Impact (Wyman Ford Series, 3)

I liked the unexpected turns in the story and characters who are capable of both mistakes and acts of courage and honor. A fun read that I couldn’t put down.

The main characters are a young woman whose dad is a poor lobsterman and the lead character in this series, Wyman. Neither is developed so fully you know anything much about them. If anything, the girl is more psychologically developed than the lead character of the series. She is so smart it will stretch and likely break your credulity.The narrative moves from the girl's story to the lead character's story. She searches for a meteor and so does she. Eventually they get together and work to solve the problem.None of the characters are really developed well or change. It is pretty much just action and search. The build it up at the end is life altering but then they solve it pretty simply, though I must admit the solution in some ways seems "reasonable" given the situation.As in many genre books, the ending is very brief. Once the problem is solved, it just sort of wraps up. In this book, the world has been brought to the brink, the course of humankind has been revolutionized by what the main character sent out in the mail....but then the end is something like, "Uh, people are now getting along better and here is an acceptance to get back into college, and we'll just forget about sunken ships and murdered guys and compromised Secret Documents and scummy scientists working for the other side."It is usual for genre fiction to end this way. Plot solved. Book done. But it always feels disappointing to me.Kind of a quick and fun read but nothing too special

I'm a newcomer to Douglas Preston, but I'm very impressed with his work so far. Starting with "Tyrannosaurus Canyon", the first novel in the Wyman Ford series, his books are fascinating, scientifically oriented, extremely thought provoking, and even truly frightening as he deftly tackles subjects one may not give a lot of attention, but sure do after reading his books. "Impact" is a very engaging and spooky novel, as the story starts with a seemingly meteoroid object reported off the coast of Maine, and a much larger new crater in very dangerous Cambodian jungle territory, where a horrific discovering of gems laced with Americum-241, meaning highly radioactive are being trafficked for possible terrorist dirty bomb construction, and killing those forced to mine the stones and those who unknowingly wear the stones and die from radiation poisoning. But that is just the bare bones beginning of a truly gripping altogether plausible story that encompasses a hitherto unimagined threat of global destruction Ford and the world have scant days to neutralize. Preston weaves a tale with accurate science, and unlike Michael Crighton, who turned me off to his books because he couldn't keep his political opinions to himself, and even wrote a disgusting novel attacking global warming, keeps his politics out of the story. His picture is a world encompassing one, and Wyman Ford is a very good character who has to risk life and limb to find out precisely what is going on. I recommend new readers to Preston, especially the Ford Series, to start with the first, "Tyrannosaurus Canyon" and work up from there. A reader can access a great website, fantasticfiction.com and access books and authors galore, where one can find the chronological listings for tons of books, fiction or non-fiction. The stories stand on their own, but the series is well worth the effort to start from the beginning. I look forward to what is a huge volume of books by Preston and sometimes co-author Lincoln Child. Rather than your usual cliched murder mystery where little is gained as far as insights or learning a little something along the way, Preston gives you plenty of food for thought, and that makes the books even more appealing.

In typical Preston fashion, he takes a scientific--albeit theoretical--idea, a likable protagonist, a very nasty human being, and a beat-the-clock plot pitting everyone against each other. As in his other undertaking,  Blasphemy , we have all the elements of a great thriller, and how he manages to juggle everything without leaving the reader confused is one of his many talents.By bringing the aforementioned scientific theory to life, he is officially in the upper echelons of the Michael Crichton School of Writing. Other authors have tried, and failed, to do what Crichton did effortlessly (e.g.,  Jurassic Park ), and Preston is one of the select few to pull it off. This is what happens when you have a science-educated man writing thrillers for a living; he breathes new life into heretofore incomprehensible concepts, and he does it all by keeping one thing in mind: always entertain the reader.Without giving away the plot points, as it would diminish the book's "impact" when things start revealing themselves, let's just say that Preston once again kept me up very late as I was unable to put the book down. The entire plot, and mini plots, came together so brilliantly in the end I was a bit surprised I didn't see it coming. Hooray for Preston! Most times I see the denouement coming a mile away, but this one left me saying, "Well I'll be dammed!"The reason I'm not giving it five stars is that I felt the characters could have used some more development. Don't get me wrong: I love a page-turning thriller that doesn't spend excessive time on character development (see Stephen King) and less time on action and adventure. This, however, was just shy of being balanced correctly. I wanted to know more about Wyman Ford and his background (I believe he was introduced in Blasphemy), especially since I couldn't remember why his name sounded familiar, and helpful for new Preston readers.Do not let this stop you from reading Impact. You'll enjoy the science, the adventures, the plot, the multiple climaxes, and the final shebang. It gives new meaning to that other book's title, New Moon. Have fun!

Good read from Preston yet again. Just enough plot and subterfuge to make it an interesting story. A good page turner though not for anyone who thinks too deeply. Good entertainment.

Well researched and great characters, fun read

A good read

BRILLIANT

Really bad and simple book. Not worth money.