Landfall

A confused mishmash of science theories, jargon, and unconvincing action.
Basically incoherent.
Novels that try to use quantum theories are admittedly hard to bring off.
This one doesn't.
I'll pass.

Florida author John McWilliams has a rich imagination that is ably capable of mold into words to create some of the more imaginative science fiction writing around. In his non-writer life he is an entrepreneur and has established business ventures in the fields of microelectronics, software design, and high-energy physics. His only other book was published last year - MAGIC, MACHINES AND THE AWAKENING OF DANNY SEARLE and now a year later he steps up into a different direction with LANDFALL.

One of the aspects that makes John's novel so accessible is the cast of characters he creates - people who are quite human, who have concerns outside of the plot line, and who have that gift of finding humor to lighten the dark atmosphere into which John places us. Certainly his exposure to physics and microelectronics gives him a vocabulary that eludes most sci-fi authors.

But as a writer, especially as one who explores time travel as part of his plot, John knows how to pull us into his strange yet possible tale in medias res. From the synopsis, in Alberta, Canada, at the foot of Dead Horse Mountain, a space capsule is discovered--a capsule that shouldn't exist. Thirty years earlier, Dr. Jan Lee, American entrepreneur and space tourist, purportedly destroyed this craft when he blew up the International Space Station in an act of unexplained sabotage. That event has since inspired conspiracy theories ranging from espionage to alien invasion. Special Agents Lauren Madison and Ellis Cole have been assigned to investigate. But inside the capsule they find an even greater mystery: the remnants of a three-decade-old time-messaging experiment that could, within days, usher in a new era of manned space travel--or ignite an unimaginable disaster. And once the theme is set, John spins us back thirty years earlier for the overture to this opus.

How does John place this in the first chapter, the very core of the story? `The original International Space Station (ISS I), along with two of NASA's communication hubs, were destroyed in an attack that has over the years sparked numerous conspiracy theories, from espionage to alien invasion. While costly in dollars, only a single life was lost in the incident --that of the lone bomber, Dr. Jan Lee: American entrepreneur, astronaut, and founder of the space transport company JL Aerospace." "The Space Station Bombing happened almost exactly thirty years ago." So that is our taking off point and the way John embellishes this thought process is what builds a very intriguing and well-constructed novel. He seems to have found his niche. Grady Harp, May 15

This was quite interesting and intriguing, though got bogged down in details at times.

The blurb pretty much says it all so here's my thoughts. Character wise, I really liked Special Agents Lauren Madison and Ellis Cole. They make a good team and their banter was fun to listen to. The science guys were well written and researched. They are uber smart and quite daunting!

The plot was, at times hard to follow when they got into the nitty gritty of the time travel, but also interesting and thought provoking. I also liked how the story is told from the past and present. It all wraps up nicely in the end.

In all, a good listen. I wanted a little more character development though. I felt like they all stayed the same and didn't grow. Other than that, It's a good book and I'm glad I listened to it.

Paul Heitsch was amazing. This isn't the first book I've listened to that's narrated by him and it won't be my last. He is clear and concise and easy to listen to and puts his all into his performance.

*I received this for review, this in no way affects my thoughts.*

Wow, I'm really stunned by the number of reviewers who don't think the characters in this book are cardboard cutouts. I mean, come on; we have the FBI partners (one gorgeous female, one muscly male) with the requisite 'we're not attracted to each other' badinage...& it's fairly bad badinage. And Big 'N' Muscly Tough Guy Agent wants to punch people a lot with his Big 'N' Muscly arms (& yet he's superhuman movie-fast when fighting). We have the Genius Scientist Advancing Against the Evil Governments (ok, maybe him being Bruce Lee reincarnated doesn't follow the usual Wimpy Science Nerd trope, but it seems there mainly to give him opportunities to sound like a fortune cookie on the subject of winning/losing...which of course ends up bearing on the plot). There's the Scrappy 'N' Sexy But Loyal Ex-Astronaut/Fighter Pilot Who Gets All the Girls. There's a Hot 'N' Sexy Science Chick...and her name is Desiree, fer Gawd's sake (& she giggles...Oy).

