The Bodysnatchers is Finney's only science fiction novel. Some of the early magazine stories (collected as The Third Level, 1957) have science fiction elements, but they, like The Bodysnatchers, lack the attention to technology and other-worldliness which characterize most mainstream science fiction. Finney pays more attention to the wonder within this world than to alien worlds, to the inventiveness of the human imagination rather than to its engineering wizardry.

Marion's Wall (1973) repeats one theme of The Bodysnatchers: Finney explores again the takeover of personality. In this novel, Jan Cheyney struggles against the invasive personality of Marion Marsh, a dead movie actress whose spirit cannot rest until she sees herself on screen. Marion's possession of Jan is much more benign than the pods' takeover of a Mill Valley citizen.

Jan eventually defeats Marion, although not until the free-spirited actress has energized staid Jan's joy of living.