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The Mind Invaders
THE COLD WAR FOR PSYCHIC DOMINION HEATS UP! Ken Inman experienced an exhilaration beyond his wildest imagination. He had made contact! Excitedly he “We’ve been watching your development—we’re here to help you take the next step. Open up. There’s nothing to fear.” Spine-tingling action follows this incredible breakthrough in mind research. Opening doors to the unlimited vistas of the mind, the Archons share their gift of psychic power, promising a new era of peace. But then governments get involved... Discovering the CIA and Russian Intelligence’s battle for psychic control, famed journalist Carla Bertelli delves into the power behind the Archons. Convinced they are benevolent, she is devastated when Ken renounces the paranormal and embraces Christianity. Torn between her love for Ken and her contempt for his “demons theory,” Carla plunges into a search for the truth that becomes a desperate race against time... Reader “I couldn’t put this book down. Dave Hunt does a wonderful job with this fictional book, originally written as a screenplay. It presents some [fascinating factual ideas] within a fictional setting. The explanation Dave Hunt provides...for UFOs and Aliens is actually quite reasonable and believable.... Well done. It has remained my favorite book since I first picked it up. Good Job Dave Hunt!” —IW “First published in 1989 but perhaps more up to date than today’s newspaper. I seldom read fiction but I got into this. The best fiction book I have ever read.” —TG “A great book to learn about aliens and UFO invasions. The Mind Invaders gets down to the truth about physics and fortune tellers.... One of Dave Hunt’s best!” —EY “The Mind Invaders is a must read! I picked up this book by accident. However after I began reading it I simply could not put it down! Dave Hunt weaves a tale of intrigue, suspense and super-reality that may give answers to the complex question of UFOs, ascended masters, and the netherworld that surrounds us. This is simply quite a compelling work of fiction that is more reality and truth than one may want to admit. I highly recommend it to all.” —DF “An excellent novel, a must read, a hard book to put down! This is the best fiction novel that I have ever read.... A very realistic book—something that could happen, or may be happening now. Thanks, Dave Hunt for such a good book.” —AR (Originally The Archon Conspiracy)
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
28 people are currently reading
1714 people want to read
About the author
Dave Hunt
192 books58 followersLibrarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Dave Hunt was an American Christian apologist, speaker, radio commentator and author. He was in full-time ministry from 1973 until his death. A prolific best-selling author, international lecturer, and Bible teacher, his writings have been translated into at least 50 languages. More than four million copies of Dave’s books have been sold. For nearly a decade, Dave also co-hosted a weekly radio program, Search the Scriptures Daily, broadcast on over 400 stations in the U.S. and worldwide.
Dave Hunt was an American Christian apologist, speaker, radio commentator and author. He was in full-time ministry from 1973 until his death. A prolific best-selling author, international lecturer, and Bible teacher, his writings have been translated into at least 50 languages. More than four million copies of Dave’s books have been sold. For nearly a decade, Dave also co-hosted a weekly radio program, Search the Scriptures Daily, broadcast on over 400 stations in the U.S. and worldwide.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
July 3, 2018
Review to follow.
Hey, look! Here it is.
New plan: I really don't want to spend time writing about this. It's the worst. The writing is absolutely dreadful. Like, read out-loud, shake your head in disbelief bad.
Action scene: "Lightning kicks to the throat broke new necks in midair lunge."
Scene of light-hearted, domestic idyll: "From a pot on the stove came the gentle 'plop plop' of oatmeal cooking."
It's that good.
Read because it's part of the PBS Great American Read list. Did bots choose it? Is this representative of American readers? Either way, it discredits the whole list. Way to go, PBS!
Puns? Let's end with a pun.
This book was rapturously good.
It is true that every time I picked it up, I sighed, and said, "Jesus."
Hey, look! Here it is.
New plan: I really don't want to spend time writing about this. It's the worst. The writing is absolutely dreadful. Like, read out-loud, shake your head in disbelief bad.
Action scene: "Lightning kicks to the throat broke new necks in midair lunge."
Scene of light-hearted, domestic idyll: "From a pot on the stove came the gentle 'plop plop' of oatmeal cooking."
It's that good.
Read because it's part of the PBS Great American Read list. Did bots choose it? Is this representative of American readers? Either way, it discredits the whole list. Way to go, PBS!
Puns? Let's end with a pun.
This book was rapturously good.
It is true that every time I picked it up, I sighed, and said, "Jesus."
