James Murdoch (1)

This is a good, page-turning, sci-fi, thriller. I would say it is in line with the Dan Browns and the Grishams of the world.... but the writing is a little bit novice. The author is quite adept at enticing the reader to turn the page to find out "what next?!" However, it seemed apparent to me, whether true or not, that the author had taken some tricks on "how to write a novel" and gone just a little too far with them.

In particular, there were a few sentiments that were repeated in *over*-abundance. There really was no need to "repeatedly repeat" the "if only!!" thoughts of the main character. Also, the stories of romance between the main characters and their ladies were a bit cliched. You know, the better-than-average, yet romantically-inexperienced guy with the so-beautiful-she-turns-everyone's-heads, brilliant lady. And this line appears not once, but twice in this novel!

All that being said, I would still recommend to anyone looking for a good conspiracy-theory thriller about those little gray guys coming to take over the world.… (plus d'informations)

An exciting adventure, tough to put down from beginning to end.

In the '50s when the US government realized there were technologically-superior aliens visiting earth, they struck a deal to help hide their presence in return for promises of alien science. In the present day, these Collaborators are men in black, killing anyone who might reveal the secrets, the biggest of which concerns the asteroid they've deflected to wipe the earth clean in preparation for their occupation. This is just the premise, then the book takes off running right to the end in a Dan-Brown-type race to solve a puzzle while pursued by a powerful conspiracy. Unlike Brown's novels, however, these intelligent characters speak and act intelligently, and the conspiracy behaves in a manner consistent with their goals.

The author has blended pieces of UFO lore into a consistent story of malevolent aliens, secret conspiracy, desperate science and an assassin with strange healing powers.

The ending was satisfying but left a few unanswered questions. I'm hoping this means that a sequel is in the works. I need to find out what happens next!

Gaming the book:
The board game ETI: Estimated Time to Invasion (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/30370/e-t-i-estimated-time-to-invasion) covers desperate invention and reverse engineering alien technology to meet an imminent invasion with one player secretly collaborating with the aliens. For role-playing, Conspiracy X (http://rpg.geekdo.com/rpg/527/conspiracy-x) has books (Nemesis, AEGIS) dedicated to aliens and the men in black and could be used to play out scenarios from this book.… (plus d'informations)