Rating: 
Summary: A step back from the previous novel
Review: "The Grail", book 5 in the Area 51 series, was a bit of a letdown in comparison to the "The Sphinx". While better than the other earlier books, the author seems to be trying to incorporate too many elements and artifacts into the overall storyline.This one, like all the others, picks up where the previous novel ended. Lisa Duncan has discovered the Ark of the Covenant, but the aliens have found her. She also finds something else within the Ark that the aliens want. Other sub-storylines exist, but none which really do much to advance the overall story, hence the 3-star rating. Mike Turcotte is on the run as usual, the Easter Island saga doesn't advance, etc. If you want to read some truly "out there" fiction, the Area 51 series will fill that desire. However, the author has now tried to incorporate too much into the series. If you ever wondered about the connections between Easter Island, the Ark of the Covenant, Atlantis, Jesus Christ, the Grail, the pyramids and Sphinx, vampires, Noah's Ark, Mount Sinai, Excalibur, etc., you'll get a kick out of how the author tries to tie everything together. Some of the connections worked early in the series, but now some of the connections seem too disjointed. The series is supposed to be finished by book 7 (after Exclalibur). Hopefully the author will tie everything together by then in a semi-logical, quasi-fictional way. Then again, he may not as there's the rumored sequel series to Area 51 next year...
Rating:
Summary: A step back from the previous novel
Review: "The Grail", book 5 in the Area 51 series, was a bit of a letdown in comparison to the "The Sphinx". While better than the other earlier books, the author seems to be trying to incorporate too many elements and artifacts into the overall storyline. This one, like all the others, picks up where the previous novel ended. Lisa Duncan has discovered the Ark of the Covenant, but the aliens have found her. She also finds something else within the Ark that the aliens want. Other sub-storylines exist, but none which really do much to advance the overall story, hence the 3-star rating. Mike Turcotte is on the run as usual, the Easter Island saga doesn't advance, etc. If you want to read some truly "out there" fiction, the Area 51 series will fill that desire. However, the author has now tried to incorporate too much into the series. If you ever wondered about the connections between Easter Island, the Ark of the Covenant, Atlantis, Jesus Christ, the Grail, the pyramids and Sphinx, vampires, Noah's Ark, Mount Sinai, Excalibur, etc., you'll get a kick out of how the author tries to tie everything together. Some of the connections worked early in the series, but now some of the connections seem too disjointed. The series is supposed to be finished by book 7 (after Exclalibur). Hopefully the author will tie everything together by then in a semi-logical, quasi-fictional way. Then again, he may not as there's the rumored sequel series to Area 51 next year...
Rating: 
Summary: Matthew W., Miller Place, NY
Review: Area 51: The Grail is a military suspense novel written by Robert Doherty. In Area 51: The Grail, the fifth book out of the Area 51 series, Mike Turcotte is on a quest to save the human race from an alien civil war. Area 51 is a secret military outpost inside Groom Mountain, Nevada. The aliens, the Airlia, are from the distant past, when Atlantis was thriving. This time, Mike Turcotte and the Airlia are racing to find the Holy Grail. The Grail was said to have mythical powers. Anyone who drinks from it becomes immortal. As Mike gets close to finding the Grail, Lisa Duncan, his love, finds it first, inside the Ark of the Covenant. Lisa opens the Ark and takes a drink from the Grail and becomes immortal.
Mike's travels lead him to Mount Sinai, but the Airlia is already there. Mike gets inside the mountain and finds Lisa hostage by the Airlia leader. One of the soldiers shoots Lisa to kill the leader. Lisa is brought back to Area 51, where she is presumed dead, but she sits up on the table with a hole in her stomach. The Airlia escape with the Grail.
I liked this book because it suggests that the some of the items thought to be mythical, such as King Arthur's Excalibur, could actually be real, just waiting to be found. This gives hope to some people who have none.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for scince fiction lovers!
Review: I started the series with The Reply , then went back and read the first book. I have recently read The sphinx, and The Grail in 3 days, I just couldn't put them down! These books have had me questioning my beliefs and wondering what the truth might hold.I would highly recomend these books if you love sci-fi!