August 3, 2017
In my humble opinion, this is the kind of book that really gives the Christian fiction genre a black eye. Hunt is a good writer when it comes to non-fiction, but, like most non-fiction writers, he lacks the artistic sensibilities needed to create good fiction, making the "point" of the novel more significant than the story he is trying to tell. And, while I enjoy some of Hunt's other work, I tend to avoid any of his books dealing with New Age philosophy and the occult, simply because I think he gets too carried away. When someone starts expounding on the "evils" of Harry Potter, I find it hard to take them seriously. Anyway! What we end up having here is an amateurishly written exercise in paranoia: where everybody in the story is either strongly Christian or strongly anti-Christian (as opposed to being mostly apathetic or agnostic, like they would be in real life), where doing yoga or practicing zen meditation is basically an engraved invitation for demon possession, and demons "invade" people's minds by claiming they are extra-terrestrial beings attempting to reach out to the "enlightened." At the very beginning of the story, one such demon-possessed character is lucky enough to be admitted to a hospital where one of the doctors works exorcisms in his spare time. Personally, I can't suspend my disbelief for all of that. I prefer spiritual novels that take place in the real world a bit more, like Stephen King's The Stand, which despite not being a Christian novel, deals with Christian themes in a much more believable, mature (and, yes, worldly) way. However, I certainly don't deny that there is potentially a big audience for this kind of book, and fans of This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti will probably find Mind Invaders right up their alley.
December 1, 2018
Not sure how this made the Great American Read list
This is a poorly written piece of crap. Fanatical, fundamentalist, fake sci-fi novel. Don’t bother to read this. Not. Ever.
This is a poorly written piece of crap. Fanatical, fundamentalist, fake sci-fi novel. Don’t bother to read this. Not. Ever.
August 2, 2009
Dave Hunt, another Christian author that should have stayed with scaring gullible believers with this doomsday books. Fiction is not his strong suit and this book is ample evidence of this. An interesting take on UFO's and remote viewing! This story is supposed to based on accurate statements from people inside the military.
Right.
Right.
December 30, 2019
Final Update, December 30, 2019
I'm being generous when i give this book 2 stars but ... it was okay ... for what it wanted to be, namely a novel that allows Dave Hunt an opportunity to share his ideas about demons and extraterrestrial life and "New Age" philosophy and Christianity. I disagree with all of his basic assumptions on those topics so it's no surprise that i wasn't wowed by the story. The writing is mostly competent but frequently clunky. The characters are almost real people that you can almost care about or cheer for/against. The action scenes are subpar. I wanted to totally hate this book and rate it as one of the worst i've ever read but it's not that bad.
Also, full disclosure: this is NOT science fiction. If this book must be put into a literary ghetto (aka, genre), it is Christian fiction. Secondarily, it could be deemed a political thriller or spy novel.
From earlier in December
Someone else asked the same questions thousands of us must've asked ourselves: How did this book make the list of 100 books to be voted on for PBS's The Great American Read?
Short Answer: I believe someone on the 13-member advisory panel convinced the other 12 members that Mind Invaders should be one of the finalists.
I believe there's no way it was among the top 100 titles after the initial survey.
I base my previous assertions on this book's complete lack of "popularity" on Goodreads: only 164 have rated it as of Dec 2019.
I think this is a fair way to measure the relative popularity of a book and 164 votes in a community of millions is clear evidence that it doesn't belong on a list of books vying to be crowned "America's Best Loved Book".
I feel strongly this book doesn't belong on the list. In fact, i think its inclusion is insulting to lovers of good books. I would like to ask the listmakers directly to explain its inclusion. I would expect an open letter repenting their sin of commission.
{i'm also going to post this as a review}
Long Answer
According to the official website, the Great American Read (G.A.R.) selection process began with a survey of ~7,200 people. Next, a 13-person advisory panel "tallied and organized [the list/votes] based on our [five] selection criteria": (1) only one book per author; (2) any book in a series counted as a "vote" for that series; (3) books had to be available in English; (4) only novels.
Criterion #5, though, opens a loophole: Each advisory panel member was permitted to select one book for discussion and possible inclusion on the top 100 list from the longer list of survey results.
At least one advisor must have had some agenda for convincing the other 12 to include Mind Invaders/The Archon Conspiracy on the final list. (world class sales job, if you ask me)
Some stats to support the overwhelming consensus that this book does NOT belong.
1. PBS began airing episodes of The Great American Read in May 2018 and the results of the final votes aired in Oct 2018. Mind Invaders finished #95.
2. In Jan 2019 I logged the # of ratings on Goodreads for all 100 finalists. Mind Invaders had only 136 ratings, which was by far the lowest. (Note: when i say "more or less popular", i will mean "more or fewer ratings on Goodreads".)
3. In December 2019 as i type this answer, only 28 more people had rated Mind Invaders, for a grand total of 164 ratings. Seems this book didn't invade many minds even though it finished 95th.
