Customer Reviews

Needle (also published as From Outer Space )

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really, really enjoyed this book, and I am very sad that it is out of print. It is the kind of book that I would like to recommend to others, but can't because of its relatively unavailability.

This book was indeed written in 1949, as others have noted, but for me this was a plus and not a minus in reading the book. I love the fact that we now have Sci-fi classics written at different times, and enjoy seeing the way that those writing in the late forties handled situations different than today. Moreover, the book was SET in 1949, and not in the future. This was merely one of the things that made the book interesting to me.

There are two major reasons that I enjoyed this book. One is the utterly unique premise. An alien detective on the trail of a malevolent murderer of the same species as himself crashes lands on Earth near an isolated island. These creatures require a host species, not possessing themselves a body to speak of. Our "hero" manages to find a host, the body of a young boy living on the island. From there the book deals with a variety of problems, such as how the alien lets the boy know he is residing inside him, how to figure out where the criminal alien might be, and once located, how to deal with him. It truly is one of the most unique plots in Sci-fi history.

The other reason I love the book is its completely unique setting. One does not normally set Sci-fi tales on an island in 1949. This lends an air to the novel that is quite unlike any other novel I have encountered.

I hope this book comes back into print. Until then, it does pop up on the used book market. I have twice found copies in used bookstores, and hopefully a copy will appear here for sale. However, one obtains a copy, I do heartily recommend this to anyone interested in the history of Sci-fi.

Two aliens crash land on Earth. One is a dangerous criminal, the other (called The Hunter) is chasing him in order to bring him to justice. Once on Earth, the criminal can inhabit any living body and hide there, becoming a "needle in a haystack." But The Hunter can use the same methods also...He inhabits the body of a young boy who aids The Hunter in his search for the criminal.

`Needle' was written in 1949, probably for an adult audience, but it reads today as almost a Young Adult novel. Maybe that's because most of the book is told from the boy Bob's point of view. The language and atmosphere Clement uses certainly seem very dated by today's standards. The book's best scenes involve the relationship that develops between Bob and The Hunter. When it gets away from that, this `Needle' becomes rather dull. Fortunately that doesn't happen too often. Although today's readers are very familiar with stories of aliens inhabiting human bodies, `Needle' was probably a first for its time. That familiarity diminishes the impact of the book in 2002, but it's still a pretty good read.

207 pages

Hal Clement's "Needle" has been on my list of most-liked (and frequently re-read) books for a long time. It's science fiction, set in an (almost) realistic environment on a small tropic island. Two individuals from a species of multicellular virus have landed on earth - a "good" one hunting a "bad" one which is killing its hosts rather than living in peaceful symbiosis as it should. Predictably, the hosts they pick on Earth are humans - but just who? Like "a needle in a haystack that has choosen to climb inside a straw" the bad guy (eh - virus) is difficult to find, even after the "hunter" has gained the cooperation of his teenage host. In effect, it's a very well written detective story exploring all the angles opened by the sci-fi connection.
The story raises facinating possibilities. Wouldn't you be tempted to play host to a virus that lives off the germs in your bloodstream and scares away mosquitoes with its tiny tentacles?
Unfortunately, my father's not parting with his old paperback copy and I haven't been able to find it anywhere else.

I read this book when it first came out in 1949 or 1950. I was a young teenager at the time. This was one of the first kind of "grown up" books I remember reading. It is credited with waking up my interest in reading and led to the complete Tarzan series and finally to "Below the Salt" by Thomas B. Costain before I finished high school. I was by no means a "bookworm" during those years, so the fact that they were sufficient to really start me reading on my own is further testament.

I told my two grade school granddaughters about the Needle and how it was instrumental in tweeking my interest in reading. This was an effort to explain that reading is fun. They viewed it as a chore. Shortly after I searched out copies of Needle and Eye of the Needle on the internet and ordered them. I am enjoying rereading the story of my youth along with my granddaughters. I read a chapter or two to them each day. The book is just as much fun now as it was over a half century ago.

Doug C.

I haven't read this book in years, but it's with me all the time. Hal Clement's books are always entertaining, and also usually are what is called Hard Science Fiction. He creates incredible worlds, and comes up with beings to live in them. All very logical and realistic. This one is a little less so, but at the same time every movement by the alien is logical. Not Spock logical, but true to his form and mindset. The other reviews tell the basic idea of the book. But in this case the relationship between the boy and the detective is the most important thing. If you are a teenager, like I was forty odd years ago when I first read it. you will enjoy the protagonists and the story.
And when you get older, it will stay with you, and you will compare other books to it. It really should be a classic to be read in school, but then, a kid would probably avoid it.

Needle is quite good, possibly the first successful SF detective story. John W. Campbell said it couldn't be done, and that irritated Hal Clement enough that he wrote Needle to prove Campbell wrong. Although the premise is a bit goofy, the story is very satisfying. I recommend it to all.