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Operation Thunder Child S S Int by Nick Pope
In this science fiction techno-thriller, former Ministry of Defence employee Nick Pope blends what he knows about political decision-making and warfighting with knowledge and experience gained on the British Government's UFO project. The result is an alien invasion novel packed with insights into real-world military strategy, tactics and hardware, making for a terrifyingly real account. The tagline for this controversial book was "The truth can only be told in fiction", and this led to much speculation in the UFO and conspiracy theory community, especially when it emerged that the manuscript of Operation Thunder Child had gone through the government’s security clearance procedure. Film/TV rights are available.
- GenresScience Fiction
Mass Market Paperback
First published October 2, 2000
33 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
About the author
Nick Pope
42 books88 followersNick Pope used to run the British Government's UFO project. From 1991 to 1994 he researched and investigated UFOs, alien abductions, crop circles and other strange phenomena, leading the media to call him the real Fox Mulder. His government background and his level-headed views have made him the media, film and TV industry's go-to guy when it comes to UFOs, the unexplained and conspiracy theories.
As the world's leading expert on UFOs, Nick Pope has consulted on, and helped to promote a number of alien-themed movies, TV shows and video games. He has presented, consulted on and contributed to numerous TV shows, has written five best-selling books, and lectures all around the world.
Nick Pope lives in America.
As the world's leading expert on UFOs, Nick Pope has consulted on, and helped to promote a number of alien-themed movies, TV shows and video games. He has presented, consulted on and contributed to numerous TV shows, has written five best-selling books, and lectures all around the world.
Nick Pope lives in America.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 13, 2020
This seemed to be more about how an organisation, instead of a single person, deals with an alien invasion. It was refreshing to read something like this, which was more about the protocol rather than the adventures a protagonist. It seemed to be realistic in this way; the author used to run the British Government's UFO project after all.
But, the aliens and the reason about why they are here and why we can actually defend ourselves against an interstellar civilization seemed unrealistic. I just didn't buy the explanation that was given.
Perhaps a consequence of focusing on an organisation of people involved in the defence against an alien invasion rather than a protagonist is that the characters aren't very well detailed. Named characters were introduced and then I was told a backstory which I never remembered after reading them. Some characters are also just known throughout the book by the abbreviations of their positions (e.g CDS or S of S).
That said, there are a few technical problems with the Kindle version of the book. There are a few portions of the book which detail emails sent within the organisation and it was formatted in a strange way that made the text cut off on my Kindle.
And because the Kindle version starts at the prologue instead of the glossary, I didn't know what the abbreviations meant. When I looked at the table of contents in the Go To menu, the glossary wasn't there (it's actually labelled as Front Matter for some reason). But using the search feature, I managed to find it near the beginning of the book, before the prologue. Having a glossary is nice and all but it is troublesome on a Kindle. There is no easy way to flip back and forth unlike a physical book.
Also, this book contained the mother of all typos:
> He didn't want to reinforce such suspicions - even though he had a momentary wish to be seen sweeping into the building by some of the UFO hotheads, just to relish the expressions on their silly feces.
Despite all the problems, I found this book an enjoyable read.
But, the aliens and the reason about why they are here and why we can actually defend ourselves against an interstellar civilization seemed unrealistic. I just didn't buy the explanation that was given.
Perhaps a consequence of focusing on an organisation of people involved in the defence against an alien invasion rather than a protagonist is that the characters aren't very well detailed. Named characters were introduced and then I was told a backstory which I never remembered after reading them. Some characters are also just known throughout the book by the abbreviations of their positions (e.g CDS or S of S).
That said, there are a few technical problems with the Kindle version of the book. There are a few portions of the book which detail emails sent within the organisation and it was formatted in a strange way that made the text cut off on my Kindle.
And because the Kindle version starts at the prologue instead of the glossary, I didn't know what the abbreviations meant. When I looked at the table of contents in the Go To menu, the glossary wasn't there (it's actually labelled as Front Matter for some reason). But using the search feature, I managed to find it near the beginning of the book, before the prologue. Having a glossary is nice and all but it is troublesome on a Kindle. There is no easy way to flip back and forth unlike a physical book.
Also, this book contained the mother of all typos:
> He didn't want to reinforce such suspicions - even though he had a momentary wish to be seen sweeping into the building by some of the UFO hotheads, just to relish the expressions on their silly feces.
Despite all the problems, I found this book an enjoyable read.