4. The next least popular book on Goodreads was Doña Bárbara. It was written by a Venezuelan politician in the 1950s. It had 3,053 ratings. That's 20 times as many ratings as Mind Invaders. And even though Doña Bárbara finished 100th in the G.A.R. voting, it had 318 more ratings in December; in other words, 10 times as many new readers compared with Mind Invaders.
5. The 50th most popular book from the G.A.R. top 100 was Crime and Punishment with 515,596 ratings. In December it had 43,000 new ratings.
5. The most popular book was Harry Potter with 5.7 MILLION ratings. It had >500,000 new ratings.
6. The 87 most popular books on Goodreads all had more than 100,000 ratings in January. In other words, even the 87th most popular book on the list was more than 700 times more popular than Mind Invaders on Goodreads. And fewest new ratings between Jan and Dec for the top 87 was 6,700 (again, hundreds of times more than Mind Invaders).
Did the G.A.R. advisory board think this book would fill a gap? If so, what possible gap was it filling?
a) There's obviously no shortage of white, male, American or Christian authors.
b) Did they think there wasn't enough science fiction? Even using a very conservative definition of SF, i'd say at least 10 other SF books made the top 100. Ten percent of all the finalists for one genre is arguably too many but no reasonable claim can be made that more than 10 SF books must be included.
c) Did they think explicitly Christian stories were underrepresented? I might be hyper-sensitive to Christian themes but: Chronicles of Narnia (indisputable); The Shack; Left Behind; Pilgrim's Progress (indisputable); This Present Darkness (indisputable); Gilead. Six books that strive to reinforce and share Christian beliefs is definitely more than enough for a list of 100 books. Furthermore, the 6 i listed are inarguably more popular than Mind Invaders.
Consider: No other religion has more than ONE book to represent its ideas.
Consider: The Alchemist is definitely explicitly Christian. It explicitly favors Coelho's nonspecific pantheism(?) that also frequently borrows from Islam. Maybe the advisory board thought, "Phew, we've got one book that represents the almost 2 billion Muslims in the world!" In America that's enough (or "too much") positive representation of Islam.
Consider: Can't most Christians easily agree with many/most/all of Coelho's religious ideas in The Alchemist without becoming apostates?
Consider: I forgot ... White Teeth has Hindu and Muslim characters and ideas in the forefront. (imaginary quote from the advisory board's discussions: "Even better. This list is totally not biased in favor of Christianity at all. In fact, with all these Muslim books, maybe we should add another explicitly Christian book?! Thank God [singular] we somehow found a way to represent all 900 million of them.")
Consider: Siddhartha represents Buddhism. ONE book for ~500 million people.
Consider: Siddhartha is written by a Christian from Germany.
Consider: Not one single book for Judaism. With almost 6 million Jews in this country, the listmakers couldn't find ONE novel?
Consider: Several other books on the list have clear (though inexplicit) Christian themes, characters, authors: Little Prince, Little Women, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Color Purple, Grapes of Wrath, Pillars of the Earth, probably others.
Conclusion: Lack of sufficient explicitly Christian fiction cannot be the reason Mind Invaders made the final 100.
I've beaten this dead horse (the theory that Mind Invaders made the list only to fill a gap) too long, haven't i?
I'm being generous when i give this book 2 stars but ... it was okay ... for what it wanted to be, namely a novel that allows Dave Hunt an opportunity to share his ideas about demons and extraterrestrial life and "New Age" philosophy and Christianity. I disagree with all of his basic assumptions on those topics so it's no surprise that i wasn't wowed by the story. The writing is mostly competent but frequently clunky. The characters are almost real people that you can almost care about or cheer for/against. The action scenes are subpar. I wanted to totally hate this book and rate it as one of the worst i've ever read but it's not that bad.
Also, full disclosure: this is NOT science fiction. If this book must be put into a literary ghetto (aka, genre), it is Christian fiction. Secondarily, it could be deemed a political thriller or spy novel.
From earlier in December
Someone else asked the same questions thousands of us must've asked ourselves: How did this book make the list of 100 books to be voted on for PBS's The Great American Read?
Short Answer: I believe someone on the 13-member advisory panel convinced the other 12 members that Mind Invaders should be one of the finalists.
I believe there's no way it was among the top 100 titles after the initial survey.
I base my previous assertions on this book's complete lack of "popularity" on Goodreads: only 164 have rated it as of Dec 2019.
I think this is a fair way to measure the relative popularity of a book and 164 votes in a community of millions is clear evidence that it doesn't belong on a list of books vying to be crowned "America's Best Loved Book".
I feel strongly this book doesn't belong on the list. In fact, i think its inclusion is insulting to lovers of good books. I would like to ask the listmakers directly to explain its inclusion. I would expect an open letter repenting their sin of commission.
