This is the part of the review where I tell you a little bit about what goes on in the book to let you know what it’s about and to capture your interest. I’ll bet I can sum up this book and make you want to read it in one sentence.

*Ahem*

The Harvest is about an alien that comes to earth and turns the local wildlife and hillbillies into gooey slimy zombies.

There you have it. I don’t even have to write anymore do I? I will, of course, write more but you’re either hooked or not based on that one sentence.

The Harvest is the second book from Scott Nicholson and I saved it for last for one reason, I don’t like alien stories. I rarely read science fiction. Imagine my surprise to find that this is my favorite Scott Nicholson book. Yeah the ghost girl likes an alien book over his ghost stories, go figure!

At times reading his books I’ve been able to visualize the scenery better than the characters. Here I was able to visualize everything, from the Appalachian Mountains to the tiny towns, the hillbilly locals and the rich yankees buying up gorgeous mountain property to build monstrous homes and businesses on as well as everyone in between.

Don’t think this is a cheesy b-rate sci-fi tale either. While some of the characters are goofy enough to be prominently displayed as a paragon of 1950’s drive-in entertainment others are just like you and me and your neighbors. One of our main protagonists is Tamara Leon, a University professor gifted/cursed with ESP or as she refers to it, “The Gloomies.” Our other main character is Chester Mull, an old coot who likes to sit on his porch with his old dog and a jar of moonshine. Chester is in a prime spot to notice when the mountains start glowing green. Chester and Tamara must figure things out separately with a little help from their friends until they all meet up to do battle against the invading force.

Ok written out that way it does sound like cheesy b-rate sci-fi but I promise it’s not. Well maybe a little, but in a good way. It’s more Invasion of the Body Snatchers than Mars Attacks! Some of you may also be thinking about how I’ve praised Mr. Nicholson for not using Southern stereotypes in his stories and could be thinking I have to take it back since this book is full of them but let’s stop and think for a minute. There are unsavory types living in trailers, there are moonshiners in the mountains, and there are lecherous crooked preachers in churches. Also pot-smoking teens, perverted old men, incompetent policeman, power-hungry mayors, well the list goes on and on. Here they’ve all been written well enough that you don’t consider them cardboard stereotypes. There is a surprising amount of depth to every single character in this book, even those you figure for alien chow. These aren’t stereotypes, they are colorful characters. The fact that you get to know all of them so well in a 384 page book is astounding.

I happen to like books with lots of characters as long as they interest me; good, bad, it doesn’t matter as long as they hold my attention. If you’re one of those who gets tired of books like Stephen King’s It because of all the jumping around and different characters then you probably won’t like this. To everyone else I highly recommend it. It’s a fun engaging story. The hillbilly zombies don’t hurt either.