Impact (Wyman Ford Series, 3)

Who really wrote this book? Hard to believe it was Douglas Preston. The premise of the story and how the problem is solved at the end is very good. However, in between are endless, lengthy, boring and unbelievable violent confrontations. Cut all that garbage out and the novel would be 100 pages shorter.

Three people from different parts of the globe have stumbled upon separate pieces of a puzzle that, when put together, could be the most startling discovery in the history of space exploration. Abbey Straw is an astronomy student who was kicked out of college and now works as a waitress in Damariscotta, Maine. On nearby Shark Island, she discovers a crater where a meteor entered the earth and continued traveling through it. On the opposite side of the globe, near the Tai-Cambodia border, ex-CIA agent Wyman Ford discovers the crater where the meteor exited the earth. From the crater, radioactive gems are being mined via slave labor. Mark Corso is a data analysis technician at the National Propulsion Facility (NPF) in Pasadena, California. While analyzing radar images made of Deimos - a moon orbiting Mars - he discovers an ancient, alien machine hidden within a crater. What is the connection between the meteor and the machine? Who has hired Harry Burr to kill Straw, Ford and Corso before they publicize their horrifying discoveries? From the high-tech offices of NPF to the primitive jungles and ancient temples of Cambodia to the rocky, treacherous coast of Maine, Douglas Preston takes his fans on a science fiction adventure that is highly creative and highly suspenseful. "Impact" combines the scientific theories of black holes and strange matter with cloak and dagger activities involving espionage, theft and assassination. This novel grips the reader from the very beginning when a meteor crashes somewhere off the coast of Maine. It continues at a fast pace as the main characters gather information that puts their lives in danger. Then the novel accelerates into high gear when the President and his cabinet realizes that our world is in danger of being destroyed. Who can prevent the impending disaster? "Impact" will be appreciated by fans of numerous genres. It works especially well as an action adventure novel. My favorite scenes involve Ford when he is searching for the crater from which the radioactive gems are being mined. He is a type of Indiana Jones. Upon discovering the crater and witnessing the misery of the irradiated slaves, he is determined to destroy the mine rather than just photograph it. He fights numerous guards and risks death by slow torture. Ford is the type of person you can't help but admire. He later locates the beautiful, extremely intelligent African American waitress, Shaw, who also has a heart of gold; she loves her adoptive father and her best friend, Jackie, very much. Together, Ford and Shaw must stay one step ahead of the evil Burr who is hell bent on killing them. He is a professional hitman who has murdered many people. In fact, several of the novel's characters, including a main one, become his victims. This led me to believe that no one was safe and anything could happen. Will Shaw and Ford live long enough to stop the approaching catastrophe? I believe "Impact" has set the gro

I loved this book. It was a really quick paced book, and it was well thought out. The author (this is a pet peeve of mine with some authors anymore) didn't just reach a point and say "OK, The End." He actually wrapped this book up nicely. I highly recommend this book!

I have been an enormous fan of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child ever since I read 'Relic' a few months after it originally came out (how long ago has it been now? 13 years?) and while I view their novels very similar to how I view music by John Lennon & Paul McCartney: sure I like their solo stuff, but they write stuff better TOGETHER...the same for this duo. But that certainly doesn't mean that their solo stuff isn't sure-fire winners. Take the latest from Mr. Preston. Impact was yet another home-run for him. While the cover of the book initially disappointed me, I have to remember its what you find INSIDE that counts, and boy does it! What I enjoyed most was what--at first--originally I did not like about the book. Let me explain: right away the story splits off into 3 separate and distinct tales, and after a bit I got used to it after initially not liking this particular format. It wasn't until the 3 separate stories began to merge that I really came to appreciate the way in which the story unfolded. Another thing I have ALWAYS liked about certain books are short, crisp and entertaining chapters. I like to read in short bursts sometimes because I have 7 children, and lets face it, I rarely get much time to myself, so being able to read for 5-10 minutes at-a-time allows me to down 2-3 chapters and doesn't strand me in somewhere between one chapter and the next forcing me to backtrack next time I pick up the book to recall where I was exactly. The DOWNSIDE to that is since the chapters are so short, you end up promising yourself, as I do regularly, that I'll stop after the NEXT chapter only to be left hanging, and then making the same vow yet again and again. Don't get me wrong, I sincerely LOVE a story to grab me so directly that I have a hard time putting it down. With Impact, I can say without hesitation that Mr. Preston has written exactly THAT: a book VERY difficult to stop--once you start. With each solo effort by both Preston and Child, I have noticed that their individual writing talents continue to improve steadily, making each of their stand alone novels almost on par with their co-writing efforts (which is HIGH praise in my opinion). If you value sleep, you may want to hold off on reading Impact...but for those of you who can muster the self discipline to stop in time to catch a decent amount of sleep before getting up the next day, then I say GO FOR IT. Action, science and a great deal of what I like most: FUN is all on display here. A master at the height of his talent bringing it all to bear with this one. Kudos to Preston for really making me feel my $$ was VERY well spent (as usual). LOVED it!

