Editing The Puppet Masters (section)

{{Short description|1951 SF novel by Robert A. Heinlein}}
{{About|the Robert A. Heinlein novel|the film adaptation|The Puppet Masters (film)|other uses|Puppet Master (disambiguation){{!}}Puppet Master}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book
| name          = The Puppet Masters
| title_orig    =
| translator    =
| image         = Pm51.jpg
| caption       = US [[first edition]] [[dust jacket]] cover
| author        = [[Robert A. Heinlein]]
| illustrator   =
| cover_artist  =
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| series        =
| genre         = [[Science fiction]] 
| publisher     = [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]
| release_date  = [[1951 in literature|1951]]
| media_type    = Print (hardback & paperback)
| pages         =
| isbn          = <!-- first published before the ISBN system started -->
| preceded_by   =
| followed_by   =
}}

'''''The Puppet Masters''''' is a 1951 [[science fiction]] novel by American writer [[Robert A. Heinlein]], in which American secret agents battle parasitic invaders from outer space. It was originally serialized in ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]'' (September, October, and November 1951).

The novel evokes a sense of [[paranoia]] and Heinlein repeatedly makes explicit the analogy between the [[Parasites in fiction|mind-controlling parasites]] and the Communist Russians, echoing the prevailing [[Second Red Scare]] in the [[United States]]. The book takes up the then common theme of sightings of [[flying saucer]]s, the plot assuming that the "saucers" seen in the 1950s were part of a preliminary [[reconnaissance]] of [[Earth]], carried out by the extraterrestrials in preparation for a full-fledged invasion sixty years later.