Four Weddings and an Alien Invasion

This book opens with our narrator sitting on the floor of a cell in an alien spaceship. Since our narrator is depressed and hopeless we know that first contact did not go well. This feels more like the zombie apocalypse than a larky sci-fi adventure.

But as the tale begins we start at a happier time. Dexter is a single surrounded by friends who are all couples. Dexter is happy enough with his status, but has his lonely moments. He recounts his situation with a wry and rueful playfulness, punctuated by the occasional vinegary observation. This begins to feel like a contemporary comedy of social manners. Dexter introduces us to his circle of close friends, and their significant others, and gives us charming, perceptive, and honestly observed and remembered stories about the hows, wheres and whens of his meeting each character. By chapter eight we are all at a wedding, and Dexter's descriptions of the goings on bring the circle tightly together. The tale is amusing and peppered with funny and/or bracing observations about all of the friends and the dynamic that binds. You forget about that whole spaceship thing and just enjoy the good writing and the casually tossed off lighter observations.

And then the aliens arrive. The description of the world's reaction, and of the friends' reactions, is dry and understated, and it feels like this may turn out to be the most vaguely bemusing invasion ever. But the aliens are not friendly; they are unstoppable; they are casually violent; and they find humans to be an annoying inconvenience that needs to be exterminated. From this point on the tale is dark, disturbing, and unrelentingly bleak. We are back to apocalypse.

What you end up with is a romcomedy of manners that transitions into a dystopian gorefest. The (SPOILER) hook is that the aliens go after couples rather than singles. That rather puts the metaphorical point on the proceedings, and by the end it's all a bit belabored. (We do have many couples to dispose of.) That said, it's still an entertaining trip, and may help you feel a little better about spending Saturday nights alone.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

This is a really unusual book, I wasn't sure it would be my cup of tea but it ended up being a cracking read. I would leave all your preconceptions at the door and just dive into this, then enjoy the ride. Its a romance/sci-fi/apocalyptic/comedy novel with a pretty unique setup. Aliens invade and we follow a group of friends as they try to survive and understand whats going on. It works really well as we just concentrate on the characters, we only see things from their perspective so we don't get a global picture but a more focused piece of story telling.

It was a fun read, I'll be keeping an eye out for the author in the future.

A story of a dystopian alien invasion and the friends trying to survive it. This really reminded me of a Simon Pegg film. A mixture of sci-fi, horror and humour. Unfortunately I found it a bit disjointed and a bit rushed. But from the ending there may be a sequel, maybe?

Received a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.

The beginning drags on in detail a little bit. There is an alien invasion and while he’s in a prison cell his focus is on internally documenting his friendships, which isn’t something I particularly care about. The first few chapters describe extensively how the MC met each one of his friends and how they met their significant others. The actual alien invasion of earth picks up at chapter ten. From there, I get a “Shaun of the Dead” and “Doctor Who” vibe as the group of friends try to escape the aliens.

After getting past all the background info, the story is actually pretty good. I would have loved a small chapter at the end about how Priti-and-Art made it to the final scene before MC boarded the spaceship.

There will be laughter, tears, and it is plenty weird. I could not put it down. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

The coziest the end of the world story I have ever read. What is more important: being alone or being in a couple? What if being a part of a couple would be extremely dangerous? Like life or death dangerous.
The Third Wheel is a very funny, disgustingly graphic (gore and yukky staff) story the moral of which could be summed up as: enjoy being yourself even if its just yourself.
I do not read apocalyptic stories or science fiction, but this novel was more about friendships and relationships, saving yourself or saving the one you love than about aliens and experiments on humans. However, there was a bit about aliens and experiments as well.
It's a very nice, funny and interesting read.

A++++ what a great new twist on aliens! I loved how this book want of the norm! Even had humor! Thank you netgalley for the free arc in exchange for an honest review!

A matter of fact, quite gory, dystopian, alien invasion story based on a group of friends trying to survive the invasion. Told from the point of view of the main character, the glue to the friendship group, who explains along the way how they all became friends, and what they do during the invasion......Do they all survive? Think Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright in style.

Thanks to NetGalley and Unbound for a Kindle ARC of The Third Wheel.

To be honest, I wanted to read The Third Wheel because of the aliens.

But the aliens are just the backdrop to this almost charming, rom-com type of novel.

Dexter is a teacher and the only single guy in his coterie of coupled up friends. It doesn't bother him that much. Sometimes.

As the world is invaded by nanobot wielding aliens, Dexter reflects on how he met each of his friends, how they found their mate and what it's like to be 'the third wheel' in a society that celebrates coupledom.

Dexter is a good guy. That's the simple fact. He is funny, relatable and self deprecating. He is honest and loyal and he loves his cat, Catsby.

