Alien: Cult

by Gavin G. Smith

An FBI agent on the trail of a brutal serial killer gets caught in the web of a Xenomorph-worshipping religion in this thrilling murder mystery twist on the Alien universe, for fans of Scott Sigler's Phalanx and Alex White's Cold Forge.

In the affluent, technocratic Alexandria Colony, people are disappearing. And witnesses are dying in grisly, mysterious ways—it all reeks of Xenomorphs. At a loss, the Hume City police call in Special Agent Tyler Matterton to solve what they can't. Tyler is a rising star in the FBI's Esoteric Crime Unit, investigating crimes involving exotic tech or first contact situations—the weird murders.

With the local police department baffled, Tyler and his synthetic partner Serena are set on the case, tracking the killer through the underbelly of Hume City only to find themselves in the middle of something much larger and more horrifying than they possibly imagined. There is a cult at the heart of the Alexandria Colony, and it will stop at nothing to serve its Goddess.

In this latest original novel, discover the world of Alien as you've never seen it before. Veteran sci-fi author Gavin G. Smith's deliciously twisted crime thriller is a terrifying thrill ride sure to hook readers from the first page to the last.

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 30, 2025

About the author

Gavin Smith was born in Dundee in the same year that Iron Butterfly recorded Inna-Gadda-da-Vida. He has also lived in Camberley, Hayling Island, Portsmouth, Hull, Leamington Spa and is currently living a near feral existence in Leicester (if you see him in the streets he will write science fiction for sweeties). Anyone who has been to any of these places will understand why his fiction is like it is.

He has a degree in writing for film and a Masters in medieval history. Veteran is his first novel but he is patiently waiting for one of the 2.5 scripts that have been optioned to be turned into films.

He likes to travel and dive when he can afford it and in his free time he enjoys getting the s**t kicked out of him whilst practicing Silat. He is hoping that his books do well so he can buy a motorbike.

Reviews

[Kev · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll start off by saying that this book has absolutely nothing to do with Xenomorphs and is just very VERY slightly linked to the Prometheus/black goo storyline so I feel like I really was mis-sold on buying this book and is a really bad case of false advertising.

That being said, I stuck with it anyway and I’ve got to say that although this definitely should not be under the ‘Alien’ label this was a very exciting scifi thriller that I actually thoroughly enjoyed. The characters were good, the story was atmospheric, fast paced and original and was action packed from the start.

I personally think this was written with no thought of it being an Alien book at all and then just before publishing they stuck in a few mentions of Weyland Yutani etc in it (literally twice!) to sell it as part of the franchise which is very naughty but I did actually enjoy it regardless and would definitely read another book by this author in the future.

So if you’re thinking of reading this then do not expect anything Alien related and you should enjoy it.

[user48573452 · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

Man I had such high hopes for this novel and could not have been anymore wrong!

In short, it has nothing to do with Xenos like the synopsis mentions. It isn't an 'Alien Cult' at all... it is a 'Black Goo Cult'

After this and Perfect Orgaisms, it is clear that Titan are trying to tie together the old with the new. Please just shove all this 'Black Goo' crap up your asses... this franchise is well and truly dead IMO

[Thomas Norford · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superior Aliens novel which regardless of the franchise, works as an excellent cyberpunk potboiler crossed with a sci-fi western. The world building and characterisation are great, and the prose clips along nicely.

I've read a lot of the Alien novels and many of them fail because they throw wave after wave of xenomorphs at the reader, deadening their impact completely. This novel takes a much more original approach.

[Hazel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have never in my whole life read a book with so many typos, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

[Elliot Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read every alien novel so far from the bizarre to the brilliant I always love a fresh take on the universe outside of the more common plots we see repeated in alien. it starts with some xeno meets blade runner vibes and it takes it to more of a western, i'm more of a fan of the former, however, i did enjoy my time with this book. Reminds me of some of the original alien novels where it brushes the alien franchise but has it's own story to tell.

[Gergely · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book may have been kinda-sorta good-ish in the nineties, when Crichton's Jurassic Park brought genetic engineering in as the new boogieman to replace nuclear power.

It may have been acceptable (after a few drinks) around 2020 or so, when COVID hit, and genetic manipulation again was front and center.

Now, it's just a sad failure. Which is unfortunate, because it could have been good. I think the main problem was that the writer wanted too much, too many themes and storylines, and it all fell apart under its own weight. Also, the fact that most of the characters are shallow archetypes (at best), and rather unlikeable, interchangeable, and forgettable, does not do the book any favors.

So, a few issues specifically:
- Cultist wanting to genetically modify themselves to Prometheus/Covenant-style Engineers. Yeah, right. How exactly know they how they look, since neither Prometheus, nor Covenant returned?
- If they are Engineer-wannabes, why do they modify themselves with xenomorph-imitation inner jaws?
- Why is the FBI agent the most inept, incompetent, useless waste of flesh pining for his android partner? And yeah, that whole relationship was creepy as hell due to the power imbalance ... and the very, very awkward writing.
- Why is Biotechnica even more incompetent and shortsighted than WY in the Alien:Earth series? Sure, having your deniable research facility placed in a faraway hick planet without competent oversight, dedicated damage control assets, or reliable ways of getting the vital research data off-planet?
- Why mention hypersleep dreaming and hint at xenomorph psychic shenanigans, when the story does not do anything with the plot point?

And so on. Overall, a very, very disappointing book, that fails even in comparison to the Steve/Stephanie Perry trilogy from the early 90s....

[Dylan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was quite looking forward to this. Part 1 was engaging, I loved the atmosphere, gritty and dark. Blade Runner esque. The imagery was great. Part 2 a big change of scenery, slowed down a little. I enjoyed the references to Prometheus and Covenant. I thought there would be another change of scenery but it kind of just stayed here and throughout Part 3. I enjoyed the detective/mystery style. All in all an enjoyable read but I expected a little more.

However, my biggest gripe with this was the unbelievable amount of grammar errors. I don't know if this was properly edited or proof-read, but there are many, the most I have encountered in any book. I read the eBook version. I could accept a few but it just took me out of the story every time I came across another. Probably not the authors fault, more so with whoever edited this.

2.75/5

[Maya Malice · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a fine story I guess but not the alien book its billed as. We don't see xeno's in the normal sense at all, just face huggers and the Queen, and we don't see either of those until the last 30 pages. This is much more about the engineers from Prometheus, which the cult worships. Great if you think that movie is good I guess...

[BookishBexx&theCats · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars because even though the story and characters were great the book needed better editing. Many instances of the wrong form of there/their, run on sentences and grammatical errors ruined some of the reading experience.

[Brett Chapman-richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel take on the franchise

A really novel and interesting take on the franchise. Taking one star off because the ending was incredibly abrupt, and I'd have loved to read more about the aftermath!

[Alex Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

fell short on the ending.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

could not finish due to the Grammer mistakes.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

The word that comes to mind for this novel is careless. Full of mistakes and a climax that doesn't make any logical sense. It's like the author forgot how facehuggers work.