Inhuman Beings

Rating:
Summary: Top Dog it isn't
Review: (Editor: I wrote an earlier review before I read your advisory. Here is another try.) The story line is rather basic, the ending a little too sweet. But I was swept along by Carroll's crisp writing style. Situation, character, action, and implications are conveyed in a free flow of short, simple sentences. As a native, I feel his settings in San Francisco and Northern California are right on. His main character is alien to my experience. But he rang true and I came to care about his frantic kill-or-be-killed crusade.

Rating:
Summary: Duking it out with the unknowable
Review: A delightful, violent romp through national disaster. Carroll's svelte prose flows past death and destruction as his detective progagonist comes to grips with unknowable alien conquistadors and works his way around their superior intellect and seemingly impenetrable defenses. Friends become foes in the wink of an eye. The ending is too tidy, but the devastastation that precedes it is awesome. Is it too much for film? I like Carroll's crisp, spot-on portrayals of politicians, media, and the security community. "Inhuman Beings" is particularly pleasant for a Northern Californian. It reels you through a gallaxy of familiar and off-beat venues.

Rating:
Summary: Clever, suspenseful and witty! Couldn't put it down!
Review: Carroll has a beautiful writing style. His characters are real, his dialogue is convincing and he knows how to keep you interested. I particularly enjoyed his sense of humor and his appreciation for the absurd. Some examples: "The bold scarf tied under his chin represented a rival theory of art"; ""Gloria had a tongue rough enough to sand floors"; "I told lawyers Mulhenny couldn't find his ass if he grew an extra hand back there"; "Feelings are important. Mr. Rogers says so"; "I feel like I've been here long enough for continents to form"; and "Anarchists don't pay parking tickets." (The trick to writing great metaphors is to not sound pretentious. Carroll has real style!) I can't recommend this book enough to science fiction fans who enjoy a good story and great writing.

Rating:
Summary: Not a good book
Review: I picked up a copy of "Inhuman Beings" at a used book store after reading the back cover description. I was expecting a paranoid, gritty, detective story with paranormal tendencies. Instead, it turned out to be a third-rate science fiction / detective story that overused every cliché attached to the genres. I won't bore you with a plot summary, but I will tell you why this book didn't work. The main character is two dimensional and predictable. The plot is thin and full of holes. Clichés run from "the down on his luck detective" to "the all-American, gun wielding president" to "the kindly old man who sacrifices himself for the greater good". The book is mainly dialog driven which gets annoying and scenes jump around faster than a music video. There is nothing original about the dialog and the story (which was stripped straight out of "Invaders of the Body Snatchers") is unrealistic, patronizing, and immature (ex: the main protagonist is given free decision making over military actions because he knew of the "alien menace" first). The author makes excuses for his character's shortcomings through first-person narrative which leads the reader to believe he knew from the start this was a bad venture. I normally don't write bad reviews, but it was the only way I could feel satisfied for the part of my life wasted by reading this. For good hard-boiled sci-fi stories, do yourself a favor and check out some Philip K. Dick or 1940s-60s Sci-Fi short story collections.

Rating:
Summary: Unoriginal.
Review: I've read the other two books of Jerry Jay Carroll ("Top Dog", "Dog Eat Dog"), which were far superior. It's not a bad book, really, but if you've read Heinlein's "The puppet masters", or seen the movie "The Arrival", this book will really be a waste of time. It's quite well written and witty as well, but come on - it feels as if I have already read this book - and more than once! It's almost a copy of the mentioned works.. The story? Aliens try to conquer Earth by possessing humans, and our hero, the private investigator Goodwin Armstrong is the only person who is able to stop them. If it sounds familiar, then you're not imagining things.. if it doesn't, then this will be a reasonably amusing book.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of Fun
Review: I've read the other two books of Jerry Jay Carroll ("Top Dog", "Dog Eat Dog"), which were far superior. It's not a bad book, really, but if you've read Heinlein's "The puppet masters", or seen the movie "The Arrival", this book will really be a waste of time. It's quite well written and witty as well, but come on - it feels as if I have already read this book - and more than once! It's almost a copy of the mentioned works.. The story? Aliens try to conquer Earth by possessing humans, and our hero, the private investigator Goodwin Armstrong is the only person who is able to stop them. If it sounds familiar, then you're not imagining things.. if it doesn't, then this will be a reasonably amusing book.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of Fun
Review: Jerry Jay Carroll's "Inhuman Beings" is a nicely written and highly entertaining novel that moves swiftly from start to finish, despite the fact that the plot is very familiar. It's your basic down and out hero encounters aliens "body snatching" human beings and taking them over as part of a large scale invasion of the planet. I particularly enjoyed the early and middle stages of this novel but was somewhat disappointed with the late stages, as in many ways it degenerated into an "Independence Day"-like finale. But it's lots of fun and if you enjoy this sort of storyline it's worth reading. Certainly better books with basically identical themes are Jack Finney's classic "Body Snatchers" (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) or Heinlein's "The Puppet Masters". Or, if you're looking for a horror twist where a down and out P.I. encounters demons and satanic forces (instead of aliens), William Hjortsberg's "Falling Angel" (the novel on which the film "Angel Heart" was based), or Greg F. Gifune's "Drago Descending" are also terrific reads. Overall, Carroll's "Inhuman Beings" is a fine novel and is certainly worth reading, but if you're looking for the definitive novel of this kind, read Jack Finney's "Body Snatchers" first.