• Invasive

  • A Novel
  • By: Chuck Wendig
  • Narrated by: Xe Sands
  • Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (270 ratings)

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Invasive  By  cover art

Invasive

By: Chuck Wendig
Narrated by: Xe Sands
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Publisher's summary

"Think Thomas Harris, Will Graham and Clarice Starling rolled into one and pitched on the knife's edge of a scenario that makes Jurassic Park look like a carnival ride. Another rip-roaring, deeply paranoid thriller about the reasons to fear the future." (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

Hannah Stander is a consultant for the FBI - a futurist who helps the agency with cases that feature demonstrations of bleeding-edge technology. It's her job to help them identify unforeseen threats: hackers, AIs, genetic modification, anything that in the wrong hands could harm the homeland.

Hannah is in an airport, waiting to board a flight home to see her family, when she receives a call from Agent Hollis Copper. "I've got a cabin full of over a thousand dead bodies," he tells her. Whether those bodies are all human, he doesn't say.

What Hannah finds is a horrifying murder that points to the impossible - someone weaponizing the natural world in a most unnatural way. Discovering who - and why - will take her on a terrifying chase from the Arizona deserts to the secret island laboratory of a billionaire inventor/philanthropist. Hannah knows there are a million ways the world can end, but she just might be facing one she could never have predicted - a new threat both ancient and cutting-edge that could wipe humanity off the earth.

©2016 Chuck Wendig (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about Invasive

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I could practically taste the fear and danger

ABR Reviewer's Choice Award Winner

Note: Even though this is Book 2 in the series, it works just fine as a stand-alone.

This is my new favorite creepy crawlies book. Such delicious suspension and that near neurotic fake feel of something crawling on you! Hannah Stander is a very interesting character. In fact, she may be my new favorite action hero. As a consultant for the FBI and a futurist (someone who studies cutting-edge tech and what that could mean for humanity), she's been called in by her friend Agent Hollis Cooper to check out a very odd death. Dead ants litter the scene which includes one dead and disfigured human. This launches Hannah into a world of bio-engineered insects, the creepy brainchild of billionaire Einar Geirsson. He keeps his weird and potentially deadly insects on an isolated island that is part of Hawaii. Is he truly a philanthropist, as all the hype claims, or does he have a more sinister motivation? I loved that this character kept me guessing until near the end.

I loved the suspense of this book. From the beginning, I could practically taste the fear and danger my favorite characters were in. Hannah's unique upbringing gives her skills to deal with this potentially world-wide disaster that she stands on the cusp of. However, she has plenty of mixed feelings about that upbringing, her parents being Preppers and their household rather isolated from the rest of the world. While this skill set serves her well, I could see that it cost her something to call upon those reluctantly hard-earned abilities.

Now I like my bugs a lot. I have a healthy respect for them and when possible, I will save them from peril by simply putting them outside. So I reveled in the all the bug descriptions and the various kinds of insects that had cameos. I especially loved the side character Ez Choi, an entomologist and good friend to Hannah. She's got brains and snark and a deep fascination with denizens of the insect world.

As all that build up promised, the bug outbreak was full of danger and death. The insects are single-minded in their pursuit of life and it took a mastermind to engineer them. Alas, the bugs aren't the only thing Hannah has to worry about. There's plenty of human foes as well and I was mightily pleased to see that they had a variety of motivations for their actions. More than once I did worry that Hannah wouldn't make it out of this tale alive. So many pitfalls! I was on the edge of my seat for the entire second half of the book. Excellent read with a satisfying ending!

Narration: Xe Sands was such a great fit for this story. Her narration was spot on. I loved her voice for Hannah, especially when her complicated feelings towards her parents came into play. All of Sands character voices were distinct and her male voices were believable. There we no technical issues with the recording. Plenty of accents (Scandinavian, Philippino, Hawaiian, etc.) came into play in this tale and Sands pulled them all off with skill.