April 1, 2019
There are two ways to read this book and your evaluation of how many stars out of five it deserves might change with the path you take. Nick Pope has attempted to explain a process (the decision points and responses that would really unfold), couched in a sensational drama (the make believe scenario of alien contact). As a reader, you’ll need a level of acceptance about mixing these threads together and patience to pick the real process out of the fable. This is quite a hard trick to pull off because no one likes a long information dump, yet superficial fantasy seems a waste of ink too, so blending input to a point where they are both acceptable and can be appreciated separately is not easy.
Approaching it purely as written entertainment, the story-telling style is perhaps a little stilted and memo-like early on, where I think I spotted a two word sentence beginning with ‘and’, suggesting the author got signed by the publisher as a prominent subject-specialist, with forgiveness that not everyone is born to write delicious prose and atmospheric description. The writing style does improve and dissolve into the background as the book moves into its stride, allowing us to enjoy the story. Any person who can write like a poet probably doesn’t have hard grounding in rare subjects to make their book realistic, so these things are always a trade-off. Generally, I suggest readers will have bought this because it is by Nick Pope (subject knowledge and insight, standing in the community) not because they were looking for a stonking thriller and don’t mind who the author is. There are better silver-tongued wordsmiths and writers of entertainment out there, but they can’t teach you anything new about reality, so here we are reading Nick Pope.
Approaching it as a fictional scenario designed to demonstrate the realistic stages of recognition, assessment and defence a country would go through if the remarkable were ever to happen, it does make headway through a rollercoaster of radar-screen decisions, military and ministerial meetings, civilian investigator and abductees trying to get in on the act and, of course, intrusive action initiated by the visiting species. Although the author was actually a civilian contractor when he worked for the Ministry of Defence (UK), the story was written very much from the point of view of a military-conditioned thinker. In other words, if you see something that you do not understand, would you perceive it as a potential threat until proven otherwise and let your mind turn to weapons? Perhaps that’s normal but it isn’t the only way to see the Universe.
History tells us that when two dominant species collide, one usually conquers and removes the other. The lion does not lie down with the lamb, unless the lamb is dead already. When humans move into a new territory (think undiscovered continent), the first thing they do is identify all the large predators that pose a threat and then hunt those to extinction. Well then, imagine an extra-terrestrial species arriving invasively into our ecosystem, where the obvious large predatory species to remove first is us. The small, harmless species would probably be left in peace but we can’t pretend to be that now because they’ve received our television signals. Should we be scared? That’s probably sensible. Voices in the scientific community have said we should not be broadcasting our existence to the Galaxy for precisely this reason, that the town ain’t big enough for the both of us.
Who knows how aliens think though? Maybe, as in the Douglas Adams novel, they would scream across the cosmos toward the target planet with a ferment of chaos and destruction on their minds but then be amazed, impressed and make peace after seeing all the cool discoveries we’ve made; Shakespeare and skateboards, the internet and philosophy, Bach or windows that open all by themselves when little trapped flies need to be let out. Weapons though – Safety first, right? The dictionary definition of safety doesn’t seem to mention it can only be achieved through superior firepower but I guess there are consequences for getting a handshake wrong even once. It could be sticky.
What about alien design in this? We are conditioned to think all species must have a head, eyes, central spinal access, four limbs, phalanges and a rib cage because that’s the shared all-Earth-animals design (all these species have the same common ancestor). Land mammals are also all within a limited size range due to local gravity. However, an alien species would not share that Earth common ancestor (unless they came from here and left, then diverged) and they would have evolved under different conditions and with different genetic building blocks. Therefore, the humanoid aliens in this book have a highly improbable design (evolutionary biological assessment) which flags as something that’s come out of the human experience/imagination. What’s happened here is that Nick has decided not to invent a new species but instead to take a casting call of the aliens people have reported seeing before, the most common type of which are the Greys. So, this story uses the convenient narrative shorthand of the Greys, slender and stretched human shapes with large eyes and no hair or melanin, rather than unveil any new proposal. It may now be commonly accepted that this is what aliens look like, so I shouldn’t contest it. I should drop that as a criticism because the purpose of this book is to show the stages of what would happen in response to any (generic) alien, so any design would be interchangeable to fulfil that role in the play.
I heard an interesting story about Typhoons, the operational front line for the Royal Air Force in this story. They were originally called Eurofighters during production because they were developed as a collaboration between several countries, but British focus groups understood the term ‘Euro’ to mean that they were an enemy aircraft that would be used against the British, hence the name being changed to Typhoon. Re-using old, renown and trustworthy names is an ancient tradition of the armed forces, with three separate aircraft called Typhoon, many ships called Ark Royal and the original Spitfire being a battleship at the Siege of Sebastopol in the Crimean War of the 1850s (see Our Sailors, by W.H.G. Kingston); and a US ship in 1814.
