Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 Against the House | 1954 | Jack Finney | Buy |
| 2 | Invasion of the Body Snatchers / The Body Snatchers | 1955 | Jack Finney | Buy |
| 3 | The House of Numbers | 1957 | Jack Finney | Buy |
| 4 | Assault on a Queen | 1959 | Jack Finney | Buy |
| 5 | Good Neighbor Sam | 1964 | Jack Finney | Buy |
| 6 | The Woodrow Wilson Dime | 1968 | Jack Finney | Buy |
| 7 | Marion’s Wall | 1973 | Jack Finney | Buy |
| 8 | The Night People | 1977 | Jack Finney | Buy |
Jack Finney’s standalone novels range from paranoid science fiction to lighthearted comedy. His most famous, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (originally published as The Body Snatchers in 1955), tells the story of a small-town doctor who discovers that his neighbors are being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates. The novel has been adapted for film four times, and its central paranoia has lost none of its punch over the decades.
His other standalones show a different side of his writing. 5 Against the House (1954) is a heist thriller about college students who plan to rob a casino. Good Neighbor Sam (1964) is a comic novel about a man pretending to be his neighbor’s husband. Assault on a Queen (1959) follows a group that plans to rob the ocean liner Queen Mary using a salvaged submarine. Finney had range, and these books prove it.