V Death Tide Novel Written by A.C. Crispin and Deborah A. Marshall (The page numbers come from the 1st printing, paperback edition, published July 1985)

Science Frontiers develops a new strain of the red dust; Donovan's ex-wife comes back into his life.

Story Summary

Chapter 1: Current Events

Julie flies in a helicopter to Catalina Island, off the coast of California, to assist the Science Frontiers scientists there working on a new strain of the red dust bacteria that grows in sea kelp. On the mainland, Maggie Blodgett, Chris, and Tyler attempt to hijack a shipment of Visitor power packs to power their laser guns and skyfighters, but it goes awry, with the shipment  destroyed and Chris blinded by an alien's venom. Meanwhile, Nathan Bates is also missing the power packs, as the computers and security systems of Science Frontiers have been modified to run on them. He places a call to Diana on the mothership and they engage in a verbal thrust-and-parry.

Diana receives a message from the Great Leader: the homeworld is in crisis and she and her forces are to reactivate the desalinization plants on Earth to increase water intake for immediate delivery to the homeworld. A special ship to ferry the water back is on its way to Earth.

Chapter 2: Class Act

The water ship arrives and Diana briefs the new recruits on the current status of the occupation of Earth. Then her senior biologist, Bernard, informs her that he and his team have learned of the resistance scientists' new strain of the red dust bacteria. They've found that it enters the sea water through the kelp's by-products...and that the Visitors can't filter it out!

Chapter 3: Wishes, Dreams and Nightmares

Chris is on the mend from his encounter with lizard venom, but it turns out that besides its regular poisonous properties, he is also allergic to it! His eyesight recovery will take longer than most. Maggie visits him at his house for the first time and learns more about the former CIA spook.

Julie returns to the mainland and informs the resistance gang at the Club Creole that they are making good progress with the new bacteria, but she is feeling ill herself.

Back on Catalina, the Visitors invade the lab, killing all of the remaining scientists there.

Chapter 4: Matters for Confession

Tyler volunteers Donovan to make a delivery of supplies to the New York resistance group White Christmas in exchange for some of their power packs. Meanwhile, Julie confides to Robin that she thinks she may be pregnant with Donovan's child.

Chapter 5: Connecting Flight

Donovan heads for New York in the group's captured shuttlecraft, despite its power pack's low charge. He runs into bad weather over Pennsylvania and expends the power pack's charge fighting it, forced to almost crash-land a few miles short of his goal, the Brook Cove Lab. But the Brook Cove scientists spot his descent and pick him up. Donovan stays in New York for 4 days while their engineers repair the shuttlecraft and he enjoys the comfortable life in a free New York. He is reacquainted with fellow newscaster Denise Daltrey among the members of White Christmas and she offers him a job with her at CBS if he stays.

Chapter 6: Conflicts of Interest

Diana brings Marjorie Donovan--Mike Donovan's ex-wife--out of hibernation and uses her new conversion process on her...no more left-handed tell! She plans to use the woman to put an end to Donovan's interference. Speaking of Donovan, he heads back to L.A. with a promise to Denise that he'll think about her job offer. Shortly after arrival, he arranges dinner with Julie at her apartment, but Marjorie calls him there.

Chapter 7: New Friends, Old Friends

Over the phone, Marjorie tells Donovan she was one of the captives released from hibernation when the L.A. mothership was captured over a year ago and that she had just needed some time to find herself and had been recently working with the resistance in Denver; Donovan rushes out of Julie's apartment to meet her, leaving Julie feeling left out in the cold. The two continue to meet several times over the course of the next week. She has landed a job at the Visitor legation and has learned that a shipment of power packs is soon to be delivered to Science Frontiers. Meanwhile, Maggie has continued to care for Chris during his recovery and to the surprise of them both, the two have begun to fall in love.

