Saucer.01.Saucer.2002

Stephen Coonts has earned an extraordinary worldwide reputation with his military thrillers featuring Jake Grafton, one of the most popular and recognizable characters in contemporary suspense fiction. In this exhilarating departure, Coonts takes readers on an imaginative journey into space that is as suspenseful as any of his other stories . . .
When Rip Cantrell, a seismic survey worker in the Sahara, spots a glint of reflected light in the distance, he investigates-and finds a piece of metal apparently entombed in the sandstone. Before long, Rip and his colleagues uncover a flying saucer that has been resting there for 140,000 years.
Their discovery doesn't remain a secret for long. The U.S. airforce sends a UFO investigation team, which arrives just minutes before a team sent by an Australian billionaire to steal the saucer's secrets. Before either side can outwit the other, the Libyan military arrives.
Meanwhile, Rip has been checking out the saucer. With the help of a beautiful ex-Air Force test pilot Charley Pine, Rip flies the saucer away, embarking on a fantastic journey into space and around the world, keeping just ahead of those who want the saucer for themselves.
Saucer is a dazzling flying story and an action-filled look at what might have been…and what might be.
From Library JournalIn a departure from his Jake Grafton series, Coonts (America, Hong Kong, Cuba) introduces Rip Cantrell, a 22-year-old seismic surveyor who finds a flying saucer that has been buried in the Sahara for 140,000 years. Everyone wants it, including nasty billionaires and bad governments, and Rip's job is to keep it out of their hands. With air force pilot Charlotte (Charley) Pine, he learns to fly the beast and keep it away from the bad guys. Coonts's many fans may be disappointed, as what could have been a great adventure novel fails badly. Is Saucers meant as a satire? A comedy? High adventure? All of the above? The result is, in fact, none of the above. Even considering the topic, the plot is implausible, and the book also suffers from cardboard characters and wooden dialog. Cartoonish fun but definitely “Coonts Light”; for larger collections. Robert Conroy, Warren, MICopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From BooklistRip Cantrell, doing seismic surveys in the Sahara, stumbles across a 140,000-year-old flying saucer in working condition. The air force sends beautiful ex-test pilot Charley Pine to investigate. Rip and Charley then have to fly for their lives, learning saucer-piloting as they go, from grabby, demonic Australian billionaire Hedrick, who wants to sell the saucer to the highest bidder. Eventually Rip and Charley get help from Rip's Missouri tinker uncle, Egg, and eventually the Air and Space Museum gets the saucer after, in the manner of thrillers, Hedrick and other would-be saucer-grabbers get theirs. Coonts doesn't always reach the highest level of logic here, but his knack for pacing and action is sound, and his sense of humor is ready for such developments as the effect of the saucer's antigravity on a pop-foul ball. He treats the romance of Rip and the eight-years-older Charley affectionately, and he shows a soaring passion for flying. The rather lighthearted thriller-cum-romance-cum-sf-novel could be called Rip and Charley's Excellent Adventure. Coonts stalwarts will find that reading this reminds them of his nonfiction book about flying an antique biplane, The Cannibal Queen (1992), rather than one of his Jake Grafton yarns. Roland GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved