Books like The Visitors by Clifford D. Simak

A massive, black, extraterrestrial craft settles on Jerry Conklin's car near a fishing stream outside Lone Pine, Minnesota. The town’s inhabitants, including a resident who shoots at the craft, experience an immediate fatality. Within hours, national and international attention mounts as the possibility of an alien presence becomes undeniable. Jerry, however, realizes the visitor is sentient; it holds him captive, reveals its thoughts, and releases him afterward. As additional black boxes descend over the United States, they consume resources and reproduce, posing a threat to global stability. Jerry investigates further and learns the visitors trade gifts in exchange for food and lodging—a transaction that could threaten Earth's society. The novel explores the collision of ordinary life with mysterious, intelligent visitors and the ramifications of their demand for life’s essentials.

First publish date: 1979