His circle of friends are diverse and unique; one he met in grammar school, through a party, at work, and it was refreshing to hear a pretty optimistic guy like most of the mates his friends have chosen.

It was also nice to get a perspective from a single male; society is always harsh on women, especially single women.

Dexter doesn't deny he prefers to be single; he admits he gets lonely sometimes and it would be nice to share life with someone else.

Minus the alien invasion, he has a decent outlook on life and love. He is grateful his friends have found someone to love.

But I wished the author had delved more into Dexter's view about love and relationships.

His last relationship ended with a slightly unhinged woman, and who appears briefly in the story.

I understood she was mostly used as a plot device but I felt her character was a bit stereotypical; a clingy, desperate woman who can't take a hint.

The alien scenes were scary and gross, just how I like them. The irony that the aliens have two heads and appear to target couples was not lost on me; its kinda hilarious in a Family Guy kind of way.

The ending was satisfactory; open ended and suspenseful, and it didn't end with Dexter finding love or anything rom-com.

I enjoyed The Third Wheel but would have liked to know more about Dexter's viewpoint on love and his own search for it, if any.

This is definitely not your usual alien invades earth type of book, there is humour and love and everything in between the two but could never be described as sentimental!

The earth is being invaded and the story teller is a singleton in a world of couples, all are his friends in one way or another. His family is his friends, but he still sees them as couples.

So can they all stay together and survive against all of the odds? You'll have to read it to find out! A much recommended read, would make a terrific film...

This was funny! The narrative voice is really good and made me laugh out loud at times. It's a mash up between a romcom and a sci-fi. Really interesting. I felt a little cut short by the ending - I'd have liked more of a hint about what was coming. But I really enjoyed all the different characters and seeing the world through the main character's eyes.

Received this ARC from NetGalley, so thank you for the opportunity.

The first thing that came to mind when reading this was that movie, Zombieland. Aliens take over the world and start mutilating people. Not much funny about that situation right? Well, Ritchie took a very serious, scary situation and made it fun. Gruesomeness pairs with humor in this story and his prose was quirky and lighthearted with an undercurrent of sarcasm from his main character. His cast of characters was diverse without being self-righteous about it (they were all just people), and they were all likeable without being perfect.

The only downsides to this story was the ending and the characters. For the former, it seemed like Ritchie didn't know how to wrap things up. I'm OK with ambiguous, but it felt a little jarring, like that shouldn't have been all there was. For the latter, it wasn't that the characters were bad, just that there were a lot of them. So much so that I totally forgot who met who where and why they were important to the main one.

Overall though, great genre-combining read.

I did not laugh or smile reading this. I was expecting more humor and less words and less story that went nowhere.

Dexter is a English teacher, he is also single but actually enjoys being a bachelor, even though all of his friends are attached. His friend Lara is getting married, he is happy for her but at the same time he is dreading being one of the only single people there but then he bumps into his ex Georgina and has no intention of getting back with her.

However the next day events take a dramatic turn as Aliens land and these one are not friendly at all!
Soon it is a race for survival and Dexter learns that being single may actually save his life.
Can Dexter and his friends make it? What do the aliens want?

A very entertaining and action packed plot. Dexter is the main characters and tells the story in a fun and funny way. The chapter alternate through stories of how he met his friends and what is happening in the present. As the book goes on, it becomes more exciting and we are left hoping that the aliens will soon leave.

The Third Wheel was a one-sitting read for me! Two-headed aliens invade Earth, a group of friends tries to survive. There are some gay and bi characters that simply exist; they’re a natural part of this friend group without being “issue” characters. I appreciated that. There are cishet men who aren’t afraid to show emotion, and who don’t get made fun of for it. There’s also no love story, which was refreshing.

I really liked the main character. Dexter isn’t perfect, but I found him thoughtful and real. Plus, he loves books and his cat, which is kind of irresistible. He appreciates his friends so deeply. In the first half of the book, he takes time to flash back and explain how he met and connected with each one of his friends, and those moments were a joy to read.

There are plenty of funny moments in this book, including light satire and poking fun at sci-fi tropes. The pacing is perfect — like I said, I read this in one sitting. I mean, we’re talking about apocalyptic fiction where the end of the world comes via nanobot-wielding aliens! But The Third Wheel offers reflections on friendship and found family, too, which adds a nice layer of depth to all of the action.

<i>The Third Wheel</i> is a refreshingly original, wickedly delicious
apocalyptic novel. Through a unique combination of parody, satire and wit, author Michael J. Ritchie takes a swipe at the myriad tropes of the genre; first world millennial issues; and the basic human need for companionship and social interaction.