In summary then, this story assumes that radar early warning detection and air force responders would register overt alien visitors before anyone else (ok, more likely than most other options), although it also acknowledges incognito attempts by aliens to understand us, including abduction. It assumes that their actions would be unfriendly (quite possible) and their technology would be ahead of our own (fair enough – they got to us before we were capable of getting to them). The story acknowledges the H.G. Wells-style viral threat when any two groups converge, although not that this might be voided because only one side would have ACTG DNA and that’s an immunity block. It explains satisfactorily why the visitors would come back to the same geographical location (I’ve never understood why they would return to the same places on such a large planet).
There’s a nod at the disinformation of the Cold War in the implausible US explanation to the UK’s Prime Minister, just enough to make them hesitate, then it goes through the stages of comprehending the reason why the false explanation was given, the intention behind it. I also liked the question mark left hanging over this about whether supposed allies were genuine friends, collaborators or acting under duress. In other words the mystery was extended beyond what the aliens wanted, to include suspicion of human intentions at the governing level too.
The story has a snowballing sense of excitement to it, but you’ll probably enjoy that more if you like reading about The Battle of Britain or Midway, dogfights and tactics. Passive civilians might not form a strong attachment to these fighting characters, just as you can watch sports people and not care if one falls over. There is a good balance of male and female characters, so it does attempt to represent our species and not just the male half of the species plus love interest, which I’ve seen a lot of elsewhere.
I’ve written more of a list than a review, so should add that this story is enjoyable and it is a good exploration of the scenario, which keeps you guessing. It started slowly but then became harder to put down, certainly worth reading if you are interested to see one version of how events would unfold. There are no magical cloaking devices here, just normal physical reality stealth design, although someone seems to pass through a solid wall when described from their perspective (possibly as a result of their altered state of mind). Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, so understanding their ‘magic’ stealth suggests our development isn’t too far behind theirs in some areas. There’s also an explanation relating to an energy consumption bar whereby only small vessels have FTL travel, although that’s left vague enough to prevent people like me asking pedantic questions around shape and mass in outer space encountering almost no difference in air-resistance. The visiting alien ships obviously have to operate in our atmosphere as well as in outer space, plus have a narrow radar profile, so that excuses their aerodynamic shape and the suggestion of wings. The mother ship though doesn’t enter the atmosphere, so could be a brick and more mass might need more energy to get up to speed and more energy to counter the momentum and stop. It depends on an unknown technology, so there’s no right or wrong.
I’ve changed my mind: There are three ways to view this book. The first is entertainment. The second is that Nick Pope wants to show what he predicts would happen, given his knowledge of systems, so has chosen to show that through a fictional scenario. The additional way is to see it in the context of the psychology of the individual. Nick’s reputation depends on him only saying what he knows professionally (not inventing anything or making far-fetched claims). He only discusses material which is no longer classified, respecting his promise not to divulge. He follows the sensible definition that unidentified flying objects are simply objects that have not yet been identified, so could turn out to be something every day like a dustbin lid. He has built a career (since leaving the MOD) on staying strictly between these lines of reality and objective assessment, acknowledging doubt instead of leaping to fanciful conclusions, e.g. if there's something unknown amongst air traffic, we need to find out what it is for safety reasons. What I’m saying is that it is very tempting for someone confined to these rules of credibility for decades to speculate, to imagine, to have license to do the same thing everyone else does in the community of people interested in the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. So, I think this book is also a release valve for the author in which he can safely explore an act of imagination because it has ‘Work of Fiction!’ clearly signposted across it. Arthur C Clarke was a sensible engineer who chose to portray workable design and psychology ideas in fiction, although you’d still trust him as a practical engineer. This work achieves the same thing. It is one version of how alien contact could unfold, not lowering the author’s credibility, although with too many variables it is only one of many ways that contact might happen. We'll never know until the clouds part.
