Miles can see nothing strange in retired Ira Lentz. But Wilma, a middle-aged spinster, is convinced he is an impostor. Dr. Miles tells Wilma it is impossible for two people to look exactly alike, even identical twins can be identified by close friends. Wilma's belief must be wrong. Wilma says the difference is in the emotions. Aunt Aleda has also changed. Dr. Miles suggests a psychiatrist.

The next morning Dr. Miles has a patient who ways her husband was somehow different. Over the next couple of days five more patients arrive with the same complaint. He learns another doctor has patients with the same complaint. How can nine people suddenly and simultaneously acquire identical delusions? Then Dr. Miles makes a house call. There is a strange object on a table in the basement! [The title gives away the secret.] Even if you think you know how it turns out you'll still find this novel very interesting. You can compare this novel to the filmed versions. Chapter Seven has a lesson on mass hysteria, or the unreliability of eyewitnesses. (You may figure out the reasons behind this lecture!) Chapter Eight warns about believing in strange stories printed in a newspaper. [They had weekly tabloids in those days.]

There are some false notes. People living in a rural area would likely have a dog; their keen sense of smell might detect differences in a person. People would have firearms handy. A small-town doctor who was divorced would be an oddity in 1955. Can a telephone call to Washington solve a local problem? One big problem is disposing of the bodies of the replaced people. That is always a problem in the real world. It would also be unusual for a doctor to have a separate office from his home in the 1950s. The most difficult problem is the physical impossibility of a vegetable to become an ambulatory animal. H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" had a better ending. This novel would be better if the aliens were damaged by the pollution in the air, water, and earth. "It's only a story."

Dr Miles Bennell, a general practitioner in a quiet California town, notices a strange psychological epidemic. People begin believing that their loved ones aren't really their loved ones. And then he finds the seed pods...

This is a brilliant suspense thriller from the 1950s. I listened to the audiobook performed by Kristoffer Tabori, published by Blackstone Audio [and available here under the "Audio CD" edition]. Tabori was the perfect narrator: he really made the story come alive. I couldn't put my mp3 player down! And to boot, Tabori's father directed the original film and the audiobook includes an interesting interview at the end with Tabori about his father's film.

I listened to this during a business trip to Brazil and it was perfect escape listening. Only at one point did the characters make a ludicrous decision (like when people split up in horror movies); incidentally that part was cut from the original movie. And in this "updated" version, the date of the action is moved to the 1970s, even though it seems little else is updated, including the gender roles which feel very 1950s. The ending was a little quick; I had to listen to it twice to catch all that happened, and even so I have a couple of questions. But if you can handle that, What a ride! I loved this and immediately sent off for the 1950s movie. Highly recommended: the funnest audiobook I've listened to in months!

Note on potentially objectionable content: a smattering of "light" profanity, 1950s gender roles, and it's Very Scary.

Everyone knows about the movie adaptation of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" -- pod people, creepy takeover, lots of suspense. While the movie was good, the original novel is perhaps a more enjoyable story -- a creepy, tense novel that raises some intriguing questions about human nature.

Dr. Miles Bennell receives an odd patient from his old ex-girlfriend Becky: Her cousin Wilma is making bizarre claims about her relatives. She claims that while they look, talk, dress and act just like Uncle Ira and Aunt Aleda, they are fakes. Miles talks with Wilma, but she doesn't show any typical signs of insanity. What's more, other people are insisting similar things about their friends and family -- that they seem just the same, but that they aren't themselves.

Then things get more complicated. Miles's pal Jack and his wife Theodora have an "unfinished" person in their basement, a never-been-alive-and-not-living-now human being that is slowly turning into a duplicate of the real person. Growing out of alien pods that have migrated to our planet, the pod people are slowly and seductively working over the town -- and they will soon have the entire world.

This now-classic SF book was published in the 1950s, before the advent of space opera and Star Wars. (It also has a noteworthy resemblance to Robert Heinlein's "Puppet Masters," a similar book published four years before) Finney's book can be a bit dated in places -- for example the female characters are kind of wimpy -- they tend to get hysterical and follow the level-headed manly men. Fortunately these flaws are few and far between.