And so forth. And the business with Sexy FBI agent-girl who shoots with miraculous accuracy....she makes those scenes in, say, Schwarzenegger movies where he mows down hundreds of bad guys without ever re-loading (& they always miss him) seem staidly accurate. Honestly, it's beyond ludicrous. Even with firearms she's never touched before, she's instantly dead-on, superhumanly perfect. She can snatch up someone else's rifle, whip around a window & shoot 4 snipers who've been waiting for & aiming at that window, hit all 4 in exactly the same spot, & be back away from the window before they hit the ground. And she's constantly described as having her handgun in a thigh holster, though I was never quite clear on whether she was wearing it outside of pants (ridiculous) or under a mini-mini-skirt, because it apparently was in plain sight (more movie ridiculousness... I couldn't be bothered with going back & seeing if her clothing was described, & the book was so bad I returned it so can't check). And of course, Agent Hottie gripes about the paperwork involved when she fires her weapon....gee, THAT'S original. And it goes beyond creepy when she grabs her weapon when Hot 'N' Sexy Science Chick flirts with the "We're just friends" partner. Really? She grabs her gun?!?
Nuts + ridiculous.

Apparently some wild plate tectonics happen in the decades between now & the book, because the author puts Iceland 143 kilometers from the "Amundson-Scott South Pole Research Station." At first I thought "the Iceland Group" was a sort of code name, but Our Feeb Heroes fly into Keflavik to visit, which makes it Iceland the country near Greenland. And it's not as if McWilliams just got the poles confused; Iceland is nearly 3000 kilometers from the North Pole (& Amundson & Scott did go to the South Pole).

The only reason I didn't give this dreck-fest 1 star is because the grammar, spelling, & word choice was generally correct (by "word choice" I mean using the correct word even when spellcheck might screw you up, i.e. there/their/they're, grizzly/grisly, etc). However, in the jumps from the 'present' of Our Heroes the Feebs to the 'past' when Brilliant Scientist Guy was doing his thing at the ISS, the author not only jumps time, he jumps tense: those chapters which are set in the 'past' are told in the 3rd person present tense ("Nate walks into the room")....a conceit I found only slightly less annoying than if it had been the 2nd person present ("You walk into the room). It was not just annoying, it was weird; why use the present tense for the scenes in the past? Is it because several times in the text, characters talk about how the past & the present are all going on at once, & this is an authorial nifty spifty trick to bolster that idea? If it was, it was not nifty or spifty.

And the subplot about the "Superbug" killer pandemic also seemed ludicrous, as utterly useless as a third nipple on a man. Apparently we're supposed to believe that it's a big thing, but absolutely the only way in which it impacted anything or anyone is, a few times people remind themselves not to shake hands. Otherwise everybody in the book behaves exactly as they would if there was no "Superbug;" no quarantines, no disruption in public transpo, nobody wears masks, no news stories playing in the background even, talking about thousands dying, zilch. And yet it's clear that we are expected to believe that it's a crucial plot element. It's not; if you removed all references to the 'bug,' the book would be completely unchanged.

*spoiler alert* *spoiler alert* *spoiler alert*
And then we come to the really hilarious part; after forcing myself to plod through to the end, it turns out that the ending is as completely pointless as the "Superbug" subplot...in fact, it would seem that the ending is the reason that the "bug" subplot exists, & the subplot is the reason the ending exists. There's an absurd circularity to the whole thing that seems to fit in with the basic stupidity of the whole book. After all that, THAT'S the big message McWilliams comes up with, fer god's sake?!?! Seriously, you could remove every reference to the supposed pandemic & change The Message to "Orange trucks fly through the night softly" and it would make no difference whatsoever to the book; it wouldn't be any worse nor any better, though one might at least get the feeling that there was some hidden meaning in the message.

I am into my second, detailed reading of "Landfall" to better understand the science behind the first believable treatment of time travel I have read (and I have been reading science fiction for over fifty years). The book demands some careful reading, but the characters are well drawn and complex enough to be believable. All in all, the book is like a peek into a very plausible future.
Although I received a free copy of the book in return for an unbiased review , I will have no problem buying more of Mr. McWilliams work.

The book was well written and enjoyable to read. The main characters were well developed, but I wished for more scenes with the two FBI agents because they were the most interesting, if a little unrealistic.

But the ending was very lame and left me scratching my head. The whole book was full of tension, leaving the reader wondering what the message would be. Then when I got to the end and the message was revealed, I felt like I should have spent my time reading a different book. Honestly, I didn't even understand the message and after the fizzled ending I don't care enough to find out.

I struggled with this book. The characters aren't interesting or believable, the action was ridiculous, the story interesting, but confusing. I considered putting it down several times, but finished it, anyway. Read it for free, so the price was right, but it was a complete waste of time for me. Would not recommend to anyone.

