John Wyndham

The Midwich Cuckoos is the fourth in a series of sophisticated science fiction novels by the great John Wyndham, which also includes such hailed classics as Day of the Triffids and The Kraken Awakes. Cuckoos, a very English sci-fi, is a gripping, thought-provoking page-turner in which an entire village is temporarily knocked-out, its inhabitants succumbing to a deep sleep, awaking to find itself very much changed. Or rather, awaking slightly confused but generally okay, only to discover several months later that whatever it was that caused the blackout also managed to make every woman in the village pregnant. This unknown, unseen force has struck at society's most cherished and vulnerable asset, its children. Child-based horror is always disturbing, and plays on our greatest fears. Not only, in a very natural, instinctual way, do we hope to protect our young, our precious offspring from the danger and horrors of the world, but in a very modern sense we fear the untamed, amoral potential of a youth gone wild. Wyndham very cleverly explores both fears, finding the sensitive nerve and twisting it, as motherly devotion and species paranoia clash. The hope for a rational solution is threatened as the unexpected and inexplicable challenges mankind's assumed superiority and claim to the earth. Cuckoos is a remarkably philosophical book. As fear and paranoia slowly infiltrate this cosy community, the hero, like many of Wyndham's lead characters, intends to reason his way out of the problem. In many ways this forces us to face some rather unsettling truths about who we think we are, as a species, how we treat 'lower' creatures and what we can expect from a race that seeks to replace us. It also brings to light, in a very frightening way, the lack of global trust or community, as power-hungry nations squabble for command of an otherworldly power they naively believe they can control. The Midwich Cuckoos is one of the most intelligent and exciting horror stories, all the more chilling for the almost detached indifference and certainty of its quiet menace.
(The Simpsons famously pays tribute to the book, and its film version Village of the Damned, with The Bloodening!)