Heinlein R, 1951, The Puppet Masters

Ooo, but Heinlein has some dodgy ideas about sex. He truly is a dirty pleasure, and you always need a good wash after reading anything he's written. But he's a first person plotter who gallops at a story and I find I can forget about the dodgy until after the story's done. Turn off your thinking, and thrill to the action.

So: what happens? Alien slugs invade and control the people of Earth.  The people of Earth - rugged individualists from the US of A - heroically fight back. The people of Earth from other countries are pathetic walkovers, and collaborators.

RH likes naked. He particularly likes naked redheads (female variety). Sadly, despite our Viking ancestry ticking the redhead box, our English fear of nudity means we're an early casualty in the alien war...

I wonder: can you tell anything about Heinlein's politics yet? Or his sexual politics?

DOWN WITH COMMUNISM. AND GET YOUR TITS OUT, LOVE.

First line

Were they truly intelligent? By themselves, that is? I don't know, and I don't know how we can ever find out. I'm not a lab man; I'm an operator.

Last line

Death and Destruction!