Book Review: Interlopers

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Interlopers     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Alan Dean Foster
Class/Genre:   Science Fiction
Ace, May 2001, $6.99, 320 pp.

Ever wonder why bad things happen to good people? Why do war, famine, pestilence, and other calamities occur? Blame it on the INTERLOPERS, parasitic malignant beings who exist in nature's products like wood and rock. They have been around humanity forever while feeding off the misery of mankind. They inhabit humans until their host dies. The Interlopers are not of this world, residing in a parallel dimension.

Dr. Cody Westcott does not know they exist until he partakes of a dig in an isolated part of Peru. One of his helpers is fellow archeologist Kelli who he falls in love with and marries. Together they accept a teaching job in Arizona where Cody deciphers a formula on a frieze he brought back from the Peruvian dig. He makes it, drinks it, and now can see the Interlopers, who warn him not to interfere or else. He ignores them and they attack his wife sending her into a coma.

Alan Dean Foster, author extraordinaire, gives a unique reason for the misery and suffering that exists in the world today. He makes the malignant creatures seem real. The story line is fast-paced, exciting, and contains a unique premise that absolves humanity from evil. The author uses his imagination to provide a magnificent urban science fiction thriller that will stun the reader.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner