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The Puppet Masters

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"The Puppet Masters" was first published in 1951 as a manuscript of approximately 60,000 words, eliminating some 36,000 words from Heinlein's original story. The cuts were made because of concerns about the book's length and the controversial (sexual) nature of some of the passages eliminated. Of course, what was risqué in 1951 is extremely tame by today's standards and in 1990, two years after his death, Heinlein's original version was finally published. I read the shorter version of "The Puppet Masters" sometime in the early 1960s but this review is based on my just completed reading of the long version.

When a flying saucer lands in isolated Grinnell, Iowa, it appears to be business-as-usual, just another hoax put together by a couple of Iowa farm boys with nothing better to do. Or is it? All the "Old Man" knows for sure is that he sent several agents to Iowa to investigate the landing and that none of them have been seen or heard from since. That is why he decides to go to Iowa along with two of his best agents, "Sam" and "Mary," posing as a family of tourists in Grinnell to get a firsthand look at the flying saucer. What they see is an obvious hoax, a ship that would fool no one for long. What they learn before barely escaping Grinnell, however, is shocking.

The citizens of Grinnell, Iowa, are being controlled by alien parasites that have attached themselves to the spinal columns of their victims. Since the parasites are hidden by the clothing of those they control, all appears normal to unsuspecting humans until they, too, are saddled with a Puppet Master of their very own.

The "Old Man" and his two agents return to Washington D.C. where they face the difficult task of convincing the President and his staff that the threat from Iowa is real. Seeking evidence that will finally convince government authorities that the U.S. has been invaded by an alien culture, Sam returns to Iowa with two agents and a live camera capable of broadcasting "stereo" images back to Washington. Needless to say, things do not go well for Sam and his crew but he accidentally returns with the proof he needs to make his case: an agent who has been taken over by one of the alien "slugs." Thus, begins America's fight for survival but, despite the best efforts of America's military, the entire center of the U.S., from north to south, is soon lost to the Puppet Masters.

"The Puppet Masters" is very much a novel of its time. Heinlein, for instance, makes comparisons between what it is like for an American living under the control of a Puppet Master and what it is like to live behind the Iron Curtain or in communist Russia. Sam comes to the conclusion that the two experiences must be very similar, maybe even worse for the unfortunate Europeans and Russians. Too, modern readers are likely to find Heinlein's attitude toward women to be sexist, and at least a bit offensive, because his female characters, unless they are elderly, are always described in terms of their attractiveness, first, and their abilities, second. And, while this long version of the novel does include Sam's sexual escapades, his romance with Mary, and references to orgies and the like, it is all presented in a very 1950s squeaky clean manner. It is the kind of thing that appealed mightily, of course, to teenage male readers of the era.

"The Puppet Masters" holds up surprisingly well today despite the fact that it was one of the first alien invasion novels of its type, one in which those being invaded by aliens took the initiative to fight back. One could not likely have read the novel during the 1950s without thinking of America's cold war with Russia and all the horrors that might suddenly spring from that standoff. Mr. Heinlein knew his audience well and "The Puppet Masters" became a science fiction classic.

The Puppet Masters (1951) is a standalone SF novel. It is set in the present era on a timeline where Russia is still ruled by the communist party and the USA has a base on the Moon. Armed satellites orbit the Earth and watch for threats down below.

In this novel, Sam Cavanaugh is visiting a site near Des Moines where a flying saucer has become a tourist attraction. He is actually an agent in the Section, a black agency reporting directly to the President.

Charles M. Cavanaugh is Sam's uncle, accompanying him to the site. He is actually the head of the Section.

Mary Cavanaugh is Sam's sister. She is actually another agent in the Section.

In this novel, Sam is awakened by his imbedded phone and ordered to report for duty. He enters one of the many entrances to the agency headquarters and reports to the Old Man. There he learns his cover identity and is introduced to his sister.

As they fly, Charlie briefs them on a saucer landing. They travel as tourists to the site of a fake flying saucer and buy tickets to see the attraction. Charlie decides to not enter the cramped mockup and they return to the car.

They try to check out a nearby site where the real saucer landing had been photographed by a military satellite. On the way, Mary tells them that several of the men at the fake saucer site seemed to not respond to her sexuality. She calls them "harem guards".

The Cavanaughs cannot get to the site of the real saucer, so they fly into Des Moines to investigate the broadcast station that carried the first reports. Charlie impersonates a federal communication official and gets into the manager's office. There Mary signals that the manager is a harem guard. The manager abruptly moves toward a drawer and Sam burns off his legs.

The manager is dead, but something is moving on his back. Sam puts on agent gloves and cuts off the manager's jacket. A slug-like creature is riding high on the back. They chivvy the slug into a film can and take it back to headquarters, but it dies on the way.

In the capitol, Charlie goes to the president with the story and cannot get him to believe the evidence. The agency sends Sam back with two other agents to try to capture another specimen. Everything goes wrong, but when they get back to the agency, Mary signals that one of the other agents is not responding properly. They remove the slug and put it on a disabled ape.

This tale spends a major chunk of the text showing how the president and congress cannot believe the evidence that the Section has provided. The politicians only start to believe in the slugs after having personally been possessed by the slugs or having seen the creatures riding someone else.

Sam and Charlie start calling the slugs "puppet masters" because the creatures ride humans like horses, but also have full use of their minds and memories. Sam gets to see the puppet masters from the inside when one catches and rides him. Later the humans regain others who have had such experiences. All would rather die than be recaptured.

This work has an Introduction that discusses the story itself and its significance. It also has an Afterword that speaks of the personal feelings of a reader who had read this story in her teen years. They both explain the tale as an allegory about war and despotism. Not a specific war or despot, but all wars and all despots.

