The Invaders by Keith Laumer
Just finished reading "The Invaders" by Keith Laumer, released by Pyramid Books back in August 1967.
Yes, "The Invaders: is part of my "Great Re-reading of Favorite Books from my Youth" project. I first found a copy of "The Invaders" on the shelves in the science fiction section of Twice Told Tales Bookstore across the street from the New River Shopping Center in Jacksonville, North Carolina in the mid-1970s. I found my re-reading copy at Chamblin's Book Mine - the greatest bookstore in the Eastern United States.
Now a curious note about this novelization. For at least five decades I thought that there was only one paperback novelization of the short-lived cult television series. There was an original Big Little Book and an authorized Whitman Television Book. I was wrong, Keith Laumer would also write the second Invaders novel and a third would be written by another author before the series of original paperback books would come to an end.
"The Invaders" was created by Larry Cohen as a series to replace his highly popular "The Fugitive" which enjoyed a highly successful five year run before becoming the first American television series to be brought to a definitive end/conclusion.
"The Invaders" followed a similar theme of "The Fugitive" featuring a man on the run and proactively to overcome the circumstances which put them on the run - only David Vincent is both running and actively fighting against aliens bent on destroying humanity and taking over the Earth.
"The Invaders" is structured similar to "The Lost In Space" novel published by Pyramid Books. It features David Vincent in three interlinking adventures - the first one chronicling who he discovered the Invaders as he's investigating weird components being manufactured separately at different plants; the second one infiltrating a meeting of UFO enthusiasts only to be cornered by a psychotic human who is also hunting Invaders, and the third adventure where he is aided in stealing a tank to destroy an advance ship of the Invaders as it lands in the desert. All three adventures in the novel have odd undertones that make it appear that David Vincent is no stranger to cruising for men. Remember, this was written in the late 1960s, so I'm going to reserve judgement until I read the second novel in this series.
There are differences of course between the television show and this novel, and I don't know if Keith Laumer had just the bare basics series bible when he wrote this first novel in the series. It is a well written novelization, though keep in mind that novelizations usually varied from the actual show. Again, the "Lost In Space" novelization is a prime example of this rule, along with "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" novelization of the television show.
Highly Recommended for fans of the original series.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Invaders-Keith...
Yes, "The Invaders: is part of my "Great Re-reading of Favorite Books from my Youth" project. I first found a copy of "The Invaders" on the shelves in the science fiction section of Twice Told Tales Bookstore across the street from the New River Shopping Center in Jacksonville, North Carolina in the mid-1970s. I found my re-reading copy at Chamblin's Book Mine - the greatest bookstore in the Eastern United States.
Now a curious note about this novelization. For at least five decades I thought that there was only one paperback novelization of the short-lived cult television series. There was an original Big Little Book and an authorized Whitman Television Book. I was wrong, Keith Laumer would also write the second Invaders novel and a third would be written by another author before the series of original paperback books would come to an end.
"The Invaders" was created by Larry Cohen as a series to replace his highly popular "The Fugitive" which enjoyed a highly successful five year run before becoming the first American television series to be brought to a definitive end/conclusion.
"The Invaders" followed a similar theme of "The Fugitive" featuring a man on the run and proactively to overcome the circumstances which put them on the run - only David Vincent is both running and actively fighting against aliens bent on destroying humanity and taking over the Earth.
"The Invaders" is structured similar to "The Lost In Space" novel published by Pyramid Books. It features David Vincent in three interlinking adventures - the first one chronicling who he discovered the Invaders as he's investigating weird components being manufactured separately at different plants; the second one infiltrating a meeting of UFO enthusiasts only to be cornered by a psychotic human who is also hunting Invaders, and the third adventure where he is aided in stealing a tank to destroy an advance ship of the Invaders as it lands in the desert. All three adventures in the novel have odd undertones that make it appear that David Vincent is no stranger to cruising for men. Remember, this was written in the late 1960s, so I'm going to reserve judgement until I read the second novel in this series.
There are differences of course between the television show and this novel, and I don't know if Keith Laumer had just the bare basics series bible when he wrote this first novel in the series. It is a well written novelization, though keep in mind that novelizations usually varied from the actual show. Again, the "Lost In Space" novelization is a prime example of this rule, along with "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" novelization of the television show.
Highly Recommended for fans of the original series.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Invaders-Keith...
No comments have been added yet.
