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Area 51: The Mission

Area 51: The Mission

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very imaginative and a fun read
Review: I very much enjoyed this and the other books in the Area 51 series. Granted, no book is perfect, and readers will without doubt find their share of weaknesses, but I found the premise of the series to be enhanting and the easy flow of the characters to be refreshing. Were I to log a complaint, it would be for the frequent harsh language used in the first book, and the less frequent harsh language used in the second. Thank goodness by the third RD had figured out that few if any books need gross explitives to make a good story. If you're looking for serious science, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a fun read, these are great books.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: This series just keeps getting better
Review: The thrill and adventure of the Area 51 series shows no sign of diminishing in this third novel; so far, this series seems to get even better with each new entry. That's easier said than done; already the author has thrown together strands of a diverse set of conspiracy theories, touching on the Egyptian Pyramids and ancient sites in MesoAmerica and China, the lost civilizations of Atlantis and Thule, ancient astronauts, life on Mars, an alien invasion, Majestic 12 and other secret government agencies, Nazi scientists, secret alien bases in the world's most inhospitable locations, etc. The good guys, whose numbers are dwindling with each book, have exposed the secrets of Majestic 12, shuttled all over the planet trying to locate and stabilize ancient alien command centers, and destroyed an alien fleet coming to attack earth. After basically one day of rest, the situation becomes even more dire and more complicated. Whole tribes of villagers are dying en masse in the Amazon River basin. With the help of a Russian operative, presidential scientific advisor Lisa Duncan, Special Forces officer Mike Turcotte, and their allies at Area 51 (strangely running the whole show with virtually no government intervention of any kind) discover that the alien enemies have now unleashed the Black Death (a souped-up bubonic plague with a 100% kill rate) against the population of earth, planning to rescue a few humans who will do their bidding and return them to earth when the rest of the population has died. In their race to stop the further spread of the virus and to hopefully find a cure or antidote, they are aided as well as stymied and confused by strange individuals of unknown origin as well as unknown loyalties. This novel leaves many questions unanswered, which only further heightens my desire to pick up the fourth book immediately.

In this novel, the story is a little more streamlined, as a large part of the action takes place in the Amazon jungles and underneath an ancient Chinese tomb. Turcotte has to find the source of the virus in order to identify it, and eventually he (and the world) finds himself in a race to find the Mission--the enemy's hidden bioweapons factory--and a cure for the Black Death. Other exciting things happen--e.g., a nuclear explosion, a dangerous attempt to link up two space shuttles with the hulk of the alien mothership in orbit. Enough complexities and twists are injected into the plot to keep it exciting and compelling yet not overly complicated. The characters aren't very deep, and their personal interactions outside of the job at hand are a little contrived, but the story itself is more than sufficient to maintain the reader's attention and deep interest at all times.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: good but not as good as the first two in the series
Review: very well written and lots of research done ...this author has a good way of jumping back and forth between characters and keeping your interest ...I would recommend this book to all area 51 types

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The best in the series (so far)
Review: The first two books had been awful, so I was surprised that there was a little improvement in this book. Nonetheless, this is not a good book.

As always, the problem is with his talking heads (in better works, these would be known as characters). There is no chemistry between any of these people, not even the protagonists of Turcotte and Duncan, who have apparently become lovers without any explanation (other than the fact that they are the protagonists). Once again, Duncan indicates she has a son, but within a couple pages, the kid is gone again. The world is threatened with plague and invasion, yet she doesn't even think of her family.

The story does move ahead more smoothly than The Reply, but so much is left unresolved, you can tell Doherty is in this for the long haul. This is the most cynical sort of writer: it is obvious that he is in this only for the money, since there is no real sense of creativity here: this is only a ludicrous explanation for some Weekly World News-style mysteries, cobbled together with one-dimensional characters and a superficial knowledge of technology and science. And to guarantee that he will have a continual source of income, he will drag on his story for as long as people are willing to buy his "writing."

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Too many people
Review: The Area 51 series is good, pulp fiction. A bit over the top, but if you like UFO conspiracies and history, this book is for you.


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