I’ve written before how difficult it is to sustain a sense of horror through an entire novel and indeed, in most of the books I’ve read, that sense of terror, or horror, usually doesn’t hold very steady. But Chuck Wendig proves the exception to this in his novel, Invasive.
In Invasive, we have Hannah Stander – a consultant with the FBI. She’s about to board a plane to head home when she’s requested by Agent Hollis Copper. Stander’s specialty is ‘futurism’ – threats against the ‘homeland’ from technology-rich crimes such as computer hacking, genetic manipulation, artificial intelligence, and so forth. Copper tells Stander that he’s got a cabin with over a thousand dead bodies in it. And so begins a terrifying search for a monstrous criminal and a weapon that can not be stopped.
From the very earliest pages Wendig hooks the reader with the terrifying results of a heinous crime and the story lets up only enough for the reader to take a breath and prepare to move on to the next horrifying moment. Wendig describes the weapon in great detail and it is easy for the reader to imagine to horror and the pain inflicted on each victim and the abject fear from those trying (vainly) to escape their certain fate.
This is apparently the second book in a series (of course…it’s my lot in life, it seems, to not read stand-alone books or a series beginning with the first book) but I absolutely did not notice anything about this that suggested I missed anything important. In fact, it wasn’t until I began this review and went to capture the book cover for my blog that I learned this was a book number two. This does make me want to read the first volume, just based on the intensity of this story, but I think it’s safe to say that you haven’t missed anything vital should you pick this one up first.
What this book has done is cement my interest in continuing to read more book by Chuck Wendig.
Looking for a good book? Invasive by Chuck Wendig is a thrilling, horrifying journey across the globe with a weapon that is all too possible and will strike fear into the stoutest of souls.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.
* * * * * *
Invasive
author: Chuck Wendig
series: Zer0es #2
publisher: Harper Voyager
ISBN: 0062351575
hardcover, 336 pages
