The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein ~ 1951. This edition: Signet, circa 1975. Paperback. 175 pages.
Flashback to the school library rotating paperback rack!
I first read Robert A. Heinlein as a teen in the 1970s. I found some of his more extreme libertarian and offhandedly sexist views a bit problematic way back then, but kept reading because of the storytelling – it was pretty darned good for sci-fi for its time.
How does it travel to 2022?
Hmm. Still problematic. Mostly for his patronizingly chauvinistic views towards women. His ideal female? Built, beautiful, sexually willing, good in the kitchen and very, very quiet.
Misogynistic attitudes possibly put aside – though I’ve met a disturbingly large number of these folks, both male and female, who have vintage 1950s’-type views on the equality of the sexes – today’s “libertarians” seem to have ideological views right on par with Heinlein’s, so I guess you might say he was ahead of his time – or a product of his time? – in regards to his frequently trotted out diatribes on the dangers of socialism.
But on to the story. (Remembering that it was written in 1951, so the action is set some six decades in the future.)
It’s 2007. Flying saucer sightings have recently been reported all over the U.S.A., and one is discovered to be on the ground in the country outside Des Moines, Iowa. Initial radio reports from the scene indicate that the occupants are alive and … then … silence. When transmission resumes, it’s all very, “Ha ha ha! Just a couple of teenagers pulling off an elaborate hoax! Nothing to see here, folks, nothing to see…”
Scenting danger, a trio of state security secret agents heads for the site of the mystery spaceship, and discovers something exceedingly unsettling. Strange, mollusc-like creatures are parasitizing humans, nestling along their spines and controlling their thoughts and actions. The slugs (as they are soon nicknamed by the humans still not under the influence) seem to be able to replicate quickly, and are very quick to utilize what they are learning from their hosts to further their invasion.
Planetary disaster! The aliens must be stopped! (Save the President!) After some chapters of non-stop action – including a week off for passionate lovemaking between Secret Agents Number Two (a young man of almost superhuman strategy, fighting and survival skills) and Secret Agent Number Three (his female counterpart, with the added bonus of being built, beautiful, willing, silent, etcetera) the weak spot of the slug-creatures is discovered, and invasion mop-up begins.
This plot sounds as goofy as all get out, and it really is, but there is some solid writing for the genre in there too. Heinlein’s consistent popularity through the decades – most of his novels are still in print and selling very well indeed – argues for some twinkles of gold amidst the dross.
This isn’t really much of a review, and I really should head off to bed – morning comes so soon! – so you might want to head over to E. Magill’s excellent post here. Magill also uses the term “problematic”, and his “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” assessments mirror my own, in regards to The Puppet Masters and the other Heinlein works he mentions.
And the reviews on Goodreads are decidedly rewarding.
When Heinlein is good, he is very good, but when he is bad….well, you know the rest of that one.
My rating: Let’s call it a pretty solid 7/10.
Because the parts which are good are very good. And Heinlein’s frequently very funny. And, yes, there’s a nod to personal nostalgia in this rating, too.
Oh – and that paperback cover art by Gene Szafran – that’s a glorious 10/10. Someone should make the Szafran Heinlein covers (there were a few) into posters. Maybe someone has? Good stuff.
Leaves & Pages 
Nice to see a dear old Heinlein book reviewed – I adored him as a teenager in the 1960s. His woman thing didn’t bother me, I just ignored it as a very silly convention, but his storytelling ability was breathless. I sort of stopped reading SF in my 20s (except for work), but it certainly had a place in my life when young.
I loved sci-fi as a teen – heck, I’d read almost anything and went on dedicated reading binges when my imagination was engaged – Jane Austen this week, Solzhenitsyn the next, and hey, who is this Colette person? – and Heinlein was one of the best in the sci-fi genre I bumped into, even though I raised an eyebrow more than a few times at some of his views. (Or his characters’ views, which might or might not reflect the author’s views but they popped up so often that one rather thinks they did.) It’s rather fun to time travel and pick up[ books from one’s younger days, and reflect on who one was “back then” and what those books gave to one. They’ve all contributed something to who we are now…
Oh, such a trip down memory lane — many thanks! I grew up reading my dad’s trove of mass market SF paperbacks, all with glorious covers; these included many Heinleins, all of which I adored. The Puppet Masters was one of my favorites. I think your review really touched on Heinlein’s strengths, i.e., he’s a very good story teller and a reasonably good writer, especially for his time (well before people like Atwood started working in the genre). Although this isn’t evident in Puppet Masters, I would also add that Heinlein had an unusual ability to foresee trends and/or to follow an idea to its logical conclusion. A lifetime before Jeff Bazos or Richard Branson, for example, Heinlein wrote a novella in which mankind takes the first step towards establishing a moon base because an extremely rich business entrepreneur becomes involved in financing space flight. A character in a short story invents a way to accurately determine an individual’s exact date of death; it’s the insurance companies who have him assassinated.
As for the sexism, well, it simply didn’t register on me at the time. I grew up in a very consevative area where EVERYONE had views that we’d now consider sexist and the few women who worked outside the home were store clerks or secretaries (rare). Heinlein, unlike most SF writers, at least HAD female characters. Although these were (as you so accurately describe them) beautiful, willing and silent they were generally educated or had non-traditional roles, were tough and actively involved in the plot (ever read Podkayne of Mars? Heinlein does a teenage girl. Bad, bad idea. But, with Heinlein’s approval, cute little Podkayne is determined to be a star ship pilot). Heinlein’s women take a back seat, but they’re present & they aren’t secretaries. Supposedly they’re modeled on his wife, who was an engineer & ex-Navy officer and had an advanced degree in biochemistry or something like that (and this is back in the 1940s & 1950s).
I apologize for these lengthy ramblings but your review really did make me think about Heinlein’s work, which, as you again point out, was definitely a mixed bag (“problematical” is a good word. I’ll check your link to E. Magill). I doubt if I could read Heinlein’s stuff at this point in my life, although I may try Puppet Masters at some point since you’ve brought it to mind!
What a great comment this is! And yes, Heinlein predicted some of our current developments – ‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’ is right here on my to-reread stack.
And yes, his female characters could instead be pretty darned wonderful in their own right – even Mary in ‘The Puppet Masters’, despite her eventual morphing into “Yes, dear” wifey-ness, is a formidable force with a fondness for weapons and the undoubted ability to use them to great effect in her employment.
Heinlein *does* allow his women to have great intellectual and technical abilities, and maybe that was, paradoxically, part of his appeal to teenage female readers trying to figure stuff out – could you be smart and capable and still attractive to guys? In Heinlein’s world, yeah, you could. It was, dare I say it, rather empowering.
Heinlein’s later works ran rather off the rails for me – I think the sticking point was just about anything post ‘Friday’ – but despite the “ickiness” here and there he was always a deeply interesting writer. He had a lot to say and he occasionally really let himself go, though sometimes regrettably so!
A couple of my favorite Heinlein female characters are the grandmother and mother of the twins in The Rolling Stones. One of the ones written for a young audience, so no overt sex, but the grandmother is shown to be probably the smartest and toughest character in the book, and while on the surface the mother is a very standard 1950’s era wife and mother, she is also a medical doctor who insists on practicing medicine in spite of her husband wanting her to stay safe and take care of him and the kids, and at real danger to herself and the family. And both of these women win when in conflict with the men folk. I admit the teen age sister is a bit lacking, but even Mead has her good points.