Unidentified Flying Objects are streaking south across the skies over Canada and the United States. When American fighter pilots attempt to intercept them, one of the mysterious craft is shot down and crash-lands near the small rural town of Resolution, Missouri.
Soon after the crash, the people of Resolution find themselves caught between a covert arm of the US military and nightmarish creatures from beyond the stars.
Townsfolk go missing. Cell phones and vehicles malfunction for no reason. Those who try to flee the town are stopped at gunpoint by heavily armed operatives, and isolated farms are attacked by unspeakable monsters.
Now, the townsfolk must band together if they hope to survive and escape.
But time is running out, and the Visitors are closing in.
Aliens attack a small town and the army tries to gas the whole town of Resolution, Missouri. Who will survive? The book started very strong and was extremely page turning. After halfway through it dragged a bit and was a bit overlong. Otherwise a very compelling alien attack story with bad army/evil invaders to cope with. Solid and good. Characters were nicely carved. Really recommended!
It took me a bit to get into this one but once it got going - it got GOING. There were some pretty brutal and gory parts, but it wasn’t overly done at all. I really liked just about every character, but the two Marines + Sheriff absolutely stole my heart
This book hits all the sweet spots: eerie atmosphere, grounded characters, military suspense, and a creeping sense of dread that builds until it completely consumes you. What I loved most was how Lass weaves the grounded realism of military protocol and small-town life with cosmic horror and extraterrestrial mystery. You feel like you're watching The Mist meets Independence Day but told with the eerie restraint of The Twilight Zone. The horror isn’t just blood and guts—it’s psychological, existential, and slowly seeping in like fog under a door. If you're a fan of Stephen King, Nick Cutter, or stories that mix Americana, apocalypse, and alien terror—do yourself a favor and pick this up. Just don’t read it right before bed.
Was wary when I first picked this one up from Kindle, almost 600 pages? But then I read it in two days and had a memorable, good time. A small town in the Midwest becomes the location of an alien spaceship shot down by the air force, on the night of a big high school football game no less! The little aliens with glowing eyes and death ray pistols who emerge from the downed craft proceed to make life very tough for the simple farm folk as they go on a fiery rampage. Meanwhile, the government, in an attempt to contain any news of the event enforce some brutal crowd control methods of its own. Despite the length, the writing is very simple and easy to read, some might say skimmable! So there's nothing to get in the way of epic alien siege shoot-outs and flying saucer mayhem. The entire third act is essentially a massive action setpiece, and once it picks up, it's hard to put down. On the simplistic side, but commits to tactical action and makes for an exciting B-movie in book form.
Well written, realistic and very engaging. The characters are great as well. I wasn’t completely satisfied with the ending but such is life. There were a fair bit of mistakes but I enjoyed the book so much that I highlighted them and planned to let the author know to correct. Just some mixed up names and consistency errors. Nothing that detracted too much from the book.
"Visitors" is a thrilling, emotionally-charged story about aliens invading a small Missouri town backed by a government that's willing to do anything to keep the public from finding out about it. The book takes off slowly but quickly builds into a page-turner once the little guys from the pods start walking the countryside. Author Robert Lass creates numerous interesting characters in the small town of Resolution who spend the last 2/3rds of the novel fighting for survival.
Why the 3 stars then, you ask? Well, this book is really hampered by dozens and dozens of grammatical, capitalization, punctuation errors, and other gaffes. At times, those issues made it tough to get through the story because, to an old teacher, they stand out like a neon light in a dark room. I don't know if Lass edited the book himself (always a bad idea) or hired an incompetent editor, but if these issues are cleaned up in a future edition, it will help the story immensely.
If you can get past those aforementioned "fingernails on a chalkboard" errors, then you'll find a solid alien invasion story.
This is a poor example of what a college graduate should able to write. The whole story is generic and riddled with cliche and poor editing. The ending where most people died was refreshing and that no hero saved the day, main character did survive and got the girl. Far more realistic than some I've read but many facts were wrong. I can give a more detailed review if it is wanted.
Oh man, this was not written for me. Without further ado, here are some thoughts on Visitors.
- This book needs an editor like I need a 12 month paid vacation. - The language used was beyond silly I mean; ”eat lead, you fucking space gook”. That sentence speaks for itself and no, it was not an isolated incident. - There was no flow to the story and it read like something written by a high school student. - Or, something written by or using AI. Several sentences made me wonder if AI was involved as they were bulky, clunky, repetitive and gave a lot of unnecessary information.
All in all this felt rushed, unpolished, juvenile, AI adjacent and definitely fit into that nameless genre of books written by former military who may lean a bit too heavily on realistic military interactions mixed with characters full of ”I’m such a macho military man” vibes. If you like that and can handle poorly edited, unpolished and slightly juvenile prose, then this might be for you.