The writing and dialogue are solid, not outstanding, but pretty good. It does raise some interesting questions about human nature: In one scene, Miles is offered a life without strife by the pod people, and quickly turns it around to reveal that not only would a world of pod people be doomed, but also would have no drive, no enjoyment, no real living as we know it. It would all be bland, with no suffering but also no pleasure. Finney's writing is probably at its peak there, especially given the cold, pleasant attitude of the pod people -- no mustache-twirling and cackling for these villains.

As with many first-person narrators, Miles is not a fantastic character, but he does develop a certain strength and intelligence as the story goes on. Writer pal Jack is a bit more interesting -- I wonder if he was a sort of alter ego for Finney. Becky and Theodora have secondary roles, but are nevetherless fairly good. All other supporting characters, unfortunately, are pretty forgettable.

Though the movie deviated strongly from the book, fans of that film might want to check the origjnal story out anyway. Interesting and pretty well-written, especially for fans of horror/SF.

This is a wonderfully inventive story that has spawned three films. Well written, the book tells the tale of a small town through the eyes of its young doctor, Miles Bennell. It seems the town is undergoing a drastic change which is as subtle as it is deadly. It seems that all the townspeople are not what they seem. They look the same. They sound the same. Their memories are intact. Still, they are just not the same.

Those who have noticed this, suddenly end up retracting their concerns days later. Something is not right in the town of Mills Valley, and Dr, Bennell knows it. Those large seed pods that are suddenly showing up every where are at the root of it. Their unearthly presence is connected to the profound changes that the people of Mills Valley are undergoing, and Dr. Bennell will stop at nothing to save his beloved town and the world from the invasion of the body snatchers.

This is a great story by a wonderfully inventive writer. Jack Finney is a masterful story teller. He expertly weaves a tale that will keep the reader riveted to the pages of this book. It is no wonder that three films based upon this book have been made, "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), and Body Snatchers (1994). All three are worth watching.

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is one of those novels that have become part of popular culture. This is due more to the fact that three movie adaptations have been filmed (by Don Siegel in 1956, Philip Kaufman in 1978, and Abel Ferrara in 1993), than it has to do with the overall quality of the novel itself. Surprisingly, given the B-movie theme, INVASION remains quite an entertaining read.
The plot is far too well-known to bother repeating here. Suffice to say, people in a small town are being replaced with exact duplicates. Or are they? We all know the answer by now, but I won't ruin the surprise for those four people who don't know the ending.
I think the reason this works so well is that the story never stops moving. It propels the characters along, not pausing for more than a cursory examination of their backgrounds. Which makes it ideal fodder for a movie. It reminds me of Stephen King's self-review of his novel THE RUNNING MAN. It may not be perfect, or subtle, but it MOVES.
Granted, it is not perfect. Its examination of male/female relations seen slightly dated. The lead character makes conclusions that seem reasonable when you know the ending, but implausible when you don't.
But the sense of paranoia is very real. The slow death of the town is eerie and palpable (I wouldn't be surprised if King has reread INVASION several times before penning his own ode to the death of a small town, SALEM'S LOT). And the ending actually is surprising, for people only familiar with the movies. All three movies have different endings, but the original is one that couldn't be explained to satisfaction on film. It would seem too abrupt. On the page, however, it is quite surprising. Even logical, which is a rare commodity for stories these days.
INVASION is by no means a masterpiece of literature. But it is a fine example of pure storytelling.

This is a wonderfully inventive story that has spawned three films. Well written, the book tells the tale of a small town through the eyes of its young doctor, Miles Bennell. It seems the town is undergoing a drastic change which is as subtle as it is deadly. It seems that all the townspeople are not what they seem. They look the same. They sound the same. Their memories are intact. Still, they are just not the same.

Those who have noticed this, suddenly end up retracting their concerns days later. Something is not right in the town of Mills Valley, and Dr, Bennell knows it. Those large seed pods that are suddenly showing up every where are at the root of it. Their unearthly presence is connected to the profound changes that the people of Mills Valley are undergoing, and Dr. Bennell will stop at nothing to save his beloved town and the world from the invasion of the body snatchers.

This is a great story by a wonderfully inventive writer. Jack Finney is a masterful story teller. He expertly weaves a tale that will keep the reader riveted to the pages of this book. It is no wonder that three films based upon this book have been made, "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), and Body Snatchers (1994). All three are worth watching.

