Invasive: A Novel

From the author of Wanderers and the Miriam Black series

“Think Thomas Harris’ Will Graham and Clarice Starling rolled into one and pitched on the knife’s edge of a scenario that makes Jurassic Park look like a carnival ride. Another rip-roaring, deeply paranoid thriller about the reasons to fear the future.” -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Hannah Stander is a consultant for the FBI—a futurist who helps the Agency with cases that feature demonstrations of bleeding-edge technology. It’s her job to help them identify unforeseen threats: hackers, AIs, genetic modification, anything that in the wrong hands could harm the homeland.

Hannah is in an airport, waiting to board a flight home to see her family, when she receives a call from Agent Hollis Copper. “I’ve got a cabin full of over a thousand dead bodies,” he tells her. Whether those bodies are all human, he doesn’t say.

What Hannah finds is a horrifying murder that points to the impossible—someone weaponizing the natural world in a most unnatural way. Discovering who—and why—will take her on a terrifying chase from the Arizona deserts to the secret island laboratory of a billionaire inventor/philanthropist. Hannah knows there are a million ways the world can end, but she just might be facing one she could never have predicted—a new threat both ancient and cutting-edge that could wipe humanity off the earth.

In the middle of the Pacific, on an isolated island known as Kolohe Atoll, a team of scientists is employed by a charismatic billionaire hoping to change the world through cutting-edge research.

In a small cabin on a remote lake in the middle of the Adirondacks, FBI futurist Hannah Stander confronts a barely recognizable human body—one skinned alive by thousands of genetically engineered ants.

Hannah’s investigation ultimately leads her to Kolohe. Although the scientists there vehemently deny any connection to the body, the more Hannah studies the group the more she suspects their work has sinister applications. And the more it looks like no one is getting off the island alive.

Praise for Zeroes: “ZEROES is a very powerful development of the idea of science as magic, with a cast of unwitting sorcerors’ apprentices. It asks a lot of real-world questions, both moral and practical.... It might make you nostalgic for Mr. Gibson?s Neuromancer: Life was so much simpler back in the ’80s.” - Wall Street Journal

“[A] high-octane blend of nervy characters, dark humor and bristling dialogue... smart, timely, electrifying.” - NPR

“Think Thomas Harris’ Will Graham and Clarice Starling rolled into one and pitched on the knife’s edge of a scenario that makes Jurassic Park look like a carnival ride. Another rip-roaring, deeply paranoid thriller about the reasons to fear the future.” - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“[A] rich, darkly funny page-turner with details designed to make those little hairs on the back of your neck stand up with how plausible [it seems].” - Locus

“This roller-coaster survival tale with copious amounts of creepy insects will appeal to fans of Michael Crichton.” - Booklist

“Think Thomas Harris’ Will Graham and Clarice Starling rolled into one and pitched on the knife’s edge of a scenario that makes Jurassic Park look like a carnival ride. Another rip-roaring, deeply paranoid thriller about the reasons to fear the future.” - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Enthralling...Wendig does an impeccable job blending fact and fiction as he describes invasive species and insects being used as biological weapons. This is a propulsive tale that also examines our interaction with — and ma­nipu­la­tion of — the natural world.” - Washington Post

“Wendig crosses, blurs, and smashes genre boundaries more often – and more skillfully – than any author working today...INVASIVE is one part locked room mystery, one part 1950’s monster movie, and one part cutting-edge scientific thriller.” - Crimespree Magazine

“Excellent...Follows the path set forth by Michael Crichton (a la Congo or Jurassic Park) in which Wendig’s exhaustive research brings a convincing story of humanity tinkering with nature — only to have it backfire...Expect to see it on the big screen.” - Men's Journal

“Fans of Michael Crichton will feel right at home.” - Publishers Weekly

“Chuck Wendig can congratulate himself on a stunning new achievement: becoming the architect of all of my future nightmares...INVASIVE is a terrifying and tightly written thriller.” - RT Book Reviews