Approaching it purely as written entertainment, the story-telling style is perhaps a little stilted and memo-like early on, where I think I spotted a two word sentence beginning with ‘and’, suggesting the author got signed by the publisher as a prominent subject-specialist, with forgiveness that not everyone is born to write delicious prose and atmospheric description. The writing style does improve and dissolve into the background as the book moves into its stride, allowing us to enjoy the story. Any person who can write like a poet probably doesn’t have hard grounding in rare subjects to make their book realistic, so these things are always a trade-off. Generally, I suggest readers will have bought this because it is by Nick Pope (subject knowledge and insight, standing in the community) not because they were looking for a stonking thriller and don’t mind who the author is. There are better silver-tongued wordsmiths and writers of entertainment out there, but they can’t teach you anything new about reality, so here we are reading Nick Pope.
Approaching it as a fictional scenario designed to demonstrate the realistic stages of recognition, assessment and defence a country would go through if the remarkable were ever to happen, it does make headway through a rollercoaster of radar-screen decisions, military and ministerial meetings, civilian investigator and abductees trying to get in on the act and, of course, intrusive action initiated by the visiting species. Although the author was actually a civilian contractor when he worked for the Ministry of Defence (UK), the story was written very much from the point of view of a military-conditioned thinker. In other words, if you see something that you do not understand, would you perceive it as a potential threat until proven otherwise and let your mind turn to weapons? Perhaps that’s normal but it isn’t the only way to see the Universe.
History tells us that when two dominant species collide, one usually conquers and removes the other. The lion does not lie down with the lamb, unless the lamb is dead already. When humans move into a new territory (think undiscovered continent), the first thing they do is identify all the large predators that pose a threat and then hunt those to extinction. Well then, imagine an extra-terrestrial species arriving invasively into our ecosystem, where the obvious large predatory species to remove first is us. The small, harmless species would probably be left in peace but we can’t pretend to be that now because they’ve received our television signals. Should we be scared? That’s probably sensible. Voices in the scientific community have said we should not be broadcasting our existence to the Galaxy for precisely this reason, that the town ain’t big enough for the both of us.
Who knows how aliens think though? Maybe, as in the Douglas Adams novel, they would scream across the cosmos toward the target planet with a ferment of chaos and destruction on their minds but then be amazed, impressed and make peace after seeing all the cool discoveries we’ve made; Shakespeare and skateboards, the internet and philosophy, Bach or windows that open all by themselves when little trapped flies need to be let out. Weapons though – Safety first, right? The dictionary definition of safety doesn’t seem to mention it can only be achieved through superior firepower but I guess there are consequences for getting a handshake wrong even once. It could be sticky.
What about alien design in this? We are conditioned to think all species must have a head, eyes, central spinal access, four limbs, phalanges and a rib cage because that’s the shared all-Earth-animals design (all these species have the same common ancestor). Land mammals are also all within a limited size range due to local gravity. However, an alien species would not share that Earth common ancestor (unless they came from here and left, then diverged) and they would have evolved under different conditions and with different genetic building blocks. Therefore, the humanoid aliens in this book have a highly improbable design (evolutionary biological assessment) which flags as something that’s come out of the human experience/imagination. What’s happened here is that Nick has decided not to invent a new species but instead to take a casting call of the aliens people have reported seeing before, the most common type of which are the Greys. So, this story uses the convenient narrative shorthand of the Greys, slender and stretched human shapes with large eyes and no hair or melanin, rather than unveil any new proposal. It may now be commonly accepted that this is what aliens look like, so I shouldn’t contest it. I should drop that as a criticism because the purpose of this book is to show the stages of what would happen in response to any (generic) alien, so any design would be interchangeable to fulfil that role in the play.
I heard an interesting story about Typhoons, the operational front line for the Royal Air Force in this story. They were originally called Eurofighters during production because they were developed as a collaboration between several countries, but British focus groups understood the term ‘Euro’ to mean that they were an enemy aircraft that would be used against the British, hence the name being changed to Typhoon. Re-using old, renown and trustworthy names is an ancient tradition of the armed forces, with three separate aircraft called Typhoon, many ships called Ark Royal and the original Spitfire being a battleship at the Siege of Sebastopol in the Crimean War of the 1850s (see Our Sailors, by W.H.G. Kingston); and a US ship in 1814.
In summary then, this story assumes that radar early warning detection and air force responders would register overt alien visitors before anyone else (ok, more likely than most other options), although it also acknowledges incognito attempts by aliens to understand us, including abduction. It assumes that their actions would be unfriendly (quite possible) and their technology would be ahead of our own (fair enough – they got to us before we were capable of getting to them). The story acknowledges the H.G. Wells-style viral threat when any two groups converge, although not that this might be voided because only one side would have ACTG DNA and that’s an immunity block. It explains satisfactorily why the visitors would come back to the same geographical location (I’ve never understood why they would return to the same places on such a large planet).
