Forbidden Summit

Payne Harrison's book, FORBIDDEN SUMMIT, takes the premise that the tales told by Bob Lazar and Glen Campbell about the government's projects involving reverse engineering of alien spacecraft are true. But this is not just another Roswell or Area 51 story. Harrison adds a new spin to the idea.An intelligence officer at NORAD tracks four bogies one evening. He and his partner record the tracks and alert their superiors. Then the partner is transferred to Greenland where he dies in an airplane crash and the colonel will also be transferred if he doesn't use his leave time to retire a few weeks earlier than planned. But colonel Hannon is now very suspicious and begins his own covert investigation.He is eventually led to a testing site at Papoose Lake and the conclusion that the Secretary of Defense is unaware of what is going on in the secret facility. He alerts the Secretary, a presidential hopeful in the coming election, but it is unknown just who can be trusted. Hannon is on his own. Almost. He manages to put together a team, with the help of a letter from the Secretary, and carries out a raid on the facility.The facility is breached and the government takes true control from the parallel cabinet that had been running it. But Hannon never learns the true secret behind the facility, but the Secretary does and continues to keep it a secret. This then climaxes in an ending I will not give away.In this time of The X-Files and other mass-media exposures to UFO lore, Payne Harrison manages to remain a fresh voice while keeping to a believable premise (that is if you accept the existence of the aliens). I heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in aliens, government cover-ups and the search for truth. Check it out.

TOTALLY based upon the success of 'Storming Intrepid' & 'Thunder of Erebus' I picked up a copy of 'Forbidden Summit' even though I immediately had reservations because it was a dramatic departure from what Harrison had done before (and done well, I might add). This wasn't a techno-thriller...it was more of a combination of Robert Doherty's 'Area 51' books and very serious episodes of the 'X-Files'. Since Harrison is such a good author I gave him the benefit of the doubt and decided to give it a go.I have to say that while being very good, and giving us a great 'what if' story regarding the Governments 'possible' involvement with alien technology it had its moments which made me go, 'C'mon! You don't REALLY expect me to swallow THIS do you??' Like a few other readers, the so-called defense of America's most Ultra-Secret base is simply ludicrous. I can suspend my belief quite easily while reading almost ANYTHING, but considering how 'realistic' Mr Harrisons works in the past had been, he seemed to have made my expectations a bit too high in his previous works only to have it dashed with a few descriptions here. However this notwithstanding, 'Forbidden Summit' is STILL an entertaining look at a very popular and oft-written subject of the so-called, 'Area 51' base. If you are a fan of Harrisons earlier stuff (far superior in MY opinion) this will still grant you some hours of fun reading, but don't expect it to be nearly as realistic as his first two novels.

An interesting interpretation of Bob Lazar's revelations concerning the truth behind Area 51! A NORAD officer spots four unidentified aircraft on his radar, but why is he told to keep quiet? He sets out to find that in true X-FILES tradition, the truth is out there! Excuse the cliche, but who needs Mulder and Scully?! Suspenseful action scenes, great military research and flashes of imagination are abound in this one. Read it for yourself and enjoy!

Payne Harrison's "Forbidden Summit" has taken bits and pieces of the Roswell crash, Area 51, and Bob Lazar's (a questionable character) revelations into a new realm. Harrison has created believable characters and placed them into a plausible scenario of a government coverup. I enjoyed this book. I think the book was well thought out and adapted circumstances to current myth/beliefs of the UFO controversy.

Unlike other readers who reviewed this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am a Payne Harrison fan and will continue to be. I eagerly await his next novel!