The Puppet Masters

By: Robert A. Heinlein

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

First came the news that a flying saucer had landed in Iowa. Then came the announcement that the whole thing was a hoax. End of story. Case closed.

Except that two agents of the most secret intelligence agency in the US government were on the scene and disappeared without reporting in. And four more agents who were sent in also disappeared. So the head of the agency and his two top agents went in and managed to get out with their discovery: an invasion is underway by slug-like aliens who can touch a human and completely control his or her mind. What the humans know, they know. What the slugs want, no matter what, the human will do. And most of Iowa is already under their control.

Sam Cavanaugh was one of the agents who discovered the truth. Unfortunately, that was just before he was taken over by one of the aliens and began working for the invaders, with no will of his own. And he has just learned that a high official in the Treasury Department is now under control of the aliens. Since the Treasury Department includes the Secret Service, which safeguards the president of the United States, control of the entire nation is near at hand.

©1951,1979 by Robert A. Heinlein, 2003 by the Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust (P)2020 by Blackstone Publishing

Great book, distracting narration

This is one of my favorite RAH books, and is very well written, particularly for the time period. The overall narration was excellent… except for the voices and accents. The narrator consistently put the emphasis in strange places when voicing specific characters, and didn’t seem to put any emotion or tension in the places where it would make sense for the story.

His female voices were atrocious- whispered with no emotion or cadence other than submission. The main female lead was repeatedly described as a very strong willed personality and having everything she said come out as barely a whisper was just too contradictory and it took focus away from the story. The narrators regular voice is great and this book would have been served much better had he just narrated vs acting each part out. The ‘old man’ voice and inflection came across as partly senile and whiney instead of a strong overbearing and unapologetic character like the author described.

Having said all that, I still enjoyed it but am so familiar with the book (having read it every few years for the last 30+ years) that I was able to follow even with the distractions. I’m not sure that someone new to Heinlein’s work would put in the effort. Part of the issue was the volume differences - had to continually adjust the volume to hear the females and then turn it way back down when he switched to a male part.

so pertinent for today

It's amazing how well Heinlein captured the human races' antisurvival treatment of a new pandemic.

why does Mary sound like that?

my only real problem was the choice of voice for the voice of Mary. She sounded like she was half asleep for the entirety of the story. She was written as a warrior in her own right, but she spoke like an uninterested wimp.

Bronson Pinchot is awful on this

I'm assuming this is as good as most Heinlein novels. But Bronson Pinchot seems as though he must have dementia, emphasizing in the oddest spots, and missing others.

Uneven. but still Heinlein

This is one the most uneven books from Heinlein in regards to his dialog. At times delivering such poor conversation only shows us that even The Grand Master had to train his craft. I'm guessing he needed a better editor because some of the writing is as modern as "Stranger and a Strange Land" which is 10 years younger and one of the greatest sci fi novels of all time and other parts are not.

The narrator is certainly a professional actor with a terrific voice but because he can't make a high voice for a woman he uses a soft voice and it just isn't right. Excuse me, I need to barf.... Thank you, I'm better now. Get a female to read the female dialog or take some voice lessons. Fantastic voicing of many numerous male voices don't make up for one horrible female voice. Hurl.

That said, I'm enjoying this novel very much, much more than I expected I would for the subject of the title. I'm actually loving it overall because it is certainly true Heinlein! Somewhat more juvenile and unpolished than others but still thought provoking and a story to care about, no matter how dated.

Great, except for some of the narration

Bronson Pinchot is normally a fantastic narrator. But in this book, his characterization of the "Mary" character drove me nuts by the end of the book. She sounds like a truck driver who is half-asleep/drugged, and completely inexpressive.

Note to anyone who has to do a woman character in an audio book: you don't have to do a special "woman" voice; you can read their dialogue like the character is just a person!

The rest of the narration/story was really good. I'd love to see this book turned into a show or movie on par with the quality of "Andor!"

Pandemic/political parable

A dated story by a master, still a fascinating study in contagion and efforts to contain and eliminate it.

The problem is Pinchot. Heinlein's attitudes towards women are questionable today - pretty advanced for their time, though - but his female leads (at least) tend to be strong, self-sufficient, powerful and often dangerous. Pinchot delivers Mary's dialogue as he delivers all female voices I've heard from him - soft, breathy, submissive, where she's written tough as nails, self-confident, and heavily armed. Pinchot's one-size-fits-all "feminine" voice makes me
wince every time a woman has a line.

Rousing!

It gets better every time I listen! It's engaging from start to finish. Heinlein is an absolute master!

Best Reader

love how Brandon Poinchot reads stories, and Heinlein writes them. Wonderful way to fill a commute.

The Puppet Masters

Heinlein’s sometimes oversimplified views of interpersonal relationships help to make this a timeless masterpiece that is easy to follow. While set in the future, it is not weighed down by being overly technical. It feels more like an old time detective novel set in the future. It is limited to three main characters and a handful of peripheral characters which makes it very easy to follow.
The reading makes it easy to differentiate between the characters. The narrator’s voice is clear and concise.