{i'm also going to post this as a review}
Long Answer
According to the official website, the Great American Read (G.A.R.) selection process began with a survey of ~7,200 people. Next, a 13-person advisory panel "tallied and organized [the list/votes] based on our [five] selection criteria": (1) only one book per author; (2) any book in a series counted as a "vote" for that series; (3) books had to be available in English; (4) only novels.
Criterion #5, though, opens a loophole: Each advisory panel member was permitted to select one book for discussion and possible inclusion on the top 100 list from the longer list of survey results.
At least one advisor must have had some agenda for convincing the other 12 to include Mind Invaders/The Archon Conspiracy on the final list. (world class sales job, if you ask me)
Some stats to support the overwhelming consensus that this book does NOT belong.
1. PBS began airing episodes of The Great American Read in May 2018 and the results of the final votes aired in Oct 2018. Mind Invaders finished #95.
2. In Jan 2019 I logged the # of ratings on Goodreads for all 100 finalists. Mind Invaders had only 136 ratings, which was by far the lowest. (Note: when i say "more or less popular", i will mean "more or fewer ratings on Goodreads".)
3. In December 2019 as i type this answer, only 28 more people had rated Mind Invaders, for a grand total of 164 ratings. Seems this book didn't invade many minds even though it finished 95th.
4. The next least popular book on Goodreads was Doña Bárbara. It was written by a Venezuelan politician in the 1950s. It had 3,053 ratings. That's 20 times as many ratings as Mind Invaders. And even though Doña Bárbara finished 100th in the G.A.R. voting, it had 318 more ratings in December; in other words, 10 times as many new readers compared with Mind Invaders.
5. The 50th most popular book from the G.A.R. top 100 was Crime and Punishment with 515,596 ratings. In December it had 43,000 new ratings.
5. The most popular book was Harry Potter with 5.7 MILLION ratings. It had >500,000 new ratings.
6. The 87 most popular books on Goodreads all had more than 100,000 ratings in January. In other words, even the 87th most popular book on the list was more than 700 times more popular than Mind Invaders on Goodreads. And fewest new ratings between Jan and Dec for the top 87 was 6,700 (again, hundreds of times more than Mind Invaders).
Did the G.A.R. advisory board think this book would fill a gap? If so, what possible gap was it filling?
a) There's obviously no shortage of white, male, American or Christian authors.
b) Did they think there wasn't enough science fiction? Even using a very conservative definition of SF, i'd say at least 10 other SF books made the top 100. Ten percent of all the finalists for one genre is arguably too many but no reasonable claim can be made that more than 10 SF books must be included.
c) Did they think explicitly Christian stories were underrepresented? I might be hyper-sensitive to Christian themes but: Chronicles of Narnia (indisputable); The Shack; Left Behind; Pilgrim's Progress (indisputable); This Present Darkness (indisputable); Gilead. Six books that strive to reinforce and share Christian beliefs is definitely more than enough for a list of 100 books. Furthermore, the 6 i listed are inarguably more popular than Mind Invaders.
Consider: No other religion has more than ONE book to represent its ideas.
Consider: The Alchemist is definitely explicitly Christian. It explicitly favors Coelho's nonspecific pantheism(?) that also frequently borrows from Islam. Maybe the advisory board thought, "Phew, we've got one book that represents the almost 2 billion Muslims in the world!" In America that's enough (or "too much") positive representation of Islam.
Consider: Can't most Christians easily agree with many/most/all of Coelho's religious ideas in The Alchemist without becoming apostates?
Consider: I forgot ... White Teeth has Hindu and Muslim characters and ideas in the forefront. (imaginary quote from the advisory board's discussions: "Even better. This list is totally not biased in favor of Christianity at all. In fact, with all these Muslim books, maybe we should add another explicitly Christian book?! Thank God [singular] we somehow found a way to represent all 900 million of them.")
Consider: Siddhartha represents Buddhism. ONE book for ~500 million people.
Consider: Siddhartha is written by a Christian from Germany.
Consider: Not one single book for Judaism. With almost 6 million Jews in this country, the listmakers couldn't find ONE novel?
Consider: Several other books on the list have clear (though inexplicit) Christian themes, characters, authors: Little Prince, Little Women, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Color Purple, Grapes of Wrath, Pillars of the Earth, probably others.
Conclusion: Lack of sufficient explicitly Christian fiction cannot be the reason Mind Invaders made the final 100.
I've beaten this dead horse (the theory that Mind Invaders made the list only to fill a gap) too long, haven't i?
September 17, 2018
The literary equivalent of mediocre Christian rock.
April 2, 2019
This book is an incredible example...
