In Her Name - First Contact, by Michael Hicks

This is a prequel to Mr. Hicks' "In Her Name" trilogy (the first novel of which is the excellent "Empire").  It is also an outstanding read. This book is the first of the prequel trilogy. And it is stand alone: you needn't have read any of the later books to enjoy this one, and if you have read them, you won't be disappointed by this either.

Mr. Hicks starts us off with an Earth -based survey ship discovering inhabited planets and scary alien creatures who massacre their victims. One survivor, Sato, tries to explain to the rest of Earth the nature of the threat facing their species.

I don't want to say more except that this book is at the same high standard of excellent writing and superlative pacing as his others.  If you're into sci-fi, I expect that you would really enjoy this series.


In Her Name First Contact