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The Puppet Masters

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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 U.S. government were on the sceneMoreFirst 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 U.S. government were on the scene and disappeared without reporting back. Then four more follow up agents 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. Less

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Lyn

rated it liked it
10 months ago

Putting this book down I cannot help wondering if Bob wrote this for the excuse to see, at least I his mind, a nation wearing no clothes.

You see, this is about an invasion of body snatchers type event, the aliens being large slug like creatures who affix themselves to the... Read full review
Manny

rated it liked it
over 5 years ago

Shelves: science-fiction
Evil, slug-like aliens land on Earth. They attach themselves to people and take over their minds. After a while, everyone has to walk around completely naked, so that you can spot the ones who have a slug attached.

I just can't understand why Paul Verhoeven didn't film th... Read full review
Phrynne

rated it liked it
over 1 year ago

I enjoyed this book for its story which was well thought out and interesting. However it's age definitely showed mostly in the naivety of the writing. I can't really describe what I mean exactly but if you read it I think you will understand straight away. And the dialogu... Read full review
Sara

rated it it was ok
over 5 years ago

Shelves: science-fiction , 20th-century-fiction
I have no problem with dated things. I do not hold against a past time its inability to miraculously speak to my present. I enjoy trying to crawl into the context of a different reader who may have lived decades or centuries ago and to imagine their responses to what I am... Read full review
Simon

rated it really liked it
over 1 year ago

Shelves: sf
Well that was a classic bit of vintage SF. Up there with Heinlein's best I would say. Aliens are invading earth in a most insidious way and there's no room for compassion or understanding; it's them or us! For heaven's sake don't try to read anything allegorical into it o... Read full review
Michael

rated it liked it
6 months ago

Zumindest in der deutschen Übersetzung liest sich dieser typische 50er Alien-Invasion-Paranoia-SF-Roman so eigenwillig, dass ich von der Handlung oft regelrecht abgelenkt wurde und mehrfach das Buch zuklappte. Hinzu kommen Sprünge und ein höchst eigenwilliger Erzählrhythm... Read full review
Monica

rated it it was amazing
10 months ago

Shelves: favoritos , whislist-end , sci-fi
Últimamente en mis reseñas describo lo que me ha parecido la obra con una frase o más bien una palabra; en éste caso sería: una obra IMPRESCINDIBLE para cualquier lector en general, y para los amantes del género en particular.
El porqué, pues por ser un gran libro con una... Read full review
Mark

rated it really liked it
over 5 years ago

Alien invasion? Fifties paranoia? Mind control?
After a visit to the British Library’s Out of this World Exhibition in London, I was suddenly reminded that I hadn’t read this Heinlein for a long while.

And indeed I haven’t read it in its ‘uncensored’ version, which was pub... Read full review

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Book Details

Paperback, Complete and Uncut Version, 416 pages
Published July 27th 2010 by Baen (first published December 1st 1951
ISBN
143913376X (ISBN13: 9781439133767)
Edition Language
English
Original Title
The Puppet Masters

About this Author

205. uy66 Robert Anson Heinlein was an American novelist and science fiction writer. Often called "the dean of science fiction writers", he is one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of "hard science fiction".

He set a high standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of literary quality. He was the first SF writer to break into...
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Quotes

Horace was a nice little guy who looked like one of his own baboons; he turned me over to a Doctor Vargas who was a specialist in exotic biologies--the same Vargas who was on the Second Venus Expedition. He told me what had happened and I looked at the gibbons, meantime rearranging my prejudices.
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Time was when I was immune to emotional shocks. But as I get older, I don't get tougher; I get softer.
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If I had had any sense, I'd have quit and taken a working job. The only trouble with that would be that I wouldn't have been working for the Old Man any longer. That made the difference. Not that he was a soft boss. He was quite capable of saying, "Boys, we need to fertilize this oak tree. Just jump in that hole at its base and I'll cover you up." We'd have done it. Any of us would. And the Old Man would bury us alive, too, if he thought that there was as much as a 53 percent probability that it was the Tree of Liberty he was nourishing.
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