THEY WILL BE COMING FOR US

A woman marries into a peculiar family that’s obsessed with her pregnancy in this SF novel.

In 1965, the small town of Kirksberg, Pennsylvania, had a famous UFO sighting that the townsfolk celebrate in a big yearly festival. For 23-year-old adoptive sisters Helena and Sveta Peterman, that festival means scooping lots of ice cream at the shop where they work. The sisters are close, especially because their humanitarian mother and father are always traveling, and when Helena eventually leaves Kirksberg to find her biological parents, Sveta feels abandoned. Maybe that’s why she’s less guarded than usual when ice cream customer Andrew Jovian, a 28-year-old man with kind, blue-green eyes, asks her out. Their connection is undeniable, and they quickly marry, and although Sveta’s happy, she’s annoyed by Andrew’s overbearing family. They’re the wealthy owners of Kirksberg telescope maker Starbright International, and they’re relentlessly focused on Sveta’s new pregnancy—so much so that Sveta and Andrew move away to another Starbright location in North Carolina. But circumstances bring the Jovians back into Sveta’s life for reasons that are bizarre and shocking. Sveta soon faces a battle to protect her baby that will require all her bravery and resolve. In her debut novel, Catanzarite builds tension well and uses it for maximum effect. At first, Sveta’s in-laws merely seem to lack social skills, but as the novel goes on, their agenda becomes clearer and more frightening, especially after Sveta learns how the aforementioned spaceship sighting connects with Starbright’s goals. The author also skillfully handles Sveta’s characterization, making her vulnerability plausible in the absence of her sister and parents. Similarly, the protagonist’s fierce maternal love helps to explain how she’s able to gather the courage to stand up against powerful forces.

Well-constructed science fiction with an admirable heroine and a chilling premise.