DNF’d after chapter 6. I believe this was written using AI. There’s an odd amount of repetitive sentences. For example, these kind of sentences have been used repeatedly just in different contexts, “the character stuffed pencils, notebooks, erasers, and textbooks into his bag” or “the character ordered pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, and potatoes.” And then there is this mess, “He remembered his big Stanley thermos filled with ice water sitting on a workbench in the back of the barn. He walked to the back of the barn and grabbed the big thermos off the work bench.” Genuinely, what the fuck is that? This book feels hollow with absolutely no substance and the characters have no personality. Poor excuse for a book.
This is my first book I have read by Robert Lass and it surely will NOT be the last! From the beginning, to the end, I was intrigued with how our characters would handle the visitor situation. The other reviews are true, this book is brutal, just because a character is related or close to one of the main characters doesn’t mean they have plot amor. It was a slow build up but interesting enough to keep me reading. I’m super glad I read it and will be looking for more like this! At the end, Robert shares his inspiration for his book, which were super intriguing and will have me googling them later! Last note: there was a train crash in Ohio that also was holding some chemical. This book reminded me of that situation and it had me conspiring (Palestine, Ohio) All in all, great book-awesome read and I’ll be back for more! I would love to see a sequel about what happened to those who got abducted or if the visitors ever come back for our main protagonist since “they do not leave behind witnesses.”
Listen, people don't read these kinds of books for the high literary merit. We read them for good old entertainment, and overall, this was an entertaining book. I know editors are expensive, prohibitively so for many authors, but a rigorous round of editing could have prevented sentences like, "He went to the table at the back of the room to get a cup from the table at the back of the room." (Not an exact sentence in the book but an example of several such sentences).
A good round of editing also would've also cut out a lot of the redundancy where the reader is told something in the narrative then the character says the same exact thing in dialogue in the next paragraph, or just rambling stuff that doesn't really contribute anything.
A good editor also could've helped the author cut the book down from a sloggish 500 pages to a more reasonable 300-350, which is a page count appropriate for a book like this. (Books too long is a newbie mistake. I did it, too, early in my writing career, so I get it. It happens when you don't know any better. Unless it's an epic fantasy, no book needs to be almost 500 pages). By the time I got to the 80% mark in the book, I was tired of it and started skimming just to get through it faster. By the time the reader gets to the 80% mark in the book, they should be on the edge of their seat as the climax approaches, not skimming because they've been trudging through an arduous 400+ pages and still aren't done yet.
Profanity Alert: If you find extensive profanity exhausting, be aware that this book is full of profanity, including massive usage of the F-word.
Overall, though, it's a decent book with lots of good action sequences. If you enjoy a good alien-invading-the-Earth book, I say give it shot if you can overlook some of the editing issues.
Well this was a thick one, but well worth the read. The short chapters and multiple perspectives contributed to a fast-paced narrative.
This was an excellent alien horror novel. A small town is invaded by Visitors and the story unfolds from the perspectives of both the military and the local residents. We gain insight into the experiences of the Parker family, Sheriff Byrd, a couple of Marines, and members of the United States Air Force.
The story plunges into action from the very first chapter when the United States Air Force detects something unusual on their radar display, leaving them uncertain about its nature.
From that point onward, the narrative is filled with excitement, featuring bizarre electric weapons and toxic gas that takes over the town. The townspeople must unite to defend themselves and salvage what remains of their community.
The ending takes a dark turn quickly, and I fully embraced it. It concluded in a manner that I somehow anticipated, but not in a predictable way—rather, it unfolded in the most explainable way possible.
This book...All I can say is wow!!!...This book was AMAZING!!!....the author really understood the assignment with this one...it had me going through all the emotions...from happiness to sad...from sad to angry...this author took you on and emotionally Rollercoaster!!...the story was one of hope and tragedy and it every heartstring.....the only gripe I have and it's a small one...it took a long to get to the meat and potatoes with the story because the author wrote this book in the prospective of 5 or 6 different characters so there was alot of character building at the beginning...but when it took of..holy cow it was pedal to the metal until the end of the book...and the last ten chapters of the book were some of the most intense chapter a I have ever read....if I could I would give this 6 stars!!! I recommend this book all day long and I just found out that this author has 2 more books..best believe i am going to snag them up...I definitely wholeheartedly recommend this book if you want a spooky action packed extraterrestrial thriller snaked with conspiracy!!!!
I normally don’t wander into this genre, at least not without a map, a flashlight, and maybe a snack, but The Visitors by Robert Lass was our book club pick this month. And, surprisingly… I was sucked in pretty early on. A small rural town, an alien invasion, and a government cover-up? Honestly, what’s not to love? It felt like The X-Files took a detour through a cornfield and decided to stay for pie. Overall, I thought the ending could have used just a little bit more… another chapter, an extra twist. We found the what… i’m not going to ruin it but I would have loved to see the aftermath. Still, it was still a solid 4-star read for me. A delightful surprise from a genre I don’t usually explore!
