The Great Flying Saucer Conspiracy

Rating:
Summary: Another wonderful unique story by Tom Easton.
Review: How often are seminal ideas discovered? Are they discovered at a constant rate? This is one of **two** mysteries Tom Easton manages to weave skillfully into "The Great Flying Saucer Conspiracy". The characters are interesting and very human. The story moves along at a nice clip and is immensely entertaining. I would be dog tired at the end of the day but would struggle to read "just one more page" . Fresh and original also come to mind, which is no small feat in a field full of original thinkers. I like the decidedly cockeyed humor in the story. The aliens are neat. I would heartily recommend this to anyone who likes stories that strike a nice balance between lightness and thoughtfulness.

On a side note, it was decidedly odd to hear the recent news stories about the remote control rats being developed for search and rescue work. Back in 1990 Professor Easton published another book I read called "Sparrow Hawk". In it he envisioned animals being genetically engineered organic machines used to replace the internal combustion engines that are destroying our environment. At the time I remember thinking, "Nice idea but way too far out there!" The Robo Rat in combination with some of the odd things being engineered, like the mouse with an ear on its back, make this all seem less far fetched. I would keep eye an eye on this guy!

Rating:
Summary: Strikes a personal chord
Review: While the conspiracy of the title is, of course, the main theme of the book, I found the personal life of the main character most absobing and even a bit disturbing. Gabe, an Anthropology professor, faces his wife leaving him, making accusations of abuse and assault, possibly fueled by her therapist's leading questions. In the face of such tragedy, he aquires an embarrasment of riches, three women wanting to heal his wounds, a huge grant to think interesting thoughts about similarities between human and aliens and talk about them, and university administrators pleased at the attention he is generating. Then his troubles multiply, fire bombs, computer viruses, and kidnapping to name a few. Through it all, the wife keeps coming back, refusing to be shut out, refusing to get on with her own life, and refusing to let him get on with his. This strikes such a personal chord that I kept putting the book down to digest the emotion of the scene.