Of why Christian apologists shouldn't write fiction. Outside of the "Christian" genre it would be difficult to place this book. It straddles the lines between occult/sci-fi/horror and never seems to find a solid footing in any of them for more than a few chapters.
It's unlikely many people will find this book outside of an older church library or thrift store so I won't go deep into details, but I'll provide a small synopsis.
Ken Inman is a scientist who is deeply involved in an Army project that is attempting to use psychic ability to connect with alien/otherworldly presence. After an extremely successful contact he hallucinates and crashes his car, nearly dying.
As he recuperates he is haunted by memories of the project and is eventually exorcised by his doctor and the doctor's wife. (I am not making this up.) After the exorcism he recovers remarkably fast and rejects the work he was doing previously. This angers his co-workers and partner, who do not understand his change of mind.
Eventually the other scientists find a Spiritual leader to continue the work, contacting and working with an alien conscienceness that calls itself Archon.
After the project is deemed a success, the USA scrambles to do the bidding of the Archons. Ken is beginning to believe the Archons and the person contacting them is evil, and not true aliens, but rather demons.
It's not that I lost the plot at this point, since I had a feeling this is where the book was headed, it's more like a mildly interesting genre book suddenly developed schizophrenia.
Besides just demons, we also got handed cold war espionage, a hot and cold romance, rampant preaching that bogged the plot down and a sudden, very unclear "agenda."
The crux of the plot becomes the Archons declaring war against idiot peace hating Christians, and all of the worlds leaders or their second-in-command deciding to come to a conference to experience the Archons power first hand.
Carla, Ken's non-believer girlfriend is invited to go to the conference, while Ken has pretty much been barred from the premises. Regardless of the fact that Carla has literally been totally behind the Archons and what they offer, she begins to feel uncomfortable during the display of power meant to impress the leaders.
The book takes another HUGE leap of illogic by making the Archons suddenly freak out and begin to kill everyone, upwards of three hundred people. Why would they do that, even if they were demons, if they were trying to get the world on board with them? It doesn't make sense.
Anyhow, I wish I was kidding about the next part. Carla, the non-Christian foil/love interest to Ken suddenly decides to convert by shouting "God save me" (I might be paraphrasing a little.) And she is the only one who doesn't die, besides the spiritist who was contacting the Archons. Ken whips in to save her and they drive off, leaving over three hundred people to be crushed/burned to death.
In the end, we get told that Ken and Carla are being held responsible for the disaster and that the bad guy is off scot free, presumably to spread the word of the Archons to a gullible world.
The book holds together ok until about a third of the way through until it jumps the tracks at full speed, barreling on until total derailment during the unbelievably bad climax.
Basically, if you want to read good Christian fiction, skip this book.
Of why Christian apologists shouldn't write fiction. Outside of the "Christian" genre it would be difficult to place this book. It straddles the lines between occult/sci-fi/horror and never seems to find a solid footing in any of them for more than a few chapters.
It's unlikely many people will find this book outside of an older church library or thrift store so I won't go deep into details, but I'll provide a small synopsis.
Ken Inman is a scientist who is deeply involved in an Army project that is attempting to use psychic ability to connect with alien/otherworldly presence. After an extremely successful contact he hallucinates and crashes his car, nearly dying.
As he recuperates he is haunted by memories of the project and is eventually exorcised by his doctor and the doctor's wife. (I am not making this up.) After the exorcism he recovers remarkably fast and rejects the work he was doing previously. This angers his co-workers and partner, who do not understand his change of mind.
Eventually the other scientists find a Spiritual leader to continue the work, contacting and working with an alien conscienceness that calls itself Archon.
After the project is deemed a success, the USA scrambles to do the bidding of the Archons. Ken is beginning to believe the Archons and the person contacting them is evil, and not true aliens, but rather demons.
It's not that I lost the plot at this point, since I had a feeling this is where the book was headed, it's more like a mildly interesting genre book suddenly developed schizophrenia.
Besides just demons, we also got handed cold war espionage, a hot and cold romance, rampant preaching that bogged the plot down and a sudden, very unclear "agenda."
The crux of the plot becomes the Archons declaring war against idiot peace hating Christians, and all of the worlds leaders or their second-in-command deciding to come to a conference to experience the Archons power first hand.
Carla, Ken's non-believer girlfriend is invited to go to the conference, while Ken has pretty much been barred from the premises. Regardless of the fact that Carla has literally been totally behind the Archons and what they offer, she begins to feel uncomfortable during the display of power meant to impress the leaders.
The book takes another HUGE leap of illogic by making the Archons suddenly freak out and begin to kill everyone, upwards of three hundred people. Why would they do that, even if they were demons, if they were trying to get the world on board with them? It doesn't make sense.
