2012;
336 pages. Book 3 (out of 4) in the “Tyler Locke” series. New Author? : Yes. Genre : Action-Adventure; Thriller. Overall Rating : 4½*/10.
Let's call it a business write-off. Some old lady has contacted Tyler Locke’s
company, Gregorian Engineering, and wants to hire him to investigate something
that happened more than fifty years ago – the alleged UFO sighting at Roswell,
New Mexico. Yeah, like nobody’s ever
looked into that before. To boot, she lives
in New Zealand, which is about as far away from Roswell as one can get.
The lady claims she was living in Roswell as a young girl when the alien
flying saucer crash-landed, had an encounter with its pilot, who gave her a
couple artifacts (it?) which she's sure will help in the investigation.
Tyler doesn’t expect to take the job, yet
here he is, with his business partner Grant Westfield, jetting to New Zealand
for a preliminary meeting with her. That’s
where the business write-off comes in; this is a great excuse to go skiing in
New Zealand while they’re in the neighborhood.
So
it comes as a surprise when two professional killers arrive at the old lady’s
house just before Tyler and Grant do, and try to kill her and
steal the artifacts.
Somebody is
obviously taking her wacky alien-conspiracy story way too seriously.
What’s To Like...
The action in The Roswell Conspiracy is fast and furious, starts immediately, and
never lets up. The reader gets to tag
along with Tyler and his team to some neat places – New Zealand, Australia (including Alice
Springs!), Easter Island, Peru, Tijuana, and even Oshkosh, by gosh.
The plotline is an ambitious attempt to combine four of the most
intriguing historical mysteries around:
What really happened at Roswell in 1947?
What flattened 80 million trees
in a Siberian forest in Tunguska in 1907?
Who built those massive stone heads on Easter Island (‘Rapa Nui”), and
why?
Who drew those gigantic Nazca Lines in Peru, why, and
how?
There
is a “is it terrestrial
or extraterrestrial?” issue surrounding all of these, similar to the
“is it natural or
supernatural?” motif that Preston & Child sometimes use in their
Agent Pendergast series, and I always like that. I think the book’s explanation for how
Roswell, Tunguska, Rapa Nui, and Nazca could possibly all be intertwined works
pretty well.
The
robotic trucks were new for me, but they make sense for traversing the harsh and remote Australian desert. Being a chemist, I am familiar with the use of ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate – Fuel Oil) as a deadly
explosive; it was what was used in the Oklahoma City bombing years ago. It was fun to do the BridgeClimb with our heroes on the Sydney Harbour Bridge; that’s
the second time in two months it's popped up in books I was reading. I also liked the literary nods to several
other relevant books: R.U.R., Chariots of the Gods, and most of all, A
Canticle for Liebowitz; the latter is reviewed here.
The
ending is sufficiently exciting, and “over-the-top” (literally!). The Roswell Conspiracy is a standalone story,
and all the plot threads get tied up nicely. It
is part of a series, which I presume is complete, since the most recent installment
was published way back in 2013. I haven’t read
any other the other books in the series, but I didn’t feel like that was a
handicap. There’s only a little bit of
cussing in the book, and I thought the editor did a good job.
Kewlest New Word ...
Pisco (n.)
: a white brandy made in Peru from muscat grapes.
Excerpts...
“You sure you
can’t think of something better than this?”
Tyler forced a
smile. “Would you rather wait in here
until the truck comes to a full and complete stop?”
“Not really. But it feels like we’re going about
sixty. Gonna be a bumpy landing if we
jump.”
“Then we’ll have
to stop the truck.”
Grant raised a
finger. “One teensy problem with that
plan-“
“It’s more of a
goal than a plan.”
“The guys
operating this thing have guns and we have persuasive verbal skills.” (loc. 1912)
“Wait a
minute. Are you sweet on him?”
Morgan felt
herself blush. “Don’t be
ridiculous. Army grunts aren’t my type.”
“He didn’t seem
dimwitted to me, especially for a former pro wrestler.”
The toilet
flushed and Grant came out of the bathroom.
Morgan looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh, he’s not
stupid,” she said. “Just annoying.”
Grant nodded happily
and took his seat. (loc.
3146)
Kindle Details…
The Roswell Conspiracy is presently priced at $4.99
at Amazon. The other three books in the
series go for either $7.99 (Books One and Two), or $4.99 (Book Four). Boyd Morrison
has several other e-books at $7.99, plus a whole bunch of novels
co-written with Clive Cussler from the Oregon Files
series, which range in price from $9.99 to $14.99.
“If you have a better idea, tell me three minutes ago.” (loc. 5702 )
Overall
I was disappointed in The Roswell Conspiracy. The character development is flat, the good
guys and bad guys are stereotypical, and our two protagonists are just too good
in every facet of being secret agents to be believable. The storyline is straightforward and the
puzzles are easily solved. Even I could
half-figure out the cryptic message given to Fay, and what that disclosed about its
source.
The info dumps felt awkward, and only have value if you know nothing
about Roswell, Tunguska, Rapa Nui, and Nazca.
Worst of all were the WTF’s:
Jumping
out of a speeding truck at 60 mph while also carrying two unconscious persons apparently
does not result in a serious injury to any of them. How miraculous! When our two
heroes get stranded on a road and need to get to the airport immediately or else Evil will triumph, what
should appear out of nowhere but a couple of kids on two motor scooters! Holy
godsend, Batman! Finally, the main
baddie, after getting away to fight another day, discovers he’s forgotten to equip himself with a basic piece of life-saving equipment, much to his demise.
Sloppy, dude, but very convenient for the forces of Good.
However…
I’ve read one Clive Cussler book in my life, was very disappointed
in it for the same reasons mentioned above, and have never been tempted to read another one. But there are millions of readers who thoroughly love his Dirk
Pitt novels, and eat up his too-amazing-to-believe exploits. So I’m
in the minority on this author.
In an odd bit of serendipity, Boyd Morrison has teamed up with
Clive Cussler to co-write a bunch of books in the “Oregon Files” series.
Their writing styles match up closely, and I have the feeling
that this is a happy partnership. If you
look at the book covers for these over on Amazon, you can see that Clive
deservedly gets top billing (font size matters!), but I suspect Boyd does
the bulk of the actual writing.
4½ Stars. Simply put, your opinion of The Roswell Conspiracy is going to match your
opinion of Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt
and Oregon Files books. Adjust my 4½ Stars rating accordingly.
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