Touched by an Alien

Koch's derivative debut piles on the comic book clichés. Katherine “Kitty” Katt's orderly world is shaken when she sees a man on the street turn into a monster. After she manages to kill it, secret agents whisk her away and explain that these “superbeings” are humans mutated by alien parasites. The agents are aliens themselves, visitors from Alpha Centauri who are tracking a particularly powerful superbeing that has taken over the mind of a terrorist leader. Handsome agent Jeff Martini instantly becomes obsessed with Kitty, who unaccountably finds it sexy and romantic when he acts like an aggressive stalker. The plot moves quickly and Koch's prose shows promise, but the action scenes drag a bit, and the constant erotic overtones of Jeff and Kitty's banter are painfully intrusive. (Apr.)