Saucer
In 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.