The first MM(S) book I had to force myself to finish! - Rated 
It's all relative - Michael Marshall is without doubt one of my favourite authors. USAULLY you'll get vicious wit, heart-felt insights into human nature, abrupt philosophical tangents, great narrative arcs and if you're lucky, some truly disturbing imagery! Whether it's the older Sci-Fi stuff, or the highly enjoyable departure from the good old 'Smith' days - The Straw Men trilogy.
Unfortunately, these devices were used sparingly in The Intruders and I just didn't 'get' it. Not in a plot sense (in fact, for a story that takes SO long to develope, it ultimately becomes a little predictable) but rather in a 'how is this so below par?' kind of way.
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that this is simply a tantalising opener to an ongoing, epic series - but if you're looking for the usual fast paced 'ride', I reckon you'll be disappointed.
The genres blur a little for MM - Rated 
The return of the "Derren Brown" of mystery thriller/SCIFI writers. This is a strong book, well paced and personally written. Characters you care about is MM's (and MMS's) major trademark and he has flipped between thriller and SCIFI genres with I(M) Banksian ease. Until now.
The Intruders tries to get its toast buttered both sides and to be fair does get away with it but it will jar with the first time reader or someone who has only read The Straw Men. The rug is not so much pulled away as taken in the back, burned and replaced with a martian one.
All in all though I loved it- as a fan who's been following everything since Only Forward it does give the best of both worlds. The section around 3/4 of the way through concerning a film of a young daughter's disturbed sleep is one of the creepiest ever moments for MM. You will want to sleep with the light on.
There are a few black comedy moments, but unusually not many for MM. There is a consistently serious tone throughout, peppered with only the blackest of humour.
4 stars, now bring on "The Servants" !
Alias Smith - Rated
The author has written in the horror/sci-fi genre under the name Michael Marshall Smith and in the crime/thriller genre under the name Michael Marshall. "The Intruders" represents a work with one foot in each camp, and the result, unlike the conflict experience by the characters in the book, is successful and harmonious.
The novel mixes first-person narrative, following the journey of discovery made by former LA cop turned writer Jack Whalen, with third-person accounts of the supporting characters, among them Madison, a missing nine-year-old girl, Shepherd, a mysterious assassin, and Amy, Jack's wife, again combining the two styles with great success. I suspect there is something very clever going on in this book, which is that the split writing style is an early clue to the dark secret at the heart of the story.
Whalen's journey of discovery starts out as a simple thriller. His wife has gone AWOL in Seattle while an old schoolfriend of Jack's turns up with suspicions regarding a murder case with which he's been involved as a lawyer. But as Whalen delves deeper, there is a gradual and effective genre shift when his discoveries point him towards more supernatural explanations than initially appear likely.
Whalen is a good character, and the relationship with his wife, which maps the arc of the plot, is well drawn and credible. I got hooked early on, and remained so right to the end. Michael Marshall clearly knows how to make the reader want to find out what happens next, and provides just enough answers to keep him/her turning the pages.
A little disappointing - Rated 
I was really looking forward to this novel. I too am a fan of MM's books, even the slightly daft but highly-entertaining Straw Men trilogy, and have done stay-up-all-night stints to find out what happens next in them. Whilst his writing is still sharp and spot on when evoking a sense of place (I could see Birch Crossing and Seattle clearly), and the opinions on life, the modern world, its technologies, its frustrations and its absurdities voiced by the central character, Jack Whalen (who I tended to think of as a mouthpiece for MM's own views) are wry and often funny, I found the plot rather weak and unconvincing. Maybe I have become to used to way his mind works, because I could see things coming a mile off, there were some annoying holes in the plot, the bad guy, Shepherd, was never really developed satisfactorily as a character (in fact he felt like a half-baked version of the sinister men in black who appear in John Connolly's novels), and it was easy to work out who would be alive and who would not at the end of the novel. I will still seek out MM's future work, but mark this one down as below par.
Not his best by a long shot - Rated
I really wanted to love "The Intruders", as I'm a massive fan of Michael Marshall Smith, and had heard that this was somewhat of a return to his horror/sci-fi roots that drew me to his writing many years ago.
However, I can't help feeling a little cheated. Yes, the book has a great premise, the twists are there, the familiar first person narration and the endless teasing of the reader with all kinds of unanswered questions...but ultimately none of the good stuff kicks in until nearly 300 pages into the 400 page hardback - and it's a long, hard slog getting there.
"The Intruders" gives the impression that it was a short story or novella the publishers demanded be padded out to full novel size. It often feels like Marshall is just phoning it in, with many of the peripheral characters' voices blurring into one, as sketchy character archetypes come and go almost at random. The protagonist, who is frustratingly "irresolute" (an overused word in the book - a Freudian slip perhaps?) for much of the narrative, never attains the depth of Ward of "The Straw Men" trilogy, for example, or engages the reader like Stark in "Only Forward". Marshall teases the reader for so many chapters, dripfeeding information slower than Chinese water torture, that I eventually stopped caring what the big reveal might be. It was reasonably clear for a long time before my suspicions were confirmed. No great shocks like in "Hell Hath Enlarged Herself", no heart-breaking insights of "Always".
Had this been a short story in a collection, or a significantly shorter novella, things would have been very different.
This book won't turn me off Michael Marshall as a writer, but it has made me anticipate forthcoming works with some trepidation. Let's hope this is just a blip on the radar and not the shape of things to come.
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