Anyhow, I wish I was kidding about the next part. Carla, the non-Christian foil/love interest to Ken suddenly decides to convert by shouting "God save me" (I might be paraphrasing a little.) And she is the only one who doesn't die, besides the spiritist who was contacting the Archons. Ken whips in to save her and they drive off, leaving over three hundred people to be crushed/burned to death.
In the end, we get told that Ken and Carla are being held responsible for the disaster and that the bad guy is off scot free, presumably to spread the word of the Archons to a gullible world.
The book holds together ok until about a third of the way through until it jumps the tracks at full speed, barreling on until total derailment during the unbelievably bad climax.
Basically, if you want to read good Christian fiction, skip this book.
December 18, 2019
Nope. Nope. Nopity nope. WTF, PBS? Your Great American Reads list freaking depresses me. Bad enough I hadda read Left Behind, but at least I got a chuckle out of it. The Shack was cheesy claptrap, but at least it was readable. And Swan Song was silly, but still somewhat ok-ish somehow. Predicted dead-on This Present Darkness would be the worst — and it was BAAAD. But this? This. Is. Unreadable.
March 23, 2013
Fantastic work of fiction that offers a very credible explanation as to just what those UFOs really are. Changed my thinking on the whole UFO issue. Regardless, though, of your viewpoint on UFOs, this is an excellent sci/fi type story.
February 26, 2020
Yoga causes demonic possession and only Jesus can save you. Let me start with my major complaints, first...based on the description of this book I was expecting a cold war spy thriller with psychics, it was only after the second or third chapter that I was shown that the back of the book had mislead me. Now under different circumstances, ones in which I had not been mislead (probably my fault), I would have still picked up the book and gave it a read due to it being on the Great American Read list. Here is where that changes, the writing was shoddy and rushed to justify the Christian answer that every Christian is perfect and good and all other people are evil or diluted. This forced answer over narrative, well written and plotted out story annoyed me and drove me to rate this where I did.
June 25, 2020
I feel like the author has never talked to a human before....
His dialogue is awful, the characters are exaggerated caricatures of what the author wants to demonstrate such as christians are good/perfect and atheists are dumb/aggressively in your face about being an atheist. The best writing is on the blurb on the back of the book, and I am pretty sure the author didn't write that. What was sort of an interesting premise just fell into preachy nonsense that labels yoga as new age evil?
I read this for the PBS great American read challenge and I have no idea how it got on the list. Total trash. Go read a Prayer for Owen Meany if you want a good religious fiction book.
His dialogue is awful, the characters are exaggerated caricatures of what the author wants to demonstrate such as christians are good/perfect and atheists are dumb/aggressively in your face about being an atheist. The best writing is on the blurb on the back of the book, and I am pretty sure the author didn't write that. What was sort of an interesting premise just fell into preachy nonsense that labels yoga as new age evil?
I read this for the PBS great American read challenge and I have no idea how it got on the list. Total trash. Go read a Prayer for Owen Meany if you want a good religious fiction book.
March 17, 2019
This was a tough one to start and equally difficult to get through. Not my kind of genre but even worse, the writing was weak. I will say that the story got a bit more interesting toward the end, but not enough to earn more then 1 star from me. I only read it because it was on the Great American Read list and really not sure why it even made the list. Can't recommend this one.
July 3, 2011
As a fan of his other works, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Dave Hunt had written fiction. Very well researched. I found much of it to fit very well with Chuck Missler's non-fiction work 'Alien Encounters' which is a must-read for every Christian, in my opinion.
December 12, 2013
I never thought that I would find myself reading a Christian Paranormal fiction book and like it, but this was actually pretty good. He really captured certain characteristics of the New Age occult scene on the internet very well, even before he had access to the internet as it is today.
January 2, 2019
Such a great idea for a plot but it is so poorly written I could barely get through it. Try not using so many exclamations points next time. Also I am a fan of Christian fiction but this was super preachy.
August 30, 2021
As I slowly continue to make my way through all 100 books of the Great American Read list, my 94th book was Mind Invaders by Dave Hunt. There’s a reason why I’ve put some books off for so long… this one because I do not generally enjoy sci-fi, especially when it’s meshed with strong religious overtones! But despite these points against it before even turning the first page, I did enjoy the book and think that it deserves to be higher on the ranking than what it received (95/100). As a religion skeptic, when I first started reading I agreed with Ken’s original assessment that “religion is a cop-op that keeps people from taking responsibility for their lives (pg 65), but as “science” evolves (similar to real life) and people’s demands for total independent freedom and desire to throw laws to the side (again, way too similar to real life), just like Carla in the this story, my stance started to change and so by the end of the book I could also appreciate Ken’s insight that if total “freedom existed, we’d all be held hostage to the uninhibited actions of others, which would inevitably clash with our own” (pg 325). And this REALLY seems the case in our society now with more and more people trying to live outside the laws that define society instead of within the freedoms those very laws provide. Through Ken, Hunt makes the powerful argument that just like there are universal laws that must be obeyed (ie gravity) there too are moral and spiritual laws as well… although Hunt connects these to God, they are definitely linked to compassion, empathy, and altruism. So although the plot of the story was very predictable, because of the thought-providing nature of the events in the book and how they correlated to events happening in our society now, I’d give Mind Invaders a strong 3.5 star rating… maybe even a four star review since I actually enjoyed a sci-fi!