Chapter 8: Bad Relations

Donovan and Julie meet for lunch, but there is a distance between them now that Marjorie is back in the picture. On the mothership, Bernard has come up with a method to extract the red dust bacteria-variant from kelp, but the powder that performs the aliens' miracle is also volatile and explosive in the air! He receives orders to begin manufacturing the stuff in one of the Visitors' warehouses in Long Beach so the sea near L.A. can be cleansed and the water desalinized for delivery to the homeworld.

Chapter 9: Power Plays

The resistance pulls off a heist of the power packs, not realizing it is a set-up by Diana to crush the resistance.

Chapter 10: Room for Discussion

Under all the pressure from Diana, Bernard decides to take a break from what he has come to call Operation Red Dust. He drops into the Club Creole for a drink and Willie gets him drunk on a strange, Visitor-esque concoction, pumping him for information. That night, the resistance has a party at the Club to celebrate the acquisition of the power packs.

Chapter 11: Turnabouts

As the party begins to wind down, Julie discovers Marjorie emerging from the secret doorway in the kitchen, leading to the speakeasy resistance headquarters, with a Visitor device in her hand. Julie stops her and the remaining resistance members try to pump the ex-Mrs. Donovan for information, but she won't (or can't) speak. But, in a single moment of letting their guard down, Marjorie grabs back the device and makes a run for it, escaping.

Chapter 12: Contingency Plans

The next morning, at Science Frontiers, Nathan Bates is furious with Diana that the shipment of power packs was hijacked, depriving him and his business of much-needed power. Diana assures him she has already arranged for a new shipment to him due to arrive tomorrow. Julie is also present to overhear the communication as Diana comments that her people will be conducting some tests on the oceanfront tonight. Julie knows it must be related to the "Operation Red Dust" which Willie learned about from Bernard.

Chapter 13: Win Some, Lose Some

The resistance prepares for an assault on the Long Beach docks to stop Diana's Operation Red Dust. Meanwhile, Marjorie has spent the last couple days wandering homeless around L.A., resisting the urge to report her findings to Diana. But she runs into a Visitor patrol on the streets and her willpower is unable to stop her converted mind from reporting in to them.

Chapter 14: Battle Readiness

Kyle and Robin head out together to take part in the resistance assault on the docks, leaving Elizabeth behind at his house for her own protection. But the Star Child grabs one of his spare motorcycles and heads out after them.

Chapter 15: Night Moves

The resistance makes its move against the Visitor warehouse and pier in Long Beach, but are ambushed and caught before they can do any damage. Marjorie Donovan is there as well, having sold them out. She is about to tell Diana where the resistance headquarters is located when Elizabeth is suddenly brought in by guards, having been captured herself. Diana is beside herself with pleasure at the achievements this night. The Visitors and their captives exit the warehouse to commence with the depositing of the defoliant into the ocean.

Chapter 16: The Tide Turns

As they're about to commence, Elizabeth suddenly screams, "No!" and the barrels of the volatile defoliant start flying off the conveyer belt, crashing to the ground and exploding. Many of the aliens are killed, while others flee or dive into the ocean to escape the flames and debris. Marjorie Donovan is hit by shards that penetrate into her back, shattering her spine. She dies in Donovan's arms, unable to speak.

Chapter 17: Afterwords

Diana, of course, survives the conflagration. On the mothership, Lydia gleefully revels in her Commander's failure and informs her that Bernard was killed and that he apparently sought to protect his position in the fleet by omitting from his notes the formula for the defoliant of Operation Red Dust; they can't make more of it. And the Commander of the Iranian mothership reports that he'll be able to meet the Leader's quota of water by himself, further humiliating Diana.

Julie finally has time to see the doctor and she learns she has suffered a miscarriage. At her apartment, she tells Donovan about it and they have a warm reconciliation from the tension of the past few weeks. Donovan picks up Julie's phone to call Denise Daltrey; he'll be staying in L.A. after all. 

THE END

Didja Notice?

