- Scan by Walter Jury
Tate has battled with his strict, demanding father his whole life, certain that whatever secrets his dad is keeping in his cool high-tech lab are not going to change Tate’s opinion of him. After his father dies heroically, however, the truth begins to come out: very little of the human population is actually human anymore (a small alien invasion, the H2s, has grown exponentially in the past 400 years), and the physical and mental training his father put Tate through was to help him defend the human survivors. Complicating things is his realization that his beloved girlfriend is an alien, and that the other “good guys” might find her as disposable as any other H2. Both readers and Tate are playing catch-up from the start, with Tate learning most of the story in one urgent telling from his dying father and then having no one that he is certain he can trust; readers will also spot inconsistencies and careful not-quite-truths in those he meets. This is one of those enormously satisfying books where everyone has such complex, layered motivations that few emerge as truly admirable or evil. Add in the fact that there is perhaps a third group, a terrifying reason why the H2s came to Earth in the first place, that may play some role in a sequel, and the resulting thoughtful yet exciting adventure will satisfy both action and science fiction fans.