June 17, 2023
Este no fue el libro que leí. El libro que terminé se titula Invasión Secreta, el cual trata sobre la problemática que vivieron los cristianos en la era del comunismo en Rusia. El personaje principal, el cual realiza el trabajo de narrador en primera persona, nos comenta sus experiencias, desde el primer momento que le llama la atención que las personas que se encuentran del otro lado de la Cortina de Hierro estén solicitando desesperadamente biblias, hasta la actualidad en dónde sigue trabajando en la fundación que él organizo para ayudar a todo aquel cristiano que lo necesitará. Un libro bastante interesante para conocer mejor una parte de la historia del mundo. Lo que no me gustó fue que durante la narración se utilizara de manera, a mi parecer, exagerada, el nombre de Dios, que todo sucediera por obra de Dios, entre otras situaciones. Comprendo que al ser el personaje un cristiano, todos los términos anteriores deban ser utilizados, pero se vuelve tan repetitivo que uno se termina aburriendo.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 17, 2022
I only read this for the Great American Read and I have to say it’s probably the worst on the list so far other than it’s cousin Left Behind. Mind Invaders suffers from the same stereotypes that all fanatical American Christian fiction does:
1. A straight white male atheist main character who converts to Christianity and tries to shove it down everyone’s throats around him.
2. A female main character that is resistant to the male main characters conversion to Christianity and hates religion for her own reasons before the “proof” that Christianity is the way becomes too much and she converts and starts dating the main character.
3. An antichrist figure that uses science and technology to try and bring about world peace (yeah super evil dude right there).
4. Strong nationalism and disparagement of other cultures/belief systems.
5. A plot stitched together by fear of modern science, referencing Bible verses, and an annoying amount of self-righteous superiority from all the protagonists.
In other words, a perfect read if you’re drinking the super Christian Kool Aid, an awful read for anyone with critical thinking skills.
1. A straight white male atheist main character who converts to Christianity and tries to shove it down everyone’s throats around him.
2. A female main character that is resistant to the male main characters conversion to Christianity and hates religion for her own reasons before the “proof” that Christianity is the way becomes too much and she converts and starts dating the main character.
3. An antichrist figure that uses science and technology to try and bring about world peace (yeah super evil dude right there).
4. Strong nationalism and disparagement of other cultures/belief systems.
5. A plot stitched together by fear of modern science, referencing Bible verses, and an annoying amount of self-righteous superiority from all the protagonists.
In other words, a perfect read if you’re drinking the super Christian Kool Aid, an awful read for anyone with critical thinking skills.
September 23, 2024
Part international spy drama, part religious proselytizing, part science fiction...none done very well. The obvious goal of this book was to share a faith in Jesus Christ with the reader and to do it in an entertaining, international drama sort of way. Unfortunately, Hunt failed to fully develop his characters so that their characteristics of faith felt superficial. The only character who read authentically, because of his doubts, was Khorev - the Russian defector. Had the story focused on this character, his defection from Russia, and his internal struggle about faith and freedom, I think that this book would have been an enjoyable read and served its purpose. Instead, Hunt intermixed what little potential this story had with demonic activity, psychic powers, and other phenomena that most readers might enjoy as science fiction but were out of place in what should have been a legitimate story on faith.
July 2, 2022
If you consider it was written by a Christian apologist, i'd give it 5*... Of course its clean, but first rate in plot and dramatic tension. The Archons, after Greece Archons, appear as benevolent elders, wanting to help mankind. They were first realized by Russians, and of course the West wants it, for the power... and needs to supply them a portal to this world (something CERNish). The young pair involved get caught up in the game, and come to realize the full purport of the actions of states, and what the Archons really want (world domination). Very good for high school age as has; love interest, good and evil, overcoming. As an adult, couldn't put it down till finished. Didn't know Dave Hunt had that in him. Read all his stuff.
January 21, 2025
In a nation of almost 335 Million, PBS chose the preliminary choices for the Great American
Read from a mere 7200 surveyed readers in what they claim is a demographically diverse group. This could hardly be the case considering the mind boggling choice of The Mind Invaders.
