Title: The Visitor
Author: Brent Ayscough
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.
Tasked by the Federation of Planets to determine if Earthlings present a threat as they venture into space, Tak, an alien anthropologist, leaves her starship orbiting Earth and takes a shuttle to Kansas. Intending to study humans in the United States—as she has learned no Earth language but English—she is detected while descending through the atmosphere and only evades capture by fleeing to Europe, where she lands in Poland. There, she meets an international arms merchant, Baron Von Limbach, who becomes her guide. She studies “typical” human behavior by accompanying the baron as he fulfills his latest assignment—to get the Dalai Lama back into Tibet. His method of halting the communist takeover of Tibet is to create a race-specific Ebola that will only attack Han Chinese, giving Tak a prime example of how barbaric humans can be. However, the CIA and US military are aware of Tak’s presence on Earth and are determined to capture her. And if she is unable to complete her mission and return to her starship—her captain will destroy every living thing on Earth.
In The Visitor, Tak, an alien anthropologist, is charged with studyng the humans of the United States in an effort to determine if Earthlings present a threat. She’s only learned one Earth language, English, so the US is a natural choice to go to…except she’s detected when descending through the atmosphere and can narrowly escape capture by fleeing to Europe. She eventually lands in Poland, where she meets an international arms dealer, Baron Von Limbach, who becomes her guide and study object.
But the Baron isn’t exactly a good example of humanity’s kindness, love and compassion, as his latest plan is to stop the communist takeover of Tibet by creating a race-specific version of the Ebola virus. This was actually a very chilling part of the book, because it sounded like something that could be done in real life, if only you brought the right people together. Chilling, to say the least.
Tak is an intriguing character, and her mission is quite dangerous. The combination of a terrorism weapon and threat and science fiction, with the aliens and how they think about humans, is an interesting combination.
I loved this book, and finished it in one sitting. Recommended to fans of science fiction.
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