The cover image of a mothership over the ocean seems to show three lights (or possibly blasts of jet exhaust) coming from the ship down to the ocean; not sure why those would be there.

On page 1, Julie is working on a new red dust variant at a Science Frontiers lab on Catalina Island off the coast of California. This is a real island located about 22 miles southwest of Los Angeles. The island will later become the main HQ of the L.A. resistance in "Conquest at Any Cost".

Page 2 mentions that Julie was a 4th year medical student at UCLA when the Visitors first arrived a couple years earlier (UCLA is the University of California Los Angeles). But "Arrival" describes her as a 2nd year medical student at the time. Page 5 tells us that after V-day, Julie completed school and received a PhD in biochemistry. Doesn't that mean she is not a medical doctor, despite her occasional claims to be during the series? This is confirmed later on in the book.

Page 2 also reveals that, similar to the question "Where were you the day President John F. Kennedy was shot?", a popular question has arisen since the aliens arrival: "What were you doing when the Visitors arrived?"

Page 3 again refers to Julie watching Dan Rather deliver the news on TV of the Visitors' arrival, as Crispin did in her novelization of the mini-series. The televised episodes used Howard K. Smith instead.

Page 3 also maintains the strange resonance of the Visitors' voices, as most of the novels and comic books do, unlike the weekly series which dropped the effect.

Page 3 mentions that pure, liquid water seems to be a rare commodity in this portion of the Milky Way galaxy.

Page 4 reveals that the laser gun injury Julie sustained in "Visitors, Victims and Victory" still pains her during damp weather.

On page 5, Julie muses on the current similarity between "open-city" L.A. and Casablanca in the film Casablanca.

Page 6 reveals that it is bladder kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) in which the new red dust bacteria is able to thrive.

Page 7 reintroduces resistance fighter Maggie Blodgett from the V: The Final Battle mini-series and last seen in the novel Prisoners and Pawns.

Page 8 reveals that Maggie is from Encino, a district of Los Angeles, and that Chris is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Page 9 tells us that this novel takes place in July.

Page 9 also reveals that the Visitors have imposed restrictions on automobile traffic in L.A. Presumably, this occurred with the cooperation of Bates' provisional government.

Throughout the book Maggie tries to stump Chris with a Visitor joke he hasn't heard before. They are listed below:
What do Visitors call joggers? Fast food.
What do you call the Visitor who owns a pet shop? Well fed.
What do Visitors call two boys and a girl? A sandwich.
Why did the Visitor eat the punk-rock biker? Roughage. (I'm not sure I get the joke, but "roughage" may refer to the metal studs and spikes worn by the stereotypical punker or biker.)

Page 14 reintroduces Elias' father Caleb Taylor. He was one of the main characters in the two mini-series and appeared in the novel The Pursuit of Diana, but did not appear in any of the weekly series episodes.

Page 16 suggests that Bates is the head of L.A.'s provisional government, which makes sense given the power he seems to wield in the city after striking his deal with Diana (although in "Alien Conflict" Bates refers to himself as merely a liaison to the city council).

Page 16 also reveals that Bates has had the power sources for Science Frontiers' computers and security systems converted to the Visitors' power packs. Page 8 tells us that the palm-sized power packs contain atomic batteries; attempts to open the packs up by human researchers had resulted in explosions the size of a city block.

On page 17, Diana recalls the last time she had been with the Great Leader in the privacy of his hunting lodge.

On page 19, Diana muses on the things she misses about the homeworld, among them "the shouts and games of the children during the water rituals". What are the water rituals?

On page 20, Kyle imagines that Elizabeth is like a Dresden figurine. A Dresden figurine is a finely detailed and delicate porcelain figure, usually of a man or woman. The first such figurines were sold in Dresden, Germany from the 1700s onward, though now are made throughout the world.

Page 21 elaborates on the revelation in the V-Mail column of V #3 ("Encounter") that Kyle's mother suffered a nervous breakdown. Here, we learn that this happened when Kyle was 8 years old. She was hospitalized and has been there ever since, alone with her thoughts, with no one able to reach her in all that time.

