Xeno by D. F. Jones
International distress alerts are sent out when planes first seem to disappear, disturbing concepts of space and time and leaving a trail of death and disillusionment. This bizarre series of "cosmic skyjackings" is shrouded in secrecy by a baffled and frightened military. Intense surveillance fails to reveal the cause of a seemingly hostile yet invisible enemy. Aircraft continue to disappear, plucked out of the sky without warning, only to reappear months later, thousands of miles off course.
National and global security is under threat and the ICARUS committee is formed to investigate. Military officials, the government and the FBI work alongside physician Mark Freedman and Soviet scientists to uncover the supernatural mystery that lies behind these unexplainable events. Earth has been found by a horde of creatures that not even the wildest imagination could invent - sinister parasitic creatures that took to their human hosts with deadly speed and bloodthirsty precision.
The terror that unfolds has terrifying consequences for all involved, and the invasion reveals something much more frightening and final than ever suspected.
I thought too much time was spent setting up the situation, so that it dragged, but the rest of the story was rather rushed. No sooner was the enemy understood, than we’re at the end. And not a happy one. Given the ending of the other books I’ve read by Jones, I shouldn’t have been surprised.
The zeno are really creepy, but the people in charge are maybe too creeped out. They do stupid things like watching the creature come forth without any protective gear; fall apart after seeing them. And I thought the “let’s keep this a secret from everyone” a bit overplayed. Especially since, in the end, it was probably their biggest mistake.
And I didn’t understand the connection to god. Jones seemed to be under the impression that extraterrestrials means there’s a god, that the USSR will fall apart because there being a god will destroy the premise behind communism. He doesn’t explain how he got from one thing to the other, which makes it even more confusing. The premise of the book is an interesting one, but one undermined by Jones' going off in tangents.
Mount TBR 2024 Book Links
Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.
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52. Xeno by D. F. Jones
CHALLENGE COMPLETE
Creepy character/object (House, doll, child, etc.)
1. Night Songs by Charles L. Grant
2. Xeno by D. F. Jones