This book reminded me of Edgar Rice Burroughs' style of writing (Tarzan and John Carter) in that a few chapters were dedicated to one person and then a few dedicated to another character. In this book, however, you have two timelines that you come to know, one in the past and one in the future. You get going on one line and then switch to the other. It keeps you going and guessing, you don't want to stop reading. No dull moments. Lots of adventure, twists and turns. He pays attention to details and explains in a way that even a novice can understand. Science fiction, mystery and adventure fill these pages. A great read!! I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Worked my way through this book, although I was tempted to give up on it several times. The story was excellent and very interesting. However, the writing style made it difficult to understand at times. And the ending?.... I think the author just couldn't figure out how to finish it, so he didn't :-(

This book has some exciting moments and more than enough twists and turns, unfortunately the plot ended up being predicable and the only thing that kept me reading was the prose was tense and taut enough to suspend disbelief.
The overuse of archetypes and stereotypes was enough to curl my hair and almost make me quit before the payoff. This book is hardly going to make any "must read" lists at least in my opinion.
For what it is worth, not a bad way to spend a few hours.

A bit confusing with four different characters then three more out if the air. In the last chapter I was able to sort everyone and everything in order to complete the book. I thought it was well written.

A very interesting premise and decent storytelling combine to make this an above average tale of the possibilities for sending messages backwards through time.

The story opens as a space capsule is discovered in the Canadian Rockies. It appears to contain parts of a reverse messaging experiment that had been on an orbiting space station blown up 30 years in the past (our present) by the scientist doing the experiment. All of the major militaries want the technology because of the huge advantage it would provide - if it works. The capsule is retrieved by two rather deadly FBI agents, who suspect that the time experiment is still being run and nearing its conclusion. In alternating chapters the reader is given the events leading up to the explosion.

There's little character development here, but this isn't the kind of story that needs it. The action's the thing, and both narratives move the story forward quickly to give the novel its tension and to explain the theories involved so that the conclusion, which fits perfectly, makes sense. A very enjoyable quick read.

Brilliantly woven tale that surprisingly pulls in characters from another of his books, "Magic Machines, the awakening of Danny Searle". John McWilliams has the uncanny gift of weaving the reader through a labyrinthine world you become a part of. I rarely dole out 5 stars for the written works I discover but this is a rare gem that I want others to wrap their minds around. Enjoy.

SPOILERS - I was reading along, enjoying the book, and it just ended. Ended strangely and abruptly. And to me the sending makes no sense whatsoever. If you've got a cure for an epidemic, why not just put it out there? Why do you have to involve time travel? This man fakes his own death and hides for 30 years to announce a flu vaccine? Not to mention all the other convoluted machinations by some of the other characters. Maybe I'm seriously missing something and, if so, I'd love for someone to explain it to me. Seriously.

Book 1 got my partial attention, and this latest, book 2 even more so. It's definitely worth the money but could be better with just a bit of editing. I recommend both books highly in any case, if you like sci-fi, time 'travel' and hard science then McWilliams is your man. Erm ... author. I have a feeling he wears many hats and brings a lot of goodies to his books from many interests.

Read it!

A future vision snd recent past history story line, well crafted with enough twists and turns to keep the reader engaged. Good character development supported by a well written story line. A most enjoyable experience.

Excellent writing. Keeps your attention and is very scientifically informative at the same time. I highly recommend reading this. The in depth story ties itself nicely together by the end of the book, without leaving anything hanging unanswered.

I definitely enjoyed reading this book. Loved the relationship between the two detectives and enjoyed the humorous exchanges between them. I would definitely read a follow-up book from this author. I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Loved it. A little hard to understand at first but after the first chapter I could not put it down. Mr. McWilliams is a great story teller. I will be buying more of his work. I was given a copy of this book for an honest review.

It's easy to really love the characters which makes puting this book down very hard. The mixture of science fiction, action and unrealized romantic attraction makes it play in your head like a Hollywood blockbuster. I highly recommend it.

Not bad, excellent characters. Story line a little thin and I had too skip ahead in the middle but was able to get back into it a little further in.“I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review”.

Overly complex "time traveling message". The story covers a 30 year period, flipping back and forth between the present and 30 years ago. A brilliant scientist discovers a way to send a message back in time and uses it to effect the present. It's so predictable that any enjoyment is sucked out. You know exactly how the story will end as several "hints" are provided throughout the book.

I love science fiction. I love time travel. I did not love this book.