Audiobook was purchased for review by ABR.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars

The narrator ruined this for me

The narrator sounded so weak, swallowing the ends of the words, almost bored. Maybe she was trying to sound jaded and hard? but failing. Not at all matching the fire of the protagonist. It sounded like a fun story; I wouldn't know. Couldn't finish.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Solid thriller

Where does Invasive rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Invasive definitely isn't the best audiobook I've listened to, but it's a solid thriller. The third act sort of drags on, but it held my interest even listening to it in a single 16 hour road trip session.

What did you like best about this story?

The descriptions were extremely detailed.

Did Xe Sands do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

In general, she did, but many of the male characters were hard to tell apart. I found that there were a number of sections that ended in a mumble that I couldn't quite understand.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It's extremely gory, but not gratuitously.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very engaging kept driving extra to keep listening

Would you listen to Invasive again? Why?

Yes. Compelling, well paced story, but largest reason I would listen to it again is Xe Sands does a phenomenal job narrating the story. Felt like sitting around a campfire listening to someone tell a tale of legend and years gone by.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ez Choi. For a somewhat minor character she had a lot of depth, seemed very real.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Ez Choi is attacked in her lab. I liked the idea of the lab 'villan' the OBT being her savior.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Small creatures, big terror.

Any additional comments?

Must have audio book. This book would be a great read for anyone. But, it was made even better through the narration of Xe Sands. Perfect pairing of art and performer. She took the already compelling story and characters to another level.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

ANT- anxiety!

Loved this story, filled with realistic science horrors!
Swarming ants in your pants and eating your skin off, ekk!

Not recommended for nighttime light reading..

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

interesting and atmospheric

my first of this authors books, an interesting perspective on the science of genetic manipulation and it's bearing on the future. protagonist is well sculpted and it's easy to care about the her outcome. the resolution is satisfying and has the feel of cold reality. recommended!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Solid sequel, full of creepy crawlies

Any additional comments?

(3.5 stars) Another exciting mix of science fiction with thriller, near future and fast-paced. Wendig does a nice job with a female POV character, enough detail to maker her interesting and well-rounded. He shirks a bit with supporting characters, but the nature of the book makes such short-comings minor. In short, well-written entertainment with enough intelligence to keep a reader engrossed.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not bad, but not my favorite

If you want to know 36 ways to describe a body without skin on it, this is the book for you. If not, maybe give this one a pass.

The plot was engaging. The characters were pretty 3D. The main character was interesting and well developed, and though I was pulling for her to win, I never felt a strong emotional connection to her. Not sure if it's the format, the performance, or the writing itself at fault.

This book is very gory, and frankly, just not my style, though I do enjoy reading the author's blog, which is why I picked up this book to begin with.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

It was ok,

What did you like best about Invasive? What did you like least?

It had an interisting concept to it, somewhat. a decent sort of mystery, though falls into the trap of "Technical authority" going out to investigate and arrest people when they arent police or any sort of official like that. The "genetically engineered monster' (not your standard syfy channel type, and rather interesting actually) fails in places, especially when someone like me could think up several species that could do the job better without as much genetic modification.

The main character is... I dont know. Im unsure if she was written to be liked or not, but largely comes off as annoying and unlikable, she is suppose to be some "Female in charge" but is a panicky mess prone to wild mental breakdowns from past trauma that in the scope of things, isnt that horrible. not to diminish what happened, but people have had worse and are fine from it. So im not sure what the author wants me to feel about her. Other characters were good, and wouldnt mind seeing more about them, but the heroine just was not worth a story.

Would you recommend Invasive to your friends? Why or why not?

No. its an interesting mystery, but it just ends up lacking in the end.

Could you see Invasive being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

maybe a c-grade syfy channel movie thats shown late at nigh.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining B+

This is a good story, if a little formulaic. I liked that the hero is a level headed woman. The genetically engineered insect as villainous weapon is great. The ants are even named appropriately! There are some serious plot holes, where normal suspension of disbelief is untenable. Like most of these stories, it always goes 3 chapters too long, with more action following what should have been the conclusion. And there is a lot of filler (how many times do we need to know that the characters ate protein bars made of crickets? And why are they constantly eating? And where are they going to the bathroom?) This reminded me of some of Lincoln Childs and Douglas Preston's earlier books, in a good way. I would listen to another of this woman's adventures.

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