The Visitor cover art

The Visitor

First Contact Hard Science Fiction

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Visitor

By: Tony Harmsworth
Narrated by: Marni Penning
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.94

Buy Now for £15.94

About this listen

The Visitor - hard, near-future science fiction for the listener who likes realism.

Specialist astronaut Evelyn Slater encounters a small, badly damaged, ancient alien artifact on the first ever space junk elimination mission.

Where was it from? Who sent it?

International governments impose a security clampdown. Evelyn leads a team of handpicked scientists who make amazing discoveries within the alien device. Secrecy becomes impossible to maintain. When the news is finally released, she becomes embroiled in international politics, worldwide xenophobic hatred, and violence.

This is the first book in the Tony Harmsworth’s First Contact series of novels. If you like realistic near-future stories which compel you to imagine yourself as the protagonist, The Visitor is the book for you. The Visitor is a science fiction for the "thinking" listener and with a wicked twist. Buy it now and be transported into orbit.

©2017 Tony Harmsworth (P)2019 Tony Harmsworth First Contact Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Fiction Thought-Provoking
All stars
Most relevant
A thoroughly captivating novel that should be read by all humans.
Great narration that brought the various characters to life.
Highly recommended thought provoking storyline.

Brilliant!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story starts off quite compelling and I was interested to see how it developed. The first third of the story gave a few glimpses of barely believable plot twists, but as the story progresses it veers into the realm of laughable (and not in a good way).

For example (spoiler alert) the protagonist seems to magically bypass any and all government, corporate and military hierarchy and somehow becomes the sole decider of what happens to and with the most significant discovery in human history, simply because she was there when it was accidentally discovered.

However, if you can suspend reality and logic for a while, it is actually quite enjoyable.

The narration, however, is a real annoyance. Someone needs to tell this American narrator that there are more than two English accents. She only has 'extremely posh' aristocratic for the scientists, and 'artful dodger' cockney for everyone else (like receptionists). Someone needs to explain to her that the vast majority of English people speak with a neutral accent, not these idiotic stereotypes. It begs the question as to why a story about an English protagonist, and set largely in England would need an American narrator? Bonkers!

Good start, mediocre 2nd half, mediocre narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found this to a fairly good story and worth a listen. I could not help feeling the central charector needed to get over herself and felt she was arrogant and obsessed with power and status, just up herself really. This had the impact of making her annoying rather than relatable. The other charectors were a bit flat and not really explored very much. The build up was laboured and the last quarter felt rushed. The accents were laughable by the reader some of the settings at times felt a bit daft and the time line of the main narrative was unconvincing. The premise was good though with interesting predictions around tech and daily life, not bad.

Not bad, could have been superb

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very rarely do I stop a novel mid-flow. Nonetheless, It's completely wrong when an author decides to use their novel as a soapbox from which to browbeat their readers with their social and political views. What could have been a great work has left an extremely sour taste ...

Browbeaten

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
book took a while to get going, but the story did just enough to keep the listener engaged.

bit of a slow burn

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews