The Conquest

Stephen Coonts has steadily made a name for himself as a go-to guy for fans of military thrillers. His novel, SAUCER, from two years ago raised a few eyebrows with its obvious science fiction leanings but was given a popular welcome by fans of that genre who were not necessarily familiar with Coonts's military works. SAUCER: THE CONQUEST is an immensely readable and most welcome sequel to SAUCER, as well as an indication that Coonts has no intention of limiting his immense talent to one genre. All of the protagonists who made SAUCER such an accessible work are back. The focus is on test pilot Charley Pine, but pilot Rip Cantrell and his quietly brilliant Uncle "Egg" Cantrell play important secondary roles. While the relationship between Pine and Rip that began in SAUCER isn't on the rocks, it has become somewhat bumpy. Cantrell is content to rest on the laurels and wealth he acquired during the events in SAUCER. Pine, however, is interested in new challenges. When a wealthy Frenchman named Pierre Artois offers her the opportunity to fly an experimental space plane to the Moon as a co-pilot, Pine jumps at the chance. The enforced absence grates upon Pine and, more heavily so, upon Rip. Pine has other things on her mind when she discovers that the plane's cargo includes a nuclear catalyst for a weapon designed to hold all of earth hostage to the whim of Artois. Artois believes that a world government --- with himself, of course, at its head --- will solve all the earth's problems, and he's not going to give anyone a say in the matter. Pine manages to escape from the Moon just as Artois makes his first demand of earth's governments to disband. France's government predictably accedes almost immediately. The United States and Britain, on the other hand, don't act along these lines. Rip and Pine, meanwhile, reunite with the idea of stopping Artois, saving the earth, and incidentally rescuing Uncle Egg, who has been kidnapped to the moon by a half-mad scientist who is in league with Artois and has a saucer of his own. Pine and Rip "liberate" the saucer that they discovered in the first book and the festivities begin. While the success of their mission is rarely in doubt, SAUCER: THE CONQUEST remains a wild ride. Coonts's science fiction work is reminiscent of the work of Robert Heinlein, who was often described as "The Dean of Space Age Fiction." The majority of Heinlein's work --- those books that preceded STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND and its successors --- dealt with the "can do!" attitude of humanity, with no task being insurmountable. Coonts's protagonists are infused with this attitude as well, a quality that, along with a wild chase through the skies (not the streets) of Manhattan, makes SAUCER: THE CONQUEST a wild and entertaining read. Coonts leaves enough unresolved issues --- as well as a startling discovery --- at the end of SAUCER: THE CONQUEST to hint at the possibility of at least one more novel in the series. While these books may not

After the adventures in SAUCER, Rip Cantrell and his girlfriend Charley Pine donated the flying saucer to the Air and Space Museum. A bored Charley accepts Pierce Artois' offer to pilot a space plane to the moon to bring supplies to the station being built there. While she is on the space plane, Charley notices inside a locked compartment an object marked with a radioactive warning label; nothing on the manifest indicates that anything radioactive is on the ship. On the moon, Artois and his associates are building a mysterious machine that disturbs Charley. She soon learns that they are constructing an antigravity beam that will destroy anything in its path even from the distance to earth. Artois wants to be emperor of the world and he has a good chance of succeeding. Charley hijacks a space plane and returns to earth. She and Rip steal back the donated saucer so that they can try to destroy Artois' fleet leaving him stranded on Luna, rescue his abducted uncle, and ultimately obliterate the weapon of mass destruction. SAUCER: THE CONQUEST is a rip roaring space adventure novel filled with a dashing hero and a courageous female champion, vile villains ready to commit genocide for power, and numerous space battles that make Star Wars look like a romance. Rip is a modern day Flash Gordon leaping from one adventure into another while Charley is the only person who can out leap Rip yet keep him somewhat on an even keel. Gifted Stephen Coonts provides an innovative yet in some ways old fashioned space tale that will appeal to anyone who enjoys the Star war sagas. Harriet Klausner

Whiz-kid seismic surveyor Rip Cantrell finds a still-functioning 140,000-year old flying saucer embedded in the Sahara sandstone. The U.S. Air Force isn't far behind with their recon satellites, sending out UFO investigator and top test pilot Charlotte "Charlie" Pine. A seedy Australian multi-billionaire sends out his own goon squad to reclaim the ancient artifact for an international auction, and the Libyan government is getting into the act with an air assault that just might stop them all.Under those circumstances, what's a good, patriotic pair of red-blooded Americans to do? Why, take the saucer out of harm's way for starters, of course - even if the only way out is to fly the damn thing to safety.You can't have more fun than this book. It's a non-stop roller-coaster ride of adolescent fantasy/action-adventure. The first half is often very, very funny, with Rip and Charlie making headlines around the world as a fleet of invading aliens, as they zip in and about various highway coffee shops for a bite to eat before taking off into orbit to evade heat-seeking interceptor missiles. The second half is where the uglier adult action begins, with the Rupert Murdoch-esque Australian weapons contractor getting his hands on Charlie and the saucer...but, of course, there's a great deal more fun to be had from there.Ignore the nay-sayers who simply missed the point. None of this book is meant in any way to be taken that seriously. It does manage to raise some interesting questions regarding human evolution and ancient civilizations, but they are only lightly touched upon and more or less glossed over in favor of the Disneyland action-ride. So just hop on in the cockpit, and aim for the stars - or Missouri, whichever comes first.

Geological whiz-kid surveyor Rip Cantrell stumbles over a 140,000 year-old flying saucer lodged in Sudanese sandstone, and before he and his science team cronies can say "exploit E.T.," the secret is out and everyone's making a grab for it. The U.S. Air Force sends its UFO investigators, including hot-shot young test pilot Charlotte Pine, who takes a mutual liking to Rip. By the time a tipped-off Australian billionaire and the Libyan government make a move on it, Rip and Charlotte have figured out how to fly the still-functioning ancient technology - and do so, fast, to escape all the aforementioned parties and figure out what best to do with the saucer. Many zany hijinks ensue.This is easily one of the most fun books I've ever read. It's part action-adventure, part sci-fi speculation, part spoof, and all entertainment. The entire first half is often very, very funny, with Kip and Charlotte making intentional and unintentional headline news on their flight to escape all authorities. Things turn more serious when the power-players catch up to the hot-rodding young whippersnappers, intent on capitalizing on their particular hot-rod. It all comes to a roller-coaster conclusion in a mini-World War III in Australia, with every major power on Earth hell-bent to either own the twenty-first century's leading edge in technology, or destroy it to insure that no rival nation gets it.Ignore the nay-sayers. They missed the point. This book is just plain kick-in-the-pants fun, from start to finish.Enjoy.

Don't believe the poor reviews given about this novel! I enjoyed it spellbound from page 1 and was fascinated by it until the last page! I give it 5 stars for plot and writing! I have most of Coonts' books and this ranks at the top with all the others! I finished it in two days, hard to put down! Thank you Stephen Coonts for another great novel!...