Rating:
Summary: Going Strong
Review: It's hard to believe that this is the fifth volume in this series. The prose is still going strong. Each explained mystery reveals another one as the plot takes continual twists and turns. Robert Doherty maintains a continuous tempo level as the story shifts from scene to scene. This is fine, high-energy writing. I read the first four novels within a month, and I've been awaiting volume five since then. It took me a bit to reconnect with the story once The Grail became available, so don't expect to be able to start out with this book. Track down the others in the series, they are all worth the effort. The Grail picks up with Lisa Duncan trapped underneath the Sphinx with the Holy Grail. Those Who Wait are on their way to a pyramid in China to awaken the alien Artad. The guardian on Easter Island preparing for battle and the Mission scrambling to take advantage of events. In the middle of all of this, Mike Turcott leads countless raids and adventures, stopping only read excerpts from the secret journal of Sir Richard Burton. All of this happens in a mere 318 pages, so the pace is furious. Doherty is a past master at the action book, weaving intricate plots and making sure everything fits together. Unfortunately, with this fast a narrative style characterization suffers. In Doherty's case it takes several books before you have a strong picture of the players. With the Grail most of the groundwork is complete and pretty much all the cast is on board. This is another good reason to take the time to read the rest of the series. You won't regret it. If you're a fan of the barn burning adventure story, with plenty of intrigue and alien paranoia mixed in you will wait impatiently for each volume as it comes out. Have fun!!
Rating:
Summary: The "Area 51" series remains strong
Review: Robert Doherty's fifth book in the "Area 51" series is just as strong an entry as the other four. Doherty (a/k/a Bob Mayer) continues to weave a very imaginative and entralling story about the role that two warring alien cultures played in the development of life on planet Earth.
The protagionist of the series, Mike Turcotte, is his heroic and overall ornery self again in "The Grail". The other now-familar names to the fans of this series all play important parts again in this book. In simple terms, let me say that fans of this series will not be disappointed! If anything, "The Grail" is actually a stronger and consistently more entertaining read than the two previous "Area 51" novels - The Sphinx and The Mission. The Grail recaptures a lot of the cameraderie and action of the first two books. The "Area 51" is a book series that allows the reader great escapism. The always-imaginative Doherty has done it again!
Rating:
Summary: The "Area 51" series remains strong
Review: Robert Doherty's fifth book in the "Area 51" series is just as strong an entry as the other four. Doherty (a/k/a Bob Mayer) continues to weave a very imaginative and entralling story about the role that two warring alien cultures played in the development of life on planet Earth.
The protagionist of the series, Mike Turcotte, is his heroic and overall ornery self again in "The Grail". The other now-familar names to the fans of this series all play important parts again in this book. In simple terms, let me say that fans of this series will not be disappointed! If anything, "The Grail" is actually a stronger and consistently more entertaining read than the two previous "Area 51" novels - The Sphinx and The Mission. The Grail recaptures a lot of the cameraderie and action of the first two books. The "Area 51" is a book series that allows the reader great escapism. The always-imaginative Doherty has done it again!
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as Sphinx
Review: The action was fairly predictable in this 5th entry of Doherty's Area 51 series. It seems he keeps stretching out the story with more and more historical facts and tries to incorporate them in the plot. His overall concepts are not as good as his novel, "The Rock", but even with all the loopholes in the story, it's engaging enough for me to buy book 6, "Excaliber".
Rating:
Summary: Another great book in the series
Review: The Grail definitely changes your perspective on history. I really doubt that is the authors intent. The book is pure fiction, but it sure does make you think about life, god, satan, heaven, hell, life, death, .... the meaning of it all. A great read. I picked it up and could not put the book down until I finsished reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Do not forget: it is fiction!
Review: The speed in the plot becomes faster and faster and at the end we do not know any more which character is working for or against the Airlia and if, on which side they are. This series is so intelligently made because it "logically" explains events and myths that have long been enigmas in history, modern or ancient. Myths of the Bible, historical events of ancient Egypt and the statues on Easter island are interwoven with events of our modern times like Mallory's and Irvine's disappearance during their attempt to climb Mount Everest in the 1920s. This is the stuff aficionados of this kind of literature really like. But lets not forget - it is fiction, although you sometimes forget it while reading.
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