This is a wonderfully inventive story that has spawned three films. Well written, the book tells the tale of a small town through the eyes of its young doctor, Miles Bennell. It seems the town is undergoing a drastic change which is as subtle as it is deadly. It seems that all the townspeople are not what they seem. They look the same. They sound the same. Their memories are intact. Still, they are just not the same.

Those who have noticed this, suddenly end up retracting their concerns days later. Something is not right in the town of Mills Valley, and Dr, Bennell knows it. Those large seed pods that are suddenly showing up every where are at the root of it. Their unearthly presence is connected to the profound changes that the people of Mills Valley are undergoing, and Dr. Bennell will stop at nothing to save his beloved town and the world from the invasion of the body snatchers.

This is a great story by a wonderfully inventive writer. Jack Finney is a masterful story teller. He expertly weaves a tale that will keep the reader riveted to the pages of this book. It is no wonder that three films based upon this book have been made, "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), and Body Snatchers (1994). All three are worth watching.

This is a wonderfully inventive story that has spawned three films. Well written, the book tells the tale of a small town through the eyes of its young doctor, Miles Bennell. It seems the town is undergoing a drastic change which is as subtle as it is deadly. It seems that all the townspeople are not what they seem. They look the same. They sound the same. Their memories are intact. Still, they are just not the same.

Those who have noticed this, suddenly end up retracting their concerns days later. Something is not right in the town of Mills Valley, and Dr, Bennell knows it. Those large seed pods that are suddenly showing up every where are at the root of it. Their unearthly presence is connected to the profound changes that the people of Mills Valley are undergoing, and Dr. Bennell will stop at nothing to save his beloved town and the world from the invasion of the body snatchers.

This is a great story by a wonderfully inventive writer. Jack Finney is a masterful story teller. He expertly weaves a tale that will keep the reader riveted to the pages of this book. It is no wonder that three films based upon this book have been made, "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), and Body Snatchers (1994). All three are worth watching.

This is a wonderfully inventive story that has spawned three films. Well written, the book tells the tale of a small town through the eyes of its young doctor, Miles Bennell. It seems the town is undergoing a drastic change which is as subtle as it is deadly. It seems that all the townspeople are not what they seem. They look the same. They sound the same. Their memories are intact. Still, they are just not the same.

Those who have noticed this, suddenly end up retracting their concerns days later. Something is not right in the town of Mills Valley, and Dr, Bennell knows it. Those large seed pods that are suddenly showing up every where are at the root of it. Their unearthly presence is connected to the profound changes that the people of Mills Valley are undergoing, and Dr. Bennell will stop at nothing to save his beloved town and the world from the invasion of the body snatchers.

This is a great story by a wonderfully inventive writer. Jack Finney is a masterful story teller. He expertly weaves a tale that will keep the reader riveted to the pages of this book. It is no wonder that three films based upon this book have been made, "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), and Body Snatchers (1994). All three are worth watching.

I listened to an audio version of Jack Finney’s 1955 novel "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" by Blackstone Audio. It’s a 2007 recording of the well known sci-fi story about inhabitants in a small town being absorbed one at a time by an insidious alien invasion of seed pods. Much of the novel is fast-paced. However, parts of the first-person narrative get bogged down in needless descriptive tedium, and the gender roles are dated. Kristoffer Tabori’s narration is very effective. Recommended.

Kelvin L. Reed
Author of "Guilt by Association"

This is a wonderfully inventive story that has spawned three films. Well written, the book tells the tale of a small town through the eyes of its young doctor, Miles Bennell. It seems the town is undergoing a drastic change which is as subtle as it is deadly. It seems that all the townspeople are not what they seem. They look the same. They sound the same. Their memories are intact. Still, they are just not the same.

Those who have noticed this, suddenly end up retracting their concerns days later. Something is not right in the town of Mills Valley, and Dr, Bennell knows it. Those large seed pods that are suddenly showing up every where are at the root of it. Their unearthly presence is connected to the profound changes that the people of Mills Valley are undergoing, and Dr. Bennell will stop at nothing to save his beloved town and the world from the invasion of the body snatchers.