This work does not belong in any series. Yet it fits into the theme of human tenacity and ingenuity that stands out in all of the author's works. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Heinlein fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of alien invasions, human perseverance, and true romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

"Were they truly intelligent? By themselves, that is? I don't know and I don't know how we can ever find out..."

While the idea of alien parasites infiltrating humanity is pretty much standard sci-fi now (from Jack Finney to "Stargate SG-1"), Robert Heinlein was pretty early on the concept. And "The Puppet Masters" remains a chilling story to this day -- he wove together some brilliantly vivid writing, some climatic twists, and an intelligent look at how the threat of alien slugs would change our society almost overnight.

Sam (an agent for a top-top-top-secret government organization) accompanies the Old Man and his new partner Mary to a site where a UFO supposedly crashed in rural Iowa. Unfortunately, they soon encounter bizarre gloppy alien creatures that attach themselves to a host's back -- and it turns out that one of them sneaked along with the Old Man's team, back to Washington.

With Iowa completely possessed and the government threatened by alien manipulation, all of humanity suddenly is in danger -- countries start bickering, people become hysterical, and almost everybody is practically naked. As the United States tries to keep the aliens contained, Sam and Mary must find a weakness in the puppet-masters that won't kill the host as well. And the answer may lie long ago in Mary's half-forgotten past...

"The Puppet Masters" is a true classic -- it spawned "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "The Faculty" and even a "Star Trek" episode. Not only is a chilling look at a quiet alien invasion via "body-snatching" slugs, it's also a pretty intelligent look at the societal changes that might come from alien parasites -- clothes aren't worn, pets become lethal, and an atmosphere of distrust where anyone may become a possessed killer.

The biggest problem with Heinlein's writing is the sexist attitudes towards "females," which is smugly condescending at best. Otherwise he comes up with a pretty solid "future" Earth that is just a little more advanced than we are and a few wars down the road (World War III is mentioned), but not too different in the ways that count (if you can overlook now-anachronistic stuff like a communist Russia).

And Heinlein unrolls a slow-moving sci-fi tale that's heavy on the social/political stuff, some horrific moments (S "All planets are ours") and a rapid romance between Sam and Mary. His style has a delightfully, deceptively casual flair and some snappy dialogue ("Cosmetics?" "Your own ugly face will do"), but he also does a brilliant job with the more atmospheric, intense moments of the book -- such as a blissed-out, hag-ridden Sam drifting around Washington.

Sam makes a good sharp-tongued, quick-witted hero who still has time to feel sorry about killing a poor innocent cat, although Mary is somewhat two-dimensional until the end of the book (when we find out more about her). The Old Man is perhaps the most compelling character: an incredibly smart and ruthless chief of a government agency, who cares deeply about his estranged son but is still willing to put almost everything on the line to save humanity.

Aliens taking over human bodies is something of a cliche now, but "Puppet Masters" is a suitably chilling look at the trope's origins. If you can get past the antiquated attitudes towards women, it's a brilliant little book.

When I was a teenager, Robert A. Heinlein was one of my favorite sci-fi authors. Time had passed by, but I still love some of his books. "The Puppet Masters" is one of them.

This book was published in 1951 when the Cold War was raging. That cultural background greatly influences the story. As I pointed out in other reviews, books and films of the period allude the frightful issue of: "They are LIKE us but they are NOT us. They are DANGEROUS to us", as in the films "The Thing from another World" (1951), "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956) or "I Married a Monster from Outer Space" (1958).

The story focuses on an alien invasion that expands all around the world with unimaginable speed. Sam and Mary are agents of an ultra secret Security Agency under the control of the Old Man who have a direct link to the President.
Both agents go to investigate and after discovering what's up, a fast paced adventure starts.
Alien parasites take control of human beings by the expedient of attaching themselves to the back of the host. The first frightful issue to overcome is how to distinguish friend from foes. Then, the Government has to implement some defense against them, that include a "bare backs" politic. Finally our heroes try to find the source and origin of the invasion.

At this height of his career, Heinlein was more centered in the action than in political or social speculation, as he develops in later books, with uneven success.

I recommend this book to all sci-fi lovers and those who enjoy adrenalin charged adventures.

Reviewed by Max Yofre.

How does RAH get labeled the greatest SF writer who ever lived? Most prolific, maybe, especially as an American SF writer. The cold war was a real mind job on Americans in the 50s. Here comes a global catastrophe that only America can solve; in fact, only Sam Cavanaugh. The jokes, dialogue, and juvenile thoughts about women are embarrassing to read (as always with RAH). What's up with drinking like an alcoholic (6-12 beers) just to celebrate solving a problem? How do the slugs take over the humans and just speak English like it's cool? What was happening in other parts of the world? Why are the only two countries that seem to matter USA and Russia?

Cool things - cell phones, the influence of a quality woman in Sam's life, Sam's imperfections and lack of self-confidence which he overcomes. But even with these technologies, with a global catastrophe, why aren't nations working together to solve the problem? Despite whatever questions lay unanswered about how, I liked the impact on the media, and the Heinleinesque opinions of government by the people.

And here's a point in the book I don't think I agree with 100%:
"the price of freedom is the willingness to do sudden battle, anywhere, any time, and with utter recklessness."

It seems like any battles America has been in, in my lifetime, have been associated with this attitude, and have only increased debt for Americans (debt being less freedom). Read the pamphlet "War is a racket" by Smedley Butler if you really want to experience the truth about these wars for freedom, and what they really accomplish. I think David Pringle listed this in his 100 greatest SF books for being the first mind-controlling alien horror story. And we do need to watch out for mind controlling anythings, don't we? Predictable and tacky, with a few interesting moments.