Page 21 also reveals that Kyle, as he got older, not only got into motorcycle racing but, also, gangs!

On page 23, Donovan shops at a Safeway supermarket. This is an actual supermarket chain in the U.S., Canada, and a few other countries.

Page 23 reveals that the Visitors have acquired a taste for human booze and candy, contributing to shortages and high prices on the two vices.

Page 23 also reveals that Bates and the Visitors are imposing high sales taxes on items in L.A.

Page 24 reveals that Donovan was an anchorman with NBC's L.A. affiliate during the year after V-day. In the real world, L.A.'s NBC affiliate is KNBC 4, but in the premiere episode of the weekly series he works for fictional KDHB 6.

On page 26, Diana muses that many of the new recruits who've arrived probably "enjoyed one last submersion in the love-pits before making their journey to Earth". Yowza! What are the love-pits?

Page 26 indicates that the Visitor homeworld has multiple moons.

Page 26 also reveals, per the new recruits, that the Leader had just emerged from his most recent molt.

Page 27 mentions one of the new recruits attempting to speak in the Visitors' native language with her altered vocal apparatus. Does this imply that all Visitors deployed have had their biological vocal apparatus' altered? If so, for what purpose? Would their voices be even stranger than the reverberation they currently have without the alteration? This page in the novel also informs the reader that the recruit's human mask tears at the mouth in her attempt to speak the Visitors' tongue, as in the V mini-series novelization and the novel East Coast Crisis.

On page 28, Diana, in her debriefing speech to the new recruits, tells them that they must wear the human disguises due to the humans' intolerance of those of different appearance.

Page 28 reveals that both the Nile and Amazon rivers are diminishing day-by-day due to the water pumping efforts of the Visitors.

Page 28 mentions two human processing plants in Newark, New Jersey that were destroyed by resistance fighters.

Page 28 also mentions that the city of Beirut, Lebanon was obliterated by a nuclear device set off by local human forces, destroying the mothership there (and its commander, Abdul) in the process.

As Diana's debriefing of the new recruits continues on page 29, images of a number of known resistance members are flashed on a large screen. Among them is Sancho Gomez, the yard-keeper turned rebel who appeared in the two mini-series.

Page 33 mentions that Bill Kendall, one of the scientists at the Catalina lab, is an avid collector of Depression glass. Depression glass is a term for cheap, generally low-quality glassware which was distributed for free, or at low prices, as purchase incentives by producers of other goods in the U.S. during the Great Depression. Since the 1960s, Depression glass has become quite collectible.

On page 33, Amelia Anderson mentions Symphony Number Fifteen to Bill Kendall. There are several works known as such, but given that Kendall is described as being a fan of Mozart, it most likely refers to Mozart's Symphony No. 15 in G Major from 1772.

Page 33 mentions Maalox and Di-Gel, both antacids. Di-Gel was popular in the 1970s-80s but appears to no longer be in production.

Page 34 mentions Avalon. Avalon is the only city on Catalina Island, though there are three small towns there as well.

Also on page 34, Dr. Halpern mentions that the bison on the island were originally brought there in the 1920s for the shooting of a silent film. This is true. In 1924 the silent film The Vanishing American, written by renowned Western author Zane Grey, was shot on Catalina. When filming completed, the bison were left behind and they survived and multiplied. Dr. Halpern says there are several hundred bison on the island, which was probably true at the time this novel was written. Nowadays the population is carefully maintained at 150-200 individuals as ecologically sound for the island's environment.

Page 35 implies that Julie did not complete her medical degree, choosing instead to pursue research and page 137 confirms this.

Page 35 reveals that Elizabeth has no tear ducts! Later on in the book, it is revealed that the Visitors do not possess tear ducts.