This is a great story by a wonderfully inventive writer. Jack Finney is a masterful story teller. He expertly weaves a tale that will keep the reader riveted to the pages of this book. It is no wonder that three films based upon this book have been made, "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), and Body Snatchers (1994). All three are worth watching.

This is a wonderfully inventive story that has spawned three films. Well written, the book tells the tale of a small town through the eyes of its young doctor, Miles Bennell. It seems the town is undergoing a drastic change which is as subtle as it is deadly. It seems that all the townspeople are not what they seem. They look the same. They sound the same. Their memories are intact. Still, they are just not the same.

Those who have noticed this, suddenly end up retracting their concerns days later. Something is not right in the town of Mills Valley, and Dr, Bennell knows it. Those large seed pods that are suddenly showing up every where are at the root of it. Their unearthly presence is connected to the profound changes that the people of Mills Valley are undergoing, and Dr. Bennell will stop at nothing to save his beloved town and the world from the invasion of the body snatchers.

This is a great story by a wonderfully inventive writer. Jack Finney is a masterful story teller. He expertly weaves a tale that will keep the reader riveted to the pages of this book. It is no wonder that three films based upon this book have been made, "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), and Body Snatchers (1994). All three are worth watching.

2004 marks the 50th anniversary of this classic science fiction novel's publication, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers remains firmly entrenched in pop culture and continues to exert a significant influence on the writers and filmmakers of today. Everyone has heard of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, no less than three film adaptations of the story have been produced, and the book itself remains in print and will surely remain so for the foreseeable future. What makes this story so popular? The answer to this question isn't so simple. While I think the novel is a thoroughly good, gripping read, there are a few elements of the plot and premise that I find fault with. In the grand scheme of things, these issues have little impact on the story, but I do believe that Finney's novel is not perfect.
Of course, this is a story borne out of a culture of the 1950s seemingly obsessed (at least Hollywood was) with the idea of aliens coming to earth and, in most scenarios, arriving with hostile intentions. "Aliens attack" books and movies were a dime a dozen in those days, and most of them became variations on the same theme. The stories were new, but the ideas were well-established, going back at least as far as H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. Finney's premise was different than most, and it drew strength not only from its originality but from the political atmosphere of the time. America became quite paranoid in the decade after World War II; the Red Scare had many people observing their neighbors and associates and sometimes wondering if they might actually be Communists. America was preoccupied for some time with the dangers of an invisible, insidious threat within the nation's very midst. Invasion of the Body Snatchers played upon and drew from this type of internal self-doubt and paranoia, and I believe that is its true secret of success.
Finney's "aliens" didn't blast down from the heavens and immediately begin attacking human beings; instead, they arrived silently and secretly - in the very midst of what was unassuming, small-town America, in the form of giant pods. Reports of these pod landings were reported but largely ignored, allowing the spores of alien life to begin their work in secret. The material inside the pods could completely replicate any life form, and thus was born the first "changed" human being. This "new" person looked and acted completely like the original and went about living that person's normal, every day life. The number of changed individuals quickly grew as each day passed. A few people began to sense that one or more of their friends or loved ones was somehow different, but it was all but impossible to prove such a thing to themselves, let alone others. Dr. Miles Bennell, the story's narrator, spoke to several such patients and dismissed their claims as some sort of psychological delusions - at first. His eyes were opened to the truth only when a friend chanced upon a developing replacement body in his home, and by this time virtually the whole town had been changed. Bennell and three other "survivors" were alone, trapped among friends who were no longer themselves, and their growing paranoia soon metastasized into true fright.
What could be more unsettling than the fear that your neighbor, your co-worker, even your own spouse, parent, or child was no longer the person you had known all your life? Anyone and everyone was a potential threat, a secret agent conspiring with others to assimilate you, to rob you of everything you value most in life. External threats and the fears they invoke can be dealt with, set aside for short periods of time; nuclear attack is a horrifying nightmare, but it does not prevent you from leading your normal life in the present. The enemy within is always the most insidious threat, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers is the very embodiment of this most terrifying of fears.

This is an amazing book, especially if you think about when it was written. I know only read this book years ago but eagerly awaited the original movie. As I read the book once again, my feeling haven't changed. The author does an amazing job with a sneak peek into the possibility of not only invasion but of the conspiracy that would come with it. Intriguing!

