I don’t watch horror movies nor do I like to read horror books. I got suckered into reading this one because it is science fiction, but man is it scary! Tim Iversen is our main character and he’s kind of normal guy until he’s not! He lives in the woods and from the story it sounds like he’s living in Denmark. He’s got a dog named Buddy and they are comfortable being alone in his cabin most of the time. Tim’s got a Daughter but they are estranged after his wife, Anya, died.
Tim has tried talking to his Daughter but that doesn’t work out too well. She’s apparently on her own even though she’s just sixteen. That’s kind of strange. Still, she has a job somewhere in town and living a life without her Dad. She doesn’t have a big part in the book, well, until she does.
Tim was driving his truck home one night, things always happen at night, when he and Buddy thought they saw something in the sky. Whatever it was came floating over the truck and shuts it down completely. His cell phone also dies and Buddy is nervous about something. That’s when whatever the thing was seems to crash behind a hill almost in Tim’s backyard. Since he’s pretty much drunk right now, he decides that he isn’t going to go wandering around in the woods at dark trying to find something. So he and Buddy call it a night and hit the bed.
Next morning after a terrible night of strange dreams. Buddy’s anxious to go outside and Tim likes to go for walks in the morning in the woods just so he can think. He starts up a trail that he believe will lead to whatever that was that crashed last night thinking he’d just check it out. He believes it could be a meteorite or even an old Russian satellite. Once on the other side of the hill, he sees this strange rock kind of sitting where nothing was there before. Tim knows these woods like the back of his hand and this isn’t something he’s seen around here.
As he looks around the rock he’s see a rabbit seemingly throwing a fit on the ground. It looks to be frothing at the mouth and in some kind of pain. He doesn’t like to see animals in pain so he figures he’d just put it out of its misery by stepping on it and breaking its neck. It does go dormant. Then Tim looks closer at the rabbit and he notices this black fuzzy stuff all around its nose and mouth and coming out of its ears. He thinks it looks like some kind of fungus and doesn’t want any part of it so he makes a mental note to wash-off the glove he was wearing to kill the rabbit.
Then Tim looks up at the rock only to see Buddy standing up against it with his front paws resting on top of the rock. Tim yells at Buddy to get away from the rock and come back to him which Buddy does. Then Tim looks closer at the rock and can’t believe his eyes. The thing is floating about 1/2 inch above the ground. Tim thinks he might need to call somebody, but he’s not sure.
Tim and Buddy start back down the hill only to almost get run over by a lady jogging down the trail. She bumps into Tim and he apologizes and both go on their way. You’ll read more about this lady. Back at his cabin, Tim’s still wondering who he should call when he notices that Buddy is looking sick. Yeah, he’s got this back fuzzy stuff around his nose, eyes and mouth and it sounds like he’s having trouble breathing. So, Tim calls Alan, his veterinarian, and asks to bring him over. Alan says to do so quickly.
Well, Buddy dies! Yeah, just like that. Tim is heartbroken, of course, but Alan says there was nothing he could do since it was so quick. He also doesn’t know what it was that killed Buddy. He did tell Tim that he gave Buddy a potent killing drug towards the end to quickly end Buddy’s pain. Tim’s not paying much attention since he just knows he’s just lost his only friend. Tim goes back to his cabin.
The next morning, he gets a call from Alan telling Tim to get over to the clinic very quickly. Alan won’t tell him why, but just to get there as quick as he can. So Tim climbs into his truck and heads off. This is where the story goes off the deep end. Everything starts happening now.
Once back at his cabin, Tim gets sick, very sick. He can’t get warm even though it’s winter in the woods and he’s got all the windows open. He’s lying in his shorts on the bed sweating like there’s no tomorrow. He just wants to get some sleep and finally does. When he wakes the next morning, things have changed, but he’s not immediately aware of what they are. He feels much, much better.
Then Lis calls. She’s Alan’s wife and says that Alan got sick last night. She went to check on him and now he’s gone. She needs Tim to come tell her what could have made Alan so sick and so quick. Was it something that had affected Buddy? Well, we’re all going to find out soon enough. This book scared the you-klnow-what out of me! I don’t really like these kinds of books, but this one was very well written although a little predictable.
Surprisingly, there is another book coming in this series. It’s titled, “Invaders – 2”, catchy title, right? It’s available on Amazon right now. I’m afraid to put it on my reading list. Maybe later?