Doug Preston's latest solo effort starts with a bang--literally--in the form of a meteoroid impact off the coast of Maine. And that's where the juggling begins. Preston's juggling three narrative threads. The first involves two young girls who go in search of the fallen meteoroid. They're after big bucks on Ebay and maybe a little adventure. They get a hell of a lot more than they bargained for. The second thread involves a researcher with the Mars Mapping Orbiter (MMO) project at the National Propulsion Facility (NPF, but you might as well think JPL). Mark Corso has just been promoted. In fact, he's taken the position of his disgraced mentor, Jason Freeman, who was fired and then murdered in a random home invasion. (Uh huh.) A few days after Dr. Freeman's death, Mark receives a package from his mentor with a stolen hard drive full of very classified, very illegal data. He can NOT have this data! He's got to destroy the thing, forget he ever saw it.... but he can't help looking to see what's on it first. And so Mark Corso gets sucked into what may be the biggest, most dangerous scientific discovery of all time. And possibly the biggest cover-up, too. And finally, the third thread involves our old friend Wyman Ford. (Don't worry if you haven't read his previous adventures. This book is essentially a stand alone. There's not a thing you need to know from previous books that will effect your reading of this one.) Ford's a former CIA operative, a freelancer now, and he's just been offered a job. There have been some very unusual gems showing up for sale in Asia. They're strikingly beautiful, but notably unlike anything anyone's seen before. And potentially quite dangerous. Ford is tasked with finding the source of the stones and reporting back. One of the easier assignments he's taken in recent years. (Uh huh.) Preston does a good job of keeping all his balls up in the air. This 368-page book has an even 100 chapters. You can do the math. That's a whole bunch of short, fast-paced chapters. Almost every one of them ends on a hook, making the novel virtually impossible to put down. Preston places his characters in every type of peril you can imagine, from the everyday unpleasantness of a strung out drug addict, to an extraordinary threat to all life on earth. Simply put, Preston goes all out with this one. Is some of it ridiculous? Sure. I mean, what waitress knows that much about astrophysics? But then again, I'M a college drop-out that knows a hell of a lot about physics. It could happen. Actually, now that I try to think of examples of ridiculousness, they evade me. My point is, read Impact with a sense of fun. Enjoy it as the thrill ride, and the homage to they greats of science fiction, that it is. If you try to pick it apart, you'll be able to find flaws. Just leave it alone and have a good time. Because this book IS a really good time. You're going to be holed up inside some snowy weekend this winter.

I ended 2009 with Rollins and I start 2010 with Preston. Not a bad seven days if you ask me. This book had a "weird" feel for me. While it wasn't a full throttle, in your face, non-stop thrill ride... it was extremely hard to put down. I guess the best way for me to describe it is; instead of a "quickie", you get to savor the goodness all. night. long. There it is, in all of my ancient wisdom. Did I enjoy this book? Immensely. I'm not usually a fan of space, black holes, and extra-terrestrials, but Preston wrote this story in such a way that it wasn't too sci-fi. Actually, not sci-fi at all. Douglas does a very good job of setting up the characters to have you believe one thing, and then BAM!! Out of nowhere... insanity gives you a little snicker. I especially loved the secret black-ops stuff in here, and the ever so slight sexual tension between Abbey and Jackie. And like I said earlier, I appreciated the fact that Douglas threw a ton of science in this story but didn't make it too far "out there". I don't believe there is life on Mars, but I do enjoy stories that at least get me to question my way of thinking. Out of the thousands of books that have already come out, I'm glad 'Impact' was my first book of 2010. If I had to predict my reading future based on this book, I'd say I was off to a pretty good start.