Rating: 
Summary: Well-designed blending of horror within a police procedural
Review: Oregon State Patrol crime scene investigator Colin Cellars feels stood up when an old friend, Robert Dawson, fails to meet him as planned. Colin and Robert were best friends until fifteen years ago when they split over a third musketeer, Jodie Catlin. The dispatcher sends Colin to investigate shots and missing deputies in a remote area. When he reaches the edge of an isolated cabin, he finds two frightened police officers ready to blow his head away. After dispatching them, he sees a dead canine and then inside the cabin he locates Robert's corpse. Before he can contain the crime scene, two assailants try to steal his car. He stops them by shooting the driver. Except for some blood and his bullet holes on the vehicle, there is no evidence. Colin takes Robert's body to the morgue. At the station, he begins his report only to feel the shadows are watching him. The next day, he learns that the victim's corpse is missing. A stunned Colin begins to wonder what is going on as his physical evidence vanishes into the shadows. FIRST EVIDENCE is an entertaining police procedure with an X-Files like twist. The action-packed story line focuses on the truth is out there in the shadows. When the tale concentrates on Colin's activities, the novel is superb. However, when the story centers on the shadows coming out of the dark, it falters a bit. Colin is a great character who oriignally demands objective proof before he believes. As he is converted into a true believer, he still attacks the collection of evidence from a scientific approach. X-Files' fans will gain immense enjoyment from Ken Goddard's intriguing police investigation of the weird. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: First Evidence
Review: Relax, grab your favourite spot on the sofa and prepare to be up all night reading Goddards latest. Tense and exciting, from beginning to end, it rumbles along at a breakneck pace. Thoroughly enjoyable!
Rating: 
Summary: Destined to be a bestseller
Review: Right from the beginning First Evidence captures the readers attention with a mysterious murder. The book continues with each chapter ending with a cliffhanger that moves the reader on and on into a web of possible suspects and motives. In this book Ken Goddard not only introduces the reader to the world of forensics but also entertains and delights the reader with his imagination and ability to weave humor, fun, and intrigue into the story. I have read every book by Ken Goddard and although I have enjoyed and recommend all of them, this one is outstanding.
Rating:
Summary: Spooky as heck at times -- great fun!
Review: Scary thriller about a crime scene investigator, Colin Cellars, who is called out to a murder scene at a hidden cabin in the woods. When he arrives, the two officers waiting for him are visibly shaken and extremely terrified, constantly watching the edge of the woods while telling Cellars that the two officers there before them are missing and their radios don't work. Cellars sends them off to get help while he begins collecting evidence. Inside the cabin he finds the mutilated body of a person who might be his old friend, Bobby. He also is attacked by someone or something he can only see in the shadows. When he escapes, he returns to the station and finds out the two cops he'd sent for help are now missing too. Determined to find out what is happening, Cellars keeps returning to the cabin. But each time he tries to find clearer evidence, something even spookier happens and confuses everything even further. I couldn't put this book down, even when nighttime rolled around and the combination of the story and the dark gave me the screaming heebie-jeebies. I was a little disappointed by the ending, which seemed too sudden and too convenient, but the rest of it was so great I barely minded. Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Spooky as heck at times -- great fun!
Review: Scary thriller about a crime scene investigator, Colin Cellars, who is called out to a murder scene at a hidden cabin in the woods. When he arrives, the two officers waiting for him are visibly shaken and extremely terrified, constantly watching the edge of the woods while telling Cellars that the two officers there before them are missing and their radios don't work. Cellars sends them off to get help while he begins collecting evidence. Inside the cabin he finds the mutilated body of a person who might be his old friend, Bobby. He also is attacked by someone or something he can only see in the shadows. When he escapes, he returns to the station and finds out the two cops he'd sent for help are now missing too. Determined to find out what is happening, Cellars keeps returning to the cabin. But each time he tries to find clearer evidence, something even spookier happens and confuses everything even further. I couldn't put this book down, even when nighttime rolled around and the combination of the story and the dark gave me the screaming heebie-jeebies. I was a little disappointed by the ending, which seemed too sudden and too convenient, but the rest of it was so great I barely minded. Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: First Evidence is my First Preference
Review: Super!!! .The main character is very easy to like,and his thoughts come across as a captivating read. Great page after page. Please don't stop writing about Allesandra and contnue the sequels...
Rating: 
Summary: An Interesting Failure
Review: The forensic science branch of the mystery-writing business is pretty crowded these days: Patricia Cornwell, Ridley Pearson, Aaron Elkins (sometimes), Sharyn McCrumb (sometimes), and so forth. It's hard to blame Ken Goddard, who plows the same territory, for wanting to try something a little different and distinguish himself from the pack. What he tries, as the blurb says, is mixing a hefty dose of science fiction into his fiction-about-science. It works for an amazingly long time. About 2/3 of the book, which is to say about as long as the science fiction stays in the background and the forensic science and the procedural details stay in the foreground. As long as its *in* the background, the science fiction provides a nice sense of menace. Unfortunately, when the science fiction comes into the foreground, Goddard seems less confident, and fumbles badly: the climax is murky and obvious at the same time, and it depends on several wildly implausible pieces of biology. Because the science fiction is essential to resolving the mystery, its failure ultimately drags down the entire story. That said, Goddard writes in his usual page-turning style and with his usual feel for remote Western locations. It's certainly diverting, and I wanted to finish it even after I was groaning at the creaking of the plot machinery.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Failure
Review: The forensic science branch of the mystery-writing business is pretty crowded these days: Patricia Cornwell, Ridley Pearson, Aaron Elkins (sometimes), Sharyn McCrumb (sometimes), and so forth. It's hard to blame Ken Goddard, who plows the same territory, for wanting to try something a little different and distinguish himself from the pack. What he tries, as the blurb says, is mixing a hefty dose of science fiction into his fiction-about-science. It works for an amazingly long time. About 2/3 of the book, which is to say about as long as the science fiction stays in the background and the forensic science and the procedural details stay in the foreground. As long as its *in* the background, the science fiction provides a nice sense of menace. Unfortunately, when the science fiction comes into the foreground, Goddard seems less confident, and fumbles badly: the climax is murky and obvious at the same time, and it depends on several wildly implausible pieces of biology. Because the science fiction is essential to resolving the mystery, its failure ultimately drags down the entire story. That said, Goddard writes in his usual page-turning style and with his usual feel for remote Western locations. It's certainly diverting, and I wanted to finish it even after I was groaning at the creaking of the plot machinery.
Rating:
Summary: First in Suspense
Review: This book is scary as hell! I've never read anything that builds suspense like this. The events in the story take their time. I was over halfway thru the book when I realized that 24 hours hadn't passed yet. I won't give away the plot because you need to be totally surprised to be scared. In the end, the climax wasn't all it could have been but building up to it was a nail-biting ride. Don't read this one at night...especially if you live way out in the woods alone.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Start, Great Midpoint, Ending Pretty Good...
Review: This book is the first Goddard book I have read. I was extremely impressed with it's beginning and also through the midpoint. As the book started to formulate an ending, I was still on the edge of my seat, but the actual ending could have been a little better. Not that I did not enjoy the ending, just it was slightly less than par on the beginning through the first 3/4 of the book. I am definitely going to pick up another Goddard book in the very near future, because I do enjoy his writing style.
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