In addition to the childish quality of writing, the grammar and spelling errors and the ridiculous characters portrayed in the novel, it was an absolutely appalling distortion of the Christian faith. Rather than supporting the Christian beliefs, the very obvious assaults upon various denominations and individuals is contrary to the very teachings of Christ.
Now that it is finished, I would now like to wash this atrocious story from my brain.
Read from a mere 7200 surveyed readers in what they claim is a demographically diverse group. This could hardly be the case considering the mind boggling choice of The Mind Invaders.
In addition to the childish quality of writing, the grammar and spelling errors and the ridiculous characters portrayed in the novel, it was an absolutely appalling distortion of the Christian faith. Rather than supporting the Christian beliefs, the very obvious assaults upon various denominations and individuals is contrary to the very teachings of Christ.
Now that it is finished, I would now like to wash this atrocious story from my brain.
October 4, 2018
I really hate to give a book a poor rating but three stars is the most I could give this book. Although I liked the premise of Mind Invaders, I had a hard time in keeping my mind from wondering while reading,thus the reason it took me so long to read it.
I read this book because it was on PBS’s Great American Read list. I had never heard of this book before and I am quiet bumfuzzled as to why it made it on the GAR list. If they were looking to fill their quota of Christian authors, I can think of several authors, such as Terri Blackstock, Lynn Austin, and Joel Rosenberg, whose books could have been placed on said list.
I read this book because it was on PBS’s Great American Read list. I had never heard of this book before and I am quiet bumfuzzled as to why it made it on the GAR list. If they were looking to fill their quota of Christian authors, I can think of several authors, such as Terri Blackstock, Lynn Austin, and Joel Rosenberg, whose books could have been placed on said list.
July 20, 2018
I tried - I really tried - to like this book. I am a huge fan of Peretti, Dekker, and LaHaye and so I was looking forward to this with the same expectations. Unfortunately, the writing style is pretty bad, the plot too predictable, and the events too unbelievable. I found myself just shouting, "C'mon, no one would ever say that!" when the characters would talk to each other. I've never read Hunt's nonfiction work, but it can't be as hard to swallow as this. I happen to be a very conservative Christian, and so it's not the beliefs I am complaining about - it's just the story in general.
July 12, 2018
So...I enjoyed and didn't enjoy this book. As a christian, it was nice to have my beliefs in a book that wasn't written too horribly. Now this isn't the bestest best best book in the world, but I had fun reading it! I really felt for Viktor and it made me sad how it turned out for him.
It's scary how it was written so long ago, (published the year I was born) and yet some of the secretiveness and how the government covers up stuff is even more prevalent today.
It's scary how it was written so long ago, (published the year I was born) and yet some of the secretiveness and how the government covers up stuff is even more prevalent today.
August 20, 2018
Interesting. And kind of creepy. A pretty good plot, so-so characters, and poor dialogue/narration. All the characters sounded the same when they talked. What bothered me most of all was the head-jumping--narration which switched back and forth between perspectives of multiple characters, literally paragraph by paragraph sometimes.
But it was interesting to read a book about spiritual warfare written from a Christian perspective.
But it was interesting to read a book about spiritual warfare written from a Christian perspective.
May 27, 2025
As mentioned in countless other reviews, this is a bad book, and was read by myself simply as part of the Great American Read. The writing is flat out atrocious for a book on the Great American Read reading list and Dave Hunt could really use the middle school English class advice of "show, don't tell" in his writing. Reading this book gave me newfound appreciation for good authors that I previously took for granted.
June 20, 2018
I started off thinking this was a science fiction book about making contact with aliens and I was looking forward to reading it. Then it got all religious and the aliens became demons which the Christians had to cast out. Being a believer of both, I didn't care for how Hunt jumped back and forth between the two. Any author should stick to one or the other.
March 26, 2019
It reads a bit like a political novel or a tract put to fiction. The dialogue is a bit uniform, and the take on exorcism is quite simplistic. The one very realistic theme was that people who strongly desire a result, if they think someone disturbing or evil might give it to them, can choose to ignore a slew of warning signs.
I wasn’t sorry to read it, but it’s no Piercing the Darkness.
I wasn’t sorry to read it, but it’s no Piercing the Darkness.
August 4, 2018
Original title of Mind Invaders by Dave Hunt.
I can see why they changed the title, no one would have given this one a try with the old title. A very good read that makes your mind wonder about many things.
Would recommend to anyone interested in Christian reading or extraterrestrials or demons.
I can see why they changed the title, no one would have given this one a try with the old title. A very good read that makes your mind wonder about many things.
Would recommend to anyone interested in Christian reading or extraterrestrials or demons.
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