Page 37 establishes Willie's habit of concocting bizarre drinks, just as seen in some episodes of the weekly series. Here it is said that he is attempting to create a new beverage appealing to the Visitor palate.

Page 38 reveals that Chris is essentially allergic to Visitor venom.

On page 39, Tyler chugs down Willie's blended concoction, which consists in part of several kinds of liquor, milk, mustard, peanut butter, and mayonnaise. Tyler comments that he's tasted worse in Saigon.

On page 39, Tyler mentions having been in Saigon in the past. Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam, where Tyler fought in the war.

On page 40, Willie says that the Visitors are the Club Creole's best tippers! (Actually, he says they're the best strippers and Elias corrects him.)

Also on page 40, Julie refers to the new strain of anti-Visitor bacteria as "red dust number two".

Page 42 reveals that Chris has a little Shih Tzu dog. The dog's name is Druid because he worships trees.

Page 42 reveals that Chris has a large and eclectic collection of books in his house, including three shelves devoted to the U.S. Civil War and 2 shelves to England. There is also a copy of Carpentry for Fun and Profit, which is not a real book as far as I can find.

Page 44 reveals that Chris owns a copy of the book, Watership Down. This is a real book, an epic fantasy of anthropomorphized rabbits. (Note also that this segment of the chapter ends with Maggie asking about Watership Down, segueing into the first sentence of the next segment, describing a brown rabbit in a cage at the Catalina lab.)

Page 49 reveals that crivits don't like water.

Page 52 tells us that Willie's latest blender concoction is popular with the Visitors.

Also on page 52, Tyler tells Donovan he looks like he could use a vacation in New York and Donovan replies they're "fresh out of matter transporters and ruby slippers." The reference to matter transporters may be a reference to Star Trek, of which author Crispin wrote a few novels. "Ruby slippers" refers to the ruby slippers worn by Dorothy in the 1939 classic film The Wizard of Oz; at the end of the film, Dorothy clicks the heels of her ruby shoes together three times and repeats "There's no place like home," to return to her home in Kansas.

On page 53, Tyler refers to the resistance's skyfighter as "the lizard buggy".

Page 54 describes Julie's apartment as being near Santa Monica and on the 4th floor of the building.

Page 54 also mentions that Robin's short-cropped hair was an attempt to make her less recognizable to any Visitors who might be searching for her on Diana's behalf.

On page 55, Robin watches Julie's VW Rabbit pull up to the curb. We saw Julie driving a Rabbit in the original mini-series; presumably this is the same one.

Page 56 reveals that there are rumors from the Seattle underground that the Visitors have been tampering with human contraceptives, presumably so that more babies will be born for food!

Page 58 mentions both the White Christmas resistance group and Brook Cove Lab, both originally appearing in the novel East Coast Crisis.

On page 59, as he prepares for his supply run to New York, Donovan reflects that he's become a Purolator courier. Purolator is a Canadian courier company.

Page 59 also implies that Tyler is a Broadway fan (this may be a reference back to Tyler's Shakespeare conversation with Ruby in "The Masterpiece") and Donovan half-jokingly offers to pick up a copy of Variety for him in New York. Variety is a tabloid covering the entertainment trade. Later in the book, we learn that Donovan did, in fact, bring back a copy of the latest issue for Tyler to peruse.

On page 60 we learn a bit more about Donovan's parents. Eleanor grew up in a little hick town in Louisiana and she married his father partly for his money. His father was Patrick Donovan and he died a few years ago, after which Eleanor married rich industrialist Arthur Dupres.

Page 62 reveals that the San Francisco resistance network has learned that Sean Donovan was in a Visitor-run camp for boys in Northern California. Later, on page 187, Diana tells Marjorie that Sean is at a camp near Carmel-Monterey, but there is no guarantee she was telling the truth. The Carmel-Monterey area of the California coast is south of San Francisco.

Page 62 also refers to Sean as being 12-years old, which would correspond to the age he would be at this time from his given age of 10 in the mini-series, unlike the weekly series which advanced his age to 15 without explanation.