An epidemic of a specific neurosis: all around you, people are claiming that their closest friends and relatives have been replaced by perfect impostors. They question their sanity. Then they recover. But you start to wonder, for a friend/family member seems a bit odd to you now... not like himself. You try to get help, but the roads out of the city are inexplicably worsening and your phone won't call out of the area. And then it hits you: THEY HAVE CONTROL...
This story has been retold many times (the 50's serial, book, and movie; the retellings of both in the 70's; and that God-awful 1992 movie). The pure HORROR of its concept is so universal that the term "body snatcher" is used worldwide. Beware the pods: there are places in YOUR house they might hide.
This novel is one of the best I've read. It combines decent (though sometimes stereotypical) characters with unbelievably tense action and story twists (not plot twists, though you might not be able to predict this one). The characters are believably human and the important loose ends are explained; Mr. Finney himself tells you that not all of them will be, which makes for an even better story.
If you haven't seen the 1978 movie with Donald Sutherland:
1. You MUST see it. Don't drink much beforehand.
2. Don't expect the same story as the book; in fact, they're two opposed tellings of a wonderful horror concept.

2004 marks the 50th anniversary of this classic science fiction novel's publication, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers remains firmly entrenched in pop culture and continues to exert a significant influence on the writers and filmmakers of today. Everyone has heard of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, no less than three film adaptations of the story have been produced, and the book itself remains in print and will surely remain so for the foreseeable future. What makes this story so popular? The answer to this question isn't so simple. While I think the novel is a thoroughly good, gripping read, there are a few elements of the plot and premise that I find fault with. In the grand scheme of things, these issues have little impact on the story, but I do believe that Finney's novel is not perfect.
Of course, this is a story borne out of a culture of the 1950s seemingly obsessed (at least Hollywood was) with the idea of aliens coming to earth and, in most scenarios, arriving with hostile intentions. "Aliens attack" books and movies were a dime a dozen in those days, and most of them became variations on the same theme. The stories were new, but the ideas were well-established, going back at least as far as H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. Finney's premise was different than most, and it drew strength not only from its originality but from the political atmosphere of the time. America became quite paranoid in the decade after World War II; the Red Scare had many people observing their neighbors and associates and sometimes wondering if they might actually be Communists. America was preoccupied for some time with the dangers of an invisible, insidious threat within the nation's very midst. Invasion of the Body Snatchers played upon and drew from this type of internal self-doubt and paranoia, and I believe that is its true secret of success.
Finney's "aliens" didn't blast down from the heavens and immediately begin attacking human beings; instead, they arrived silently and secretly - in the very midst of what was unassuming, small-town America, in the form of giant pods. Reports of these pod landings were reported but largely ignored, allowing the spores of alien life to begin their work in secret. The material inside the pods could completely replicate any life form, and thus was born the first "changed" human being. This "new" person looked and acted completely like the original and went about living that person's normal, every day life. The number of changed individuals quickly grew as each day passed. A few people began to sense that one or more of their friends or loved ones was somehow different, but it was all but impossible to prove such a thing to themselves, let alone others. Dr. Miles Bennell, the story's narrator, spoke to several such patients and dismissed their claims as some sort of psychological delusions - at first. His eyes were opened to the truth only when a friend chanced upon a developing replacement body in his home, and by this time virtually the whole town had been changed. Bennell and three other "survivors" were alone, trapped among friends who were no longer themselves, and their growing paranoia soon metastasized into true fright.
What could be more unsettling than the fear that your neighbor, your co-worker, even your own spouse, parent, or child was no longer the person you had known all your life? Anyone and everyone was a potential threat, a secret agent conspiring with others to assimilate you, to rob you of everything you value most in life. External threats and the fears they invoke can be dealt with, set aside for short periods of time; nuclear attack is a horrifying nightmare, but it does not prevent you from leading your normal life in the present. The enemy within is always the most insidious threat, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers is the very embodiment of this most terrifying of fears.

This is an amazing book, especially if you think about when it was written. I know only read this book years ago but eagerly awaited the original movie. As I read the book once again, my feeling haven't changed. The author does an amazing job with a sneak peek into the possibility of not only invasion but of the conspiracy that would come with it. Intriguing!

