Touched by an Alien

February 15, 2010
Koch's derivative debut piles on the comic book clichés. Katherine “Kitty” Katt's orderly world is shaken when she sees a man on the street turn into a monster. After she manages to kill it, secret agents whisk her away and explain that these “superbeings” are humans mutated by alien parasites. The agents are aliens themselves, visitors from Alpha Centauri who are tracking a particularly powerful superbeing that has taken over the mind of a terrorist leader. Handsome agent Jeff Martini instantly becomes obsessed with Kitty, who unaccountably finds it sexy and romantic when he acts like an aggressive stalker. The plot moves quickly and Koch's prose shows promise, but the action scenes drag a bit, and the constant erotic overtones of Jeff and Kitty's banter are painfully intrusive.

Starred review from March 15, 2010
When Katherine Kitty Katt instinctively uses her Montblanc pen to slay an alien parasite after leaving the courthouse following some jury duty, shes swept into a secret community of Armani-clad, superfast Alpha-Centaurians and gorgeous humans that is fighting a parasitic alien menace. The parasites turn emotional humans into a variety of horrifying, supervillainous monsters. Kitty is taken to a secret installation deep below New Mexico, where she discovers that her parents lead far more exciting lives than she had ever imagined. Traveling with empath and love-interest Jeff and crew to a remote location to battle a crowd of supervillains bearing hilariously unoriginal supernames, Kitty uses her iPod, an armored vehicle, hot water, and hairspray as weapons. This delightful romp has many interesting twists and turns as it glances at racism, politics, and religion en route. It will have fanciers of cinematic sf parodies referencing Men in Black, Ghost Busters, and X-Men. Meanwhile, readers who like the smart sf silliness of Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy novels, Lois McMaster Bujolds Vorkosigan Saga, Pat Murphys There and Back Again (2000), and A. Lee Martinezs The Automatic Detective (2008) will find it distinctively different, for Kochs humor is more in the vein of MaryJanice Davidson in her Undead series, but darned amusing, all the same.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)