As Donovan fights the skyfighter controls during the storm while flying to New York on page 63, he wonders if he'll wind up in Oz. This is another reference to The Wizard of Oz; the character of Dorothy found herself in the land of Oz when a hurricane picked her Kansas home up into the air and dropped it there.

Page 64 mentions a John Deere tractor. The John Deere company is the leading manufacturer of agricultural equipment in the world.

Page 65 reveals that Donovan has had stories published in Life magazine.

On page 68 Hannah says that Julie's description of Donovan made her expect a cross between Indiana Jones and Bob Woodward. Indiana Jones, of course, refers to the famous archaeologist adventure character appearing in films, books, and comics. Bob Woodward is an award-winning journalist for The Washington Post, best known for his contributions with fellow journalist Carl Bernstein to the Watergate scandal articles.

On page 70, Donovan goes to the see Cats on Broadway. Cats is a musical play that premiered in 1981, based on T.S. Eliot's book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.

Page 70 mentions Times Square. Times Square is a major intersection in Manhattan known for it's huge and colorful ad displays and has become a symbol of New York also known as the Crossroads of the World.

Also on page 70, Donovan finds that, in New York, he is still worshipped as a hero of the first war against the Visitors.

Page 70 also mentions that White Christmas resistance member Pete Forsythe is completing his medical studies at Cornell Medical Center.

Page 71 reveals that the professional baseball leagues have been dissolved. Presumably this is meant to indicate a second period of dissolution. The earlier novel East Coast Crisis revealed that the leagues had been dissolved during the first Visitor occupation that took place during the two mini-series, but were reinstated at the President's order after the aliens were chased off Earth by the red dust.

Page 75 reveals that L.A. dollars and New York dollars are no longer the same.

On page 76, Donovan is eating Risotto. Risotto is an Italian rice dish also containing broth, parmesan cheese, and other ingredients.

Page 78 reveals that Visitor shuttlecraft contain a toilet closet that works pretty much the same as human ones.

Page 78 also reveals that Lydia was originally assigned to work in Great Britain (hence her British accent) but was reassigned to southern California. She states that her human "bodysuit" was thermally designed for Britain's climate, not L.A!

Page 78 also reveals that Willie's last mating with a female of his species resulted in disappointment from a genetic standpoint, so he had been permitted only short-term, recreational coupling.

Page 87 mentions a Neil Diamond record playing in the background. Diamond is a popular American singer-songwriter who has been performing since the 1960s.

On page 92 Marjorie tells Donovan she had been working in Denver under an assumed name as an editorial assistant at a newspaper for the past year. This is likely a fabrication concocted by Diana to explain her absence.

On page 93, Marjorie says that during the past year she used to see Donovan's face on television every night when he was the anchor on a national news broadcast. This would seem to conflict with the earlier statement on page 24 that he worked for the local L.A. affiliate of NBC. NBC's national newscast is broadcast from New York.

Page 96 mentions Redondo Beach. This is a real beach and city in southern California.

Page 96 also mentions Taco Bell, a popular fast-food restaurant chain serving Mexican food throughout the U.S. and many other countries.

Page 96 reveals that Marjorie Donovan has a sister named Patty in Ventura.

Page 99 mentions a Visitor land-patrol vehicle. It is not described except that it emits a low-pitched whine.

While they remain holed up in his house when the Visitors scout his neighborhood on page 101, Chris does some impersonations to entertain Maggie. He impersonates James Cagney, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, and Henry Fonda as Mr. Roberts. Chris must be a fan of old movies because these were all old actors even in the 1980s when this novel was written. Henry Fonda's Mr. Roberts character is from the 1955 film of the same name.

On page 104, Marjorie asks Donovan to meet her in an alley near Vallejo Street, about 8 blocks from the Visitor legation. This may suggest the Visitor legation is near the Lincoln Heights area of Los Angeles.