A strange fireball streaks across the sky during the Friday night football game in the small town of Resolution, Missouri. Then the power goes out, the military quarantines the town, and the unsuspecting residents find themselves dealing with an alien invasion.
The story had an interesting start with good characters, but quickly devolved into detailed descriptions of guns and their calibers, editing errors where character’s names were confused or words were repeated, and a military plot that made no sense, even if you do believe in conspiracies. It became more and more ridiculous. It might make a decent b-movie, but I did not enjoy it as a book.
Visitors is a sci-fi thriller about an alien force that encounters unexpected resistance and their retaliation for it. The book is fast paved and no-one is safe from the mayhem that ensues. Elijah is a great character, especially for a high school freshman age character, and Madison is a great character as well. We don't get to know the other characters as well. The aliens aren't the biggest threat, ill leave it to future readers to find out why. Overall, 4/5 stars, recommended for fans of survival thrillers and alien invasion thrillers!
This was a good read, very entertaining and engaging through the whole book. The story is well written and the characters are mostly three-dimensional and consistent, so it makes the story better. There is a lot of action throughout the story and a lot of moving parts. In other words, not a lot of lulls or boring parts. So, nice! There are some gory parts, but nothing too bad, in my opinion. I feel like it's just enough to give you a mental image of the scene. This is a stand-alone book, so the conclusion is closed-ended. No unresolved endings here. I recommend giving this book a try.
This could have been a 4 star read for me if they had of put a bit more effort into editing. I understand spelling mistakes happen but there are more than a few in this book. Also the ending seems rushed and cut off. Like the author got to a certain point and realised that the book was getting far too long and just stopped writing. But those things aside, I did enjoy this read. It was fun and easy to follow. I didn’t find it scary or creepy. It had a lot more potential I think. But overall a fun book.
This really started as a fun, entertaining read about an alien attack. Then the total lack of proof reading hits, and that detracts from the story. If I picked up multiple errors in my read, surely you could have caught some of these with a proof read before publishing. Then comes the antagonists. For a book labeled Visitors, you'd think there'd be more content with said Visitors. SPOILERS..... The big bad really feels like it's the US Govt. All that being said, I was still mildly entertained, so I rate this 2.5 stars
This was a really good story. Although I do occassionally watch sci-fi movies/tv shows, I rarely read the books. I'm so glad I read this. Very well written, great characters. I really liked the way it ended; most authors would have gone a totally different and less believable route. It doesn't end in a true cliffhanger, but the door is definitely open for more books and I'll be sure to read them. Highly recommend this one.
Felt rushed 3/4 through book. So much involved between characters and the author brought them each to life. Nothing wrong with writing, atmosphere was great. Felt that the characters were kind of wasted potential toward end. It would’ve been a great trilogy. Felt there was some unresolved plot and wanted to know what happened with the main characters. Honestly it just felt rushed at the very end and a little disappointed.
Reading this book was like watching a B-movie on steroids! So much action. Crazy alien monsters, evil government, brave citizens, young love. And best of all, there was a lot of talk about God. No sex scenes and some foul language, but not a lot. I hope there is a book 2. Thank you for your service devil dog 🫡
I usually don't bother to do reviews but this book was so bad I had to say something. While its supposed to be a sci-fi book it turns out to be just a really boring back page of the newspaper article about people living in the country with a few military types thrown in.
This book was quite fast-paced. The start was a little slow, but maybe for only a few chapters. But even then, it wasn’t boring.
This book I believe is the first alien invasion novel I’ve ever read (from memory) and it did not disappoint.
There was so much action and the author wrote it in a way so that it felt energised. The jumping between characters within the one chapter was a little confusing at first when you’re still learning who’s who since there are so many. In saying that, it helped with making the book feel fast-paced, energised, and action-packed. My only gripe was the spelling and grammatical errors throughout the book. Otherwise, it was a great read.
If you like books that contain: 👽 Aliens 👾 Military personnel 👽 Alien-Human battles 👾 Chaos 👽 And more
80s sci-fi fun Reminded me of every alien movie I watched as a child of the 80s Very corny and predictable at times. The author uses every cliche ever used. Not an ounce of new creativity in this book however it was a fun read If I missed this book I would haven’t missed much. Since I bought it might as well finish it
Great read I could not stop resting very engaging I honestly enjoyed reading this exciting and kept me in the edge of my seat would like to kno what happens to the Maddy snd Eli
A fun read. Definitely terrifying because the horror comes from multiple sources. This is a fast paced alien invasion. Good characters. A good setting and a great storyline. Would love to see more.
It's been a while since I've read a book start to finish in one day but this story was so suspenseful I couldn't put it down. Great characters and a suspenseful plot.