Review: Invasion by Jon S. Lewis

Invasion

Author: Jon S. Lewis
Series: CHAOS, Book One
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Format: Hardcover, 321 pages
Release Date: January 4, 2011
Source:  Mid-Columbia Libraries

Synopsis from Goodreads:

He didn't ask for the job, but now all that stands between us and chaos... is Colt

Colt McAlister was having the summer of his life. He spent his days surfing and his nights playing guitar on the beach with friends. He even met a girl and got his first car. But everything changes when his parents are killed in a freak accident.

He's forced to leave his old life behind and move to Arizona with his grandfather. The only person he knows at the new high school is a childhood friend named Dani. And Oz, a guy he's sure he's never met but who is strangely familiar.

But what if his parents' death wasn't an accident? His mother, an investigative reporter, was going to expose a secret mind-control program run by one of the world's largest companies. Before she could release the story, what if agents from Trident Biotech made sure she couldn't go public?

Vowing to uncover the truth, Colt gets drawn into a secret world of aliens, shapeshifters, flying motorcycles, and invisible gateways.

The Invasion has begun.

"...An unstoppable cyborg mix of Fringe meets The X-Files. Read Invasion with your eyes wide open. No blinking or you might miss a shapeshifting alien as it blows past you en route to a total planetary take-over." -Frank Beddor, New York Times best-selling author of The Looking Glass Wars

My Review:

If you are a fan of aliens then go get this book right now. Don’t even bother reading the rest of this review. This was a fantastic book that kept me glued to the pages the entire time. The story was so intricate and detailed. We don’t just have one type of alien here. No, we learn about several different types with even more that I’m sure we will be hearing more about in the subsequent books. Everything that people have thought was a hoax is real. Big Foot? Real. UFOs? Real. Government cover-ups? Real.

Our main character, Colt McAlister, doesn’t believe in any of that stuff. Until he starts seeing it with his own two eyes. After his parents are killed in a freak car accident, things start getting strange. His brothers think his parents were murdered because his mom uncovered something she wasn’t supposed to know. Colt decides that he is going to find out what it was and who was responsible for his parents’ death. But that gets him into a lot more trouble than he anticipated.

So there is this big evil corporation called Trident Biotech that is using biochips that they implant in people (to cure epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease) to control their minds and force them to do whatever they want. Colt is determined to expose all of Trident’s secrets no matter the cost. Colt was a very real character to me. He was determined and brave, but also grief-stricken like anybody would be after losing their parents. He also has the usual teenage emotions regarding girls. There isn’t a major romance going on here and no kissing actually occurs which kind of bummed me out, but the mystery behind the aliens and everything else that is going on completely made up for it. This book is packed with action right from the beginning and doesn’t let up until the very end. Colt is thrown into a world he never knew existed, but adapts quickly and shows courage where others would run in fear.

Colt makes a new friend after moving to Arizona, Oz, who knows a lot of information because his dad is the director of CHAOS, an agency that ensures that no aliens invade Earth and that the normal population remains blissfully ignorant of the existence of other life forms. Oz is sarcastic and completely full of himself, but he was a fun character and I enjoyed the part he played in the book.

Dani is Colt’s childhood best friend. She supports him as he goes through the loss of his parents and is there for him no matter what. She is a tech genius and uses her cyber skills to help Colt discover Trident’s secrets. She puts her life at risk time and time again for Colt. I really wanted the two of them to be together, but it didn’t happen. Instead, she and Oz begin to develop….nothing, I guess they just like each other, but they never really talk about it seeing as how they are very busy fighting aliens.

Colt’s grandpa plays a major role in this book. He has known about the aliens since he was in the military. He doesn’t reveal anything to Colt unless he has to because he wants to protect him. Throughout the book, he is reluctant about Colt getting involved, but by the end I think he accepts the fact that this is Colt’s destiny, even though it means that Colt’s life will be dedicated to fighting monsters like the Thule.

The Thule are an evil race of aliens that want to take over Earth after obliterating humanity. They are shape-shifters and are more than capable of blending into a crowd of humans with ease. But they have terrifying strength and are much faster than any human. If they succeed in opening a gateway to Earth, humanity will be destroyed. *cue ominous music* I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of this horrible species.

Overall, I loved this book. It was full of action, mystery, and suspense. Learning about all the aliens was amazing and Lewis even included some sketches at the end of the book to give us a better idea of what these creatures look like which I thought was really cool. Wonderful book. I highly recommend to all scifi/alien lovers out there! Happy reading all!  

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