Invasion (C.H.A.O.S. Novels , #1) (C.H.A.O.S. Novel, #1)

by Jon S Lewis

He didn't ask to be a hero, 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 truth, Colt is drawn into a secret world of aliens, shapeshifters, flying motorcycles, and invisible getaways.

The invasion has begun.

• ISBN10: 1401685099
• ISBN13: 9781401685096
• Publish Date: 14 November 2011 (first published 3 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Thomas Nelson
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[celinenyx]

It's been a while since I've read such a powerful science-fiction book. Invasion is a surprisingly gripping read. The second an alien that looked like Bigfoot came up, I was hooked.

When his parents die in a strange car accident, Colt has to live with his WW2 veteran grandfather. Yet he cannot get the idea out of his head that something about his parents' death isn't right. He suspects that one of the worlds largest companies, Trident Biotech, has something to do with it. While trying to uncover the truth about his parents' death, Colt discovers a world normal human beings never see...

Young-adult science-fiction is not an easy genre to write in. Because the story needs to be fast-paced so the younger readers don't lose interest, there is not much room left for extensive world building. I love the way how we learn about the aliens together with Colt. What I also really like is that this isn't about the standard green-men-in-suits-from-space kind of aliens. It actually reminded me a lot of the movie Men in Black.

And with all those aliens, we of course have to have some very, very awesome gadgets. I mean, souring through the air on a motorcycle with retractable wings? No one can convince me that isn't really cool. I had such a great time reading about this and jetpacks and special weapons that made my inner geek very excited.

The only problem I had with this book is one I seem to be having quite often these days. Sometimes is astonishes me how naive one can be. In this book though, this was only a minor annoyance, because most of those moments could easily be explained by the age of our main characters. You can't really expect from a bunch of teenagers to grasp the extend of the situation right away. And in the end, they do, it only took them a while.

I think this is a wonderfully fast-paced book that a lot of young-adults, both boys and girls, will enjoy. And as an adult, I think you would be equally entertained by this book. I definitely recommend this to anyone that loves science-fiction.

I received this ARC through Netgalley.