Stinger by Robert McCammon is a brutal science fiction/horror mashup that delivers the horror and the heart. Stinger is an original work like nothing I’ve read before. It is part S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, part High Noon, part The Thing, and part E.T. The book features a gang turf war, immigration issues, possession, racism, and money issues, basically everything that is going on right now except the alien invasion. The alien invasion is unique in how it was told, it reminded me of The Terminator 2 where you had to guess the bad guy. The pace could have been better as it takes its time explaining the town and how it works before showing the threat. I put McCammon in the same terms as Stephen King who are both great at exposition both are a little slow in the pace department, but always provide interesting worlds and create such unique characters that are hard to forget. This story has a lot of heart I got choked up two times at the end. McCammon makes you care for characters that you loathed at the start of the story, giving such a beautiful character arc. You will come away knowing almost every surviving resident of Bordertown and Inferno. This is my 11th Robert McCammon book read, and I still have a lot to go as well as reread and review for my blog. Every book except Baal, the first book he ever wrote, I’ve enjoyed with me now adding Stinger to the list. Stinger is getting adapted to a series by horror director James Wan for the Peacock Streaming service. Stinger was published on First published April 1, 1988.

Plot Summary: The towns of Inferno and Bordertown are in Texas near the American-Mexican Border. Bordertown is mainly Mexican – American and Inferno is the Caucasian side the middle is the site of a turf war between two gangs the Renegades and The Rattlesnakes (so Eighties). The town itself is slowly fading away as the high school is shutting down and the only business thriving is a chop shop that pays off the local sheriff. The town is heading for an implosion but instead, they get an explosion as the town vet and her 6-year-old daughter are hit with shrapnel from an unidentified object getting chased by black helicopters. The vet’s daughter keeps hearing a song that no one else can hear and finds an orb in the smashed front end of the car. The girl begins playing with the orb and it starts responding through games of tic-tac-toe until the orb turns her eyes black and takes over her body. As this happens a force field covers both towns with the girl only responding “Stinger” as the town is invaded.

What I Liked: The town and the townspeople the way they were described. The relationships between Cody and Rick, and Cody and his dad. I loved that I loathed one drunk and racist character at the start but at the end McCammon made me care about him and his choices. The design of Stinger and his drone creations. I loved that the story went in crazy directions but seemed right. The way we got to see Daufin learn the English language, and all the baseball references. The Climax and resolve were both great, it ended big then we got to see the effects on a human level. The gang fight was intense. I liked how the gang finally started working together after the invasion.

What I Disliked: The pace could have been better, but I was still pretty entertained. I would have liked to see Stinger Show up earlier in the story instead of almost halfway. The plot went in ways I didn’t expect I didn’t like all the choices but it was still a wild fun ride that McCammon put together in the end. I wanted to see more of Mack Cade before the invasion since he runs both towns.

Recommendations: Stinger is a truly unique story that is rare these days. It mashes up a lot of different tropes and genres to become something that I have never read before. The book doesn’t shy away from its basic human faults except race and culture. These are a group of people with problems that have a bigger problem that quashes a lot of petty problems to work together. McCammon is one of my favorite authors that I don’t think enough people know about or have read. I recommend you check out Stinger to get chills, laughter, and feelings.

Rating: I rated Stinger by Robert McCammon 4 out of 5 stars. Out of the 11 books I have read of Robert McCammon are Mine, The Wolf’s Hour, Boy’s Life, Speaks the Nightbird, and Mister Slaughter. I have only read and reviewed Speaks the Nightbird, The Queen of Bedlam and now Stinger for my blog of 5 years so far but plan on rereading and reading McCammon’s new works.