Invasion (1975 novel)

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Winter Moon

Author	Dean Koontz (as Aaron Wolfe)
Original title	Invasion
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Horror, Suspense
Publisher	Berkley Publishing
Publication date	1975 (as Invasion); 1994 (as Winter Moon)
Media type	Paperback
Pages	480
ISBN	ISBN 0-553-58293-3 (Winter Moon edition)

Invasion (also known as Winter Moon) is a novel by author Dean Koontz, released in 1975 under the pseudonym Aaron Wolfe. Koontz later extensively revised this work and it was reissued in 1994 under the title Winter Moon.

The story, which involves alien lifeforms entering rural Montana, draws some inspiration from Quatermass and the Pit, as evidenced by the name of the town in the story, Quartermass.

[edit] Synopsis

The first half of the book flashes between the lives of its two protagonists; a police officer living in the city, and his uncle who owns an isolated farm out in the countryside. One day, the police officer's life is changed forever when he gets into an intense shootout with a drug-crazed Hollywood director. The officer kills the director and saves the lives of several innocent bystanders, but his life is ruined when the cult director's fans and Hollywood associates cook up a deranged conspiracy theory that accuses the officer of executing the director in order to silence him.

Meanwhile, the police officer's uncle must deal with several increasingly bizarre incidents in his isolated country property, including strange lights in the woods and abnormal animal behavior. The uncle realizes that some otherworldly force is stalking him, and ultimately dies of a heart attack during a horrific confrontation with the entity.

In the second half of the book, the police officer and his family flee the persecution they face in the city, and settle at the uncle's country house, which the officer has just inherited. The family will ultimately have to confront the force in the woods, an extra-dimensional lovecraftian entity.