Page 118 reveals that Robin's younger sisters Polly and Katie have been staying with their Aunt Rebecca in Chicago. (This may be why Robin heads to Chicago when she later decides to get away from Los Angeles in "The Rescue").

Page 118 also reveals that Robin and Elizabeth are both studying for their GED test (General Education Development). When passed, the test certifies the person has at least high school level academic skills. Given how Elizabeth is described as having a genius level intellect in the V novelization, it doesn't seem likely she would need to study much. Maybe she is secretly doing it more to help her mother than anything else. Of course, the weekly series also downplays the intellectual skills of the Star Child in favor of mystical powers, which may explain the seeming discrepancy.

On page 120, Donovan and Tyler are waiting on a side street off Wilshire Boulevard, about four miles from Science Frontiers, to hijack the shipment of power packs. The distance given between Wilshire and Science Frontiers seems to jibe just about right with the possible location of SF in Whittier indicated on Nathan Bates' wall map in "The Dissident".

On page 124, Donovan thinks the odor of charred Visitor skin from a laser blast is like a barbecued chicken smell. Do the lizards taste like chicken?

On page 126, Kyle is waiting for the hijacked van on his motorcycle in an alley off New Hampshire Avenue, a half-block from Wilshire Boulevard. Looking on Google Maps, there is only one place that fits the description of Kyle's hideout. The alley slightly above the middle of the screenshot below is a half-block north of Wilshire on New Hampshire (click to embiggen). In fact, pages 125-130 give a detailed description of the chase as another Visitor vehicle pursues the hijacked van, complete with street names and other locations so that you can actually follow the chase along a map, ending at the famous La Brea Tar Pits.

Also on page 126, Kyle ponders his relationship with Elizabeth, thinking that he loves her in a cautious, protective sort of way, but couldn't imagine treating her like a human woman and making love to her. Ironically, it's implied he does manage to "force" himself to make love to her shortly later in "Alien Conflict". (This is one of the aspects of the story that helps me to place it at this particular point in the chronology; it must take place before Kyle and Elizabeth have made love, but after Donovan's encounter with Klaus in "The Sanction" since that is mentioned in this novel.)

The statues of three mastodons described in, and on the shore of, the pits on page 128 is accurate of the La Brea Tar Pits site as it exists as an educational attraction.

On page 130, Tyler makes a reference to a Roach Motel. In this case, Roach Motel is the brand name of roach traps made by the Black Flag company.

On page 131, after their mishap at the car wash, Marjorie says they "look like an Ivory Soap commercial gone crazy". Ivory Soap is a well-known soap brand throughout the world.

On page 133, Visitor botanist Bernard uses the phrase "breathing over your crest" in the same way humans use "breathing down your neck".

On page 137, Kyle jokes he wants a featured heroic role in Lizard Kill, Part II. In "Liberation Day" Elias mentions that he is the technical advisor on the new film Lizard Kill.

On page 138, Chris refers to the power packs as "lizard Duracells".

Despite all the talk of the red dust in this novel, it isn't until page 139 that the mutations it has caused in some animals is even mentioned.

After Robin witnesses a fight that ends with Tyler shooting and killing a Visitor in cold blood, she is shaken and describes the incident to the Hispanic Club Creole waitress, Miranda, who responds, "Pobrecito, no wonder you look shook up." Pobrecito means "poor little thing" but is the masculine form of the word. Since Robin is female, Miranda should have said pobrecita.

On page 147, Julie wraps an Ace bandage around Kyle's injured knee. ACE (All-Cotton Elastic) is the brand name of an elastic bandage, but has taken on the generisized description of any type of elastic bandage.

On page 148, Julie dabs Donovan's minor head wound with Betadyne from the first aid kit. This is actually a misspelling of the brand name Betadine, a povidone-iodine antiseptic solution made by Purdue-Pharma for cleaning wounds.

