and international film rights have been optioned. The twists and turns and surprises continue to the last pages and skillfully set the scene for a sequel. The book careens from one dangerous encounter to another, part War of the Worlds, part Falling Skies, part Hunger Games, but still unique and true to itself. The 5th Wave is creepy good, steeped with a smidgen of classic sci-fi storytelling at its best and infused with fresh perspectives about what it really means to be human. Who do you trust when no one is who he seems to be? And who can you allow yourself to love? He also wants to save Sammy-or so he claims. She soon meets Ben, a former heartthrob from high school, now a skilled assassin trained by the military at Wright-Patterson. Even though parts of EvanвЂ™s story donвЂ™t add up for Cassie, she sets off with him to rescue Sammy from Wright-Patterson. Evan goes out hunting every night but seldom brings home any game. He lost his own family and still lives in the surprisingly intact and well-supplied family home, including a cache of chocolate. We watch drill sergeants train seven year olds to fire assault rifles and see hit squads led by teens dispatched to kill everyone who glows green when viewed through a special lens-a sure sign of alien infestation.ДЇlash back to Cassie and Evan, a boy who saves her life after a sniper shoots her. She pulls herself together and moves on because she promised her brother that she would come for him she promised to return his teddy bear and to take care of him.ДЇlash over to the base where we see medics implant trackers into the newly arrived children and technicians downloading their memory and consciousness into the mainframe. Within a few days military trucks from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base show up and soldiers load the children into a big yellow school bus, promising to return shortly for everyone else.Д¬assie slips into the woods, returning only to watch in horror as the soldiers kill everyone and blow up the camp. Wave three killed her mother, but she, her dad, and her little brother Sammy make it to a ragtag refugee camp in the forest. Human? Alien? The reader wonвЂ™t know for sure because the author provides few clues, instead allowing readers to reach their own conclusions.Д¬assie is one of the lucky ones-if there is such a thing following an alien conquest. Yancey explores the very nature of humanity through several charactersвЂ™ points of view. How do the remnants of humanity fight that? And how can we possibly survive waves four and five?Д¬an an alien who lived a normal human life for years retain humanity once awakened to his true destiny? And can desperate, paranoid humans trained to kill anyone suspected of being Other still be human themselves? They have been watching us for six thousand years. When takeover time arrives a few years later, the aliens inside the humans awaken, already prepared for their role as planetary conquerors. вЂњNow it is only the man, the woman, the baby inside her, and the intruder inside the baby, sleeping.вЂќ These aliens do not actually invade Earth, rather they are inserted into fetuses for future use. by the bottom of the first page (no spoiler alert required), itвЂ™s apparent that Rick Yancey has written a very different book from the usual alien invasion story.

Been there, read that-a dozen times or more.Д®xcept. The aliens need our planet for their own survival and theyвЂ™re not squeamish about taking it away from us.

The third wave: an Ebola-like virus kills 97% of humanity. The second wave: giant tsunamis annihilate coastal cities worldwide. The first wave: electromagnetic impulses demolish every form of technology. creepy good.вЂќДЄn alien mothership circles the Earth raining down consecutive waves of death and destruction. вЂњRick Yancey has written a very different book from the usual alien invasion story.

Author of the 5th wave