When this story begins, we learn that the narrator is a prisoner, recently abducted by aliens. The timeline then suddenly rewinds to one week prior. The speaker is revealed to be twenty-something Dexter, a British single English teacher coming to grips with being the lone “singleton” in his social circle. Through an episodic retelling of his past, Dexter introduces each of his friends and their partners. Once the group is presented and the dynamics are established, the action begins and aliens invade. Suddenly being single turns into a situational asset that almost ensures Dexter’s short-term survival.

Wielding his sharp sarcasm as a deadly weapon, nothing is safe from Ritchie. He manages to skewer the cliches of apocalyptic literature by making the obligatory love interest a death wish; giving the bad guys the upper hand: and saving everyone but those who are traditionally spared (farmers, preppers and doctors). Whilst bringing the entire genre to its knees, Ritchie takes a few moments to nod, wave then grill-on-an-open-flame organized religion, television journalism, British policy and contemporary pop culture. He pokes fun at Americans, whacks at social media, challenges gender roles and addresses sexual preference. Incredibly, even as he is biting the ankles of readers with teeth cut on humor, Ritchie manages to sneak in a story that at its core reveals the fears and weaknesses inherent to being human.

The myriad quips are at times juvenile and sophomoric, then suddenly introspective and philosophical, all well written and direct. One liners worthy of being followed by rim-shots are tucked between images of blood, guts and gore; and hilarious dialogue is scattered liberally onto the pages. The masterful juxtaposition of competing elements is nothing shy of genius. <i>The Third Wheel</i> is a must read for anyone who has grown weary of somber accounts of the apocalypse. There is just no way to read this without laughing out loud. Thanks to NetGalley and Unbound for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

Thank you to Unbound and NetGalley for an ARC of the e-book version. The full review will appear in Style magazine Toowoomba's February edition.

This humorous book is great for a more casual read. While marketed as a science-fiction novel, The Third Wheel is more of a relatable comedy. I enjoyed this book because even when things got intense and even gruesome, it never took itself seriously. And the portrayal of Dexter as the only single friend was so on-point that I loved his character immediately and found myself laughing continuously.
The reader is introduced to main character and narrator Dexter while he is sitting in a cell on an alien spaceship, but aside from this prologue the reader does not see any sci-fi action until about six to seven chapters into the book.
For the majority of the first third of the story, the reader is introduced to Dexter’s friends — all happily coupled while he is the only single one... excluding his feline pet The Great Catsby. Unusually, this extensive character introduction is not dull or tedious, as Dexter is comically self-aware and relatable as a single person or third wheel. One particularly nice touch is how he refers to couples as one hyphenated entity instead of two people, such as Shell-and-Terry, and the ironic way this relates later on in the story.

The Third Wheel was nothing like I expected it to be. Still, it was engaging and entertaining. I didn't love the ending, though.

Independence Day from the 'little people's' point of view... with some surprising traits.

Aliens have landed. Dexter has been taken. This is just the first page, where Dexter is "overwhelmed by the notion of leaving everything I knew behind on that tiny blue dot that wasn't prepared for its sudden demise." We know immediately that this is no Happy Ever After. He tells us the story of a week ago, but also of his life and friends. Part of a large group of buddies, he's the only one not partnered up. Which seems to be significant.

One by one, he tells us how his friends all found partners, giving each personality and backstory (though I couldn't help but mix them up subsequently), making us see them all as noteworthy characters. The references of self-awareness are funny: "Enough back story, there's an alien invasion in progress" - I liked Dexter's narration from the present/future.

Dexter himself is single and lonely with it, despite loving his smart little cat (The Great Catsby) and having a career as an English teacher. When the world begins to fall apart, he bands together with his group and attempts to get them all to a place of safety, while watching the aliens and how they treat their victims.

I loved how Dexter described his friends as pairs: "Priti-and-Art". Very funny considering what happens to his friends.

Now, you'd expect this to be a horror story, as these are hostile aliens and they decimate the planet (again, this isn't a spoiler, this is told to us on the first page). But the horrors that are described are, almost universally, not dwelt on, mourned over, even though some description is fairly detailed. Dexter does at one point refer to grief, he empties his "body of its salt water", but it's removed from emotion somewhat.

The elements of an alien invasion you'd expect to read about are here - chases, deaths, protecting provisions, characters unexpectedly stepping up and showing unseen traits. But it's just as unusual in other elements.

Entertaining story, slightly unexpected, funny. The few chapters of bonus chapters after the book finishes add some little details of a few characters that I enjoyed for the alternative viewpoint they provided.

With thanks to Netgalley for the sample reading copy.

An engaging and entertaining apocalyptic book!
I liked the style of writing and the plot, well written and humorous.
The characters were well written and likeable.
I look forward to reading other books by this writer.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Unbound and Netgalley for this ARC