On page 155, Julie mentions that a number of psychiatrists are treating PVSS these days...Post-Visitor Stress Syndrome.

As Julie eavesdrops on Nathan Bates' video conversation with Diana on page 157, she imagines that Diana's voice sounds like the old woman who lured Hansel and Gretel to the gingerbread house or the evil witch who made Snow White eat the poisoned apple. "Hansel and Gretel" and "Snow White" are both European fairy tales best known for the German versions told by the Brothers Grimm.

Page 161 reveals that the Club Creole has a French chef named Henri. Due to his fine vegetable meals and Miranda's cheese enchiladas, Willie finds that his waistline has grown a bit.

On page 164, Willie taps into the legation computer with the access codes which Bernard had babbled out at the Club Creole after getting drunk on Willie's blender concoction. But during the earlier scene of Bernard's visit to the Club, he talked some but never spouted any access codes to Willie!

On page 169, Tyler makes a dismissive comment about Elizabeth's powers by comparing them to a Ouija board. A Ouija board is a board printed with the letters of the alphabet and numbers for the purpose of communicating with the spirit world via a planchette which would spell out the words the spirits wish to speak.

On page 170, Marjorie Donovan, on the run for days, stops to rest on a bench in Griffith Park. Griffith Park is the largest park in Los Angeles and is to the city what Central Park is to New York.

On page 172, Marjorie turns herself in to a Visitor patrol, telling them she is the former wife of resistance leader Mike Donovan. The lead Visitor sarcastically retorts, "Is that so? Well, I'm Kermit the Frog, the beloved Muppet leader."

On page 175, Maggie muses that Chris preparing for battle is like a kid looking forward to a trip to Disneyland or Knott's Berry Farm. Both Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm are world-renowned amusement parks located in southern California.

Page 177 reveals that Chris served a brief stint in the U.S. Navy.

Page 180 reveals that Willie believes that if he dies on Earth, his life-essence would be pulled back to the Place of Beginnings on his home world; "there it would lie to bask in the blue-white warmth of Sirius while absorbing all the wisdom of the sands in the state of preta-na-ma--peace--forever."

On page 181, Elizabeth uses her powers to start Kyle's Kawasaki motorcycle without a key.

On page 183, Tyler comes up with another of his patented nicknames, referring to Diana as Ms. Primo Leather-ass.

On page 184, Chris refers to his old Navy CPO. CPO stands for Chief Petty Officer, a non-commissioned officer rank.

On page 187, Diana mentions using the drug procorb to help control Marjorie Donovan. The drug is also used in "The Deception" and other episodes to help control converted subjects.

On page 198, Maggie refers to Chris' little Shih Tzu dog Druid as King Konglet. This is obviously a joking reference to King Kong.

Page 201 mentions that Donovan makes a phone call to Marjorie's sister to claim her body. Donovan also realizes he can't attend the funeral because the Visitors would surely look for him there.

Page 203 reveals that the Commander of the Iranian mothership is called Bashir. The city at which the mothership is stationed is not mentioned, but would presumably be Tehran, as the capitol of that country. Lydia also states that Commander Bashir is making up for the water that Diana has been unable to obtain due to the red dust variant in the ocean off the coast of California by drawing from the Persian Gulf through his own desalinization plants.

On page 204, Donovan paraphrases the same pass phrase he used in the V novelization (covering the "Betrayal and Reward" episode), "Jabba the Hutt eats Visitors."

Page 205 reveals that Julie has suffered a miscarriage of the baby that would have been Donovan's second child (the first with Julie).

On page 206, Julie says that by the time she got to the medical clinic, all Dr. Akers could do is a D&C. This refers to "dilation and curettage" to remove uterine contents (in this case, from Julie's miscarriage).

Also on page 206, Julie says the red dust variant should continue to protect L.A.'s part of the ocean. Perhaps this is the writers' attempt to explain why the episodes of the weekly series do not touch on the water-stealing aspects of the Visitors' mission on Earth.