An epidemic of a specific neurosis: all around you, people are claiming that their closest friends and relatives have been replaced by perfect impostors. They question their sanity. Then they recover. But you start to wonder, for a friend/family member seems a bit odd to you now... not like himself. You try to get help, but the roads out of the city are inexplicably worsening and your phone won't call out of the area. And then it hits you: THEY HAVE CONTROL...
This story has been retold many times (the 50's serial, book, and movie; the retellings of both in the 70's; and that God-awful 1992 movie). The pure HORROR of its concept is so universal that the term "body snatcher" is used worldwide. Beware the pods: there are places in YOUR house they might hide.
This novel is one of the best I've read. It combines decent (though sometimes stereotypical) characters with unbelievably tense action and story twists (not plot twists, though you might not be able to predict this one). The characters are believably human and the important loose ends are explained; Mr. Finney himself tells you that not all of them will be, which makes for an even better story.
If you haven't seen the 1978 movie with Donald Sutherland:
1. You MUST see it. Don't drink much beforehand.
2. Don't expect the same story as the book; in fact, they're two opposed tellings of a wonderful horror concept.

A small town doctor Miles Bennell receives a surge of neurotic patients with the same delusion: their relatives are not their relatives. Referring the patients to a local psychiatrist, he soon begins to wonder if something MORE might be happening. Teaming up with a local girl, Becky, the two and another couple soon are on the run from a strange menace which has infiltrated their small town.

I really enjoyed "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." I remember only snatches of the film, and the book goes into much more detail, including more details about the alien, Dr. Miles' relationship with Becky, and the reactions of the town.

Entertaining without being gory. 5 stars.

Since these reviews are based on The Lightyear Press publication, I am assuming from the comments in this review that this is an updated revised version which would include the identical updated text also found in the Fireside published version - which was the softcover trade publication owned by Simon and Schuster.

Why I am confused is that the photo of the book listed by [...] depicts the copyright page of the Buccaneer Press limited edition printing which was a reprint of the original 1950's unaltered text. Whereas further down the page it lists Lightyear Press as the publisher.
I can't find Lightyear Press anywhere listed on the internet.
I have a copy of an original Buccaneer Press published copy of "The Body Snatchers" with the unaltered 1950's text.

Can someone enlighten me here?

Of course the book is one of the best Finney has written and in fact one of the best sci-fi books to come out of the 1950's and still to this day is a great read.

This classic book is as exciting as it gets. Jack Finney uses clear and concise story telling that keeps one wanting more. It's so believable that I won't be able to look a seed pod in the face again without goosebumps! Our poor little planet dodged a big one - this time...

I always loved the early movie versions, especially the first one. The book is even better. It artfully paints a picture of the fifties that captures the homey gingerbread frosting that disguises murky undercurrents. While the consensus is that the book was symbolic of the threat of communism, my take is that the symbolism is deeper and darker. Something is snatching the souls of people, the warm natural humanity and replacing it with a calculating coldness. Endless wars, rising materialistic consumerism, a thin facade over dysfunctional and abusive families and relationships, a loss of values? The invasion is still going on, and they are winning. Tori Lisi author of "Soul Trip"

Fun reading, the original version of the well-known movie. The cinematic writing makes the story quite visual. Watch the movie (either the 1956 or the 1978 version) after reading it and compare to the source material. Scary fun !

Pod people! AAAhhhh!!

Or, they are taking over my town. The poor wasn't paranoid at all decent bloke small town bush doctor guy has a pretty serious problem, in that aliens are taking over his town via taking over the people.

That is never fun A pretty decent book, really, as the terror of the situation slowly dawns on those involved as they work out what is going on and what those pods are.

3.5 out of 5

This book was serialized in "Collier's" magazine in the 1950s, and for the six weeks or so that it ran many people could talk of nothing else. It was amazing. It was almost as big as the O.J. trial was in the '90s. I haven't read it in over 40 years, but thank goodness it introduced me to Jack Finney. You'll eat it up!

This story is told with too much tangential information and musings, to the point where I was jealous half way through the book in which the protagonist tells another person everything that had happened thus far in "less than 30 minutes" - why couldn't he have given the poor reader the same treatment?

A more concise telling may have made the book entertaining, but there would still be problems with unsatisfying actions taken by the characters, as well as the unsatisfying ending.