There’s a nod at the disinformation of the Cold War in the implausible US explanation to the UK’s Prime Minister, just enough to make them hesitate, then it goes through the stages of comprehending the reason why the false explanation was given, the intention behind it. I also liked the question mark left hanging over this about whether supposed allies were genuine friends, collaborators or acting under duress. In other words the mystery was extended beyond what the aliens wanted, to include suspicion of human intentions at the governing level too.
The story has a snowballing sense of excitement to it, but you’ll probably enjoy that more if you like reading about The Battle of Britain or Midway, dogfights and tactics. Passive civilians might not form a strong attachment to these fighting characters, just as you can watch sports people and not care if one falls over. There is a good balance of male and female characters, so it does attempt to represent our species and not just the male half of the species plus love interest, which I’ve seen a lot of elsewhere.
I’ve written more of a list than a review, so should add that this story is enjoyable and it is a good exploration of the scenario, which keeps you guessing. It started slowly but then became harder to put down, certainly worth reading if you are interested to see one version of how events would unfold. There are no magical cloaking devices here, just normal physical reality stealth design, although someone seems to pass through a solid wall when described from their perspective (possibly as a result of their altered state of mind). Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, so understanding their ‘magic’ stealth suggests our development isn’t too far behind theirs in some areas. There’s also an explanation relating to an energy consumption bar whereby only small vessels have FTL travel, although that’s left vague enough to prevent people like me asking pedantic questions around shape and mass in outer space encountering almost no difference in air-resistance. The visiting alien ships obviously have to operate in our atmosphere as well as in outer space, plus have a narrow radar profile, so that excuses their aerodynamic shape and the suggestion of wings. The mother ship though doesn’t enter the atmosphere, so could be a brick and more mass might need more energy to get up to speed and more energy to counter the momentum and stop. It depends on an unknown technology, so there’s no right or wrong.
I’ve changed my mind: There are three ways to view this book. The first is entertainment. The second is that Nick Pope wants to show what he predicts would happen, given his knowledge of systems, so has chosen to show that through a fictional scenario. The additional way is to see it in the context of the psychology of the individual. Nick’s reputation depends on him only saying what he knows professionally (not inventing anything or making far-fetched claims). He only discusses material which is no longer classified, respecting his promise not to divulge. He follows the sensible definition that unidentified flying objects are simply objects that have not yet been identified, so could turn out to be something every day like a dustbin lid. He has built a career (since leaving the MOD) on staying strictly between these lines of reality and objective assessment, acknowledging doubt instead of leaping to fanciful conclusions, e.g. if there's something unknown amongst air traffic, we need to find out what it is for safety reasons. What I’m saying is that it is very tempting for someone confined to these rules of credibility for decades to speculate, to imagine, to have license to do the same thing everyone else does in the community of people interested in the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. So, I think this book is also a release valve for the author in which he can safely explore an act of imagination because it has ‘Work of Fiction!’ clearly signposted across it. Arthur C Clarke was a sensible engineer who chose to portray workable design and psychology ideas in fiction, although you’d still trust him as a practical engineer. This work achieves the same thing. It is one version of how alien contact could unfold, not lowering the author’s credibility, although with too many variables it is only one of many ways that contact might happen. We'll never know until the clouds part.
October 7, 2012
I was impressed by the detailed knowledge of the defence systems of Great Britain and the use of this in this story telling of an impending invasion. A unique insight into a credible reality and I enjoyed it throughout, including both the characters and operational detail. While I am a sci-fi fan, I tend to enjoy those stories in which reality is more than just a vague guideline and this book does tell a believable 'what-if?' tale. I intend to locate and read the follow up novel, Operation Lightning Strike.
December 31, 2024
An RAF radar controller spots an anomaly over the North Sea and orders interceptors to scramble and investigate. The jets are destroyed after contacting an object travelling at 4000 mph, which has unbelievable manoeuvring ability. Ordinary citizens report that they have been abducted by aliens. Britain finds itself under attack by alien spacecraft and as the government try to conduct a defence against a technologically superior foe without leaking the news, the US mysteriously refuse to get involved.
Enjoyably poor I would say. There was a lot wrong with this, especially the tendency to call some characters by their rank or acronym (e.g. S of S for secretary of state, uS of S for under secretary of state) rather than their actual name. There were just too many of these people to keep track of, so in the end I just lumped them together as 'military person' or 'civil servant'. The point of view for the narrative changed every page it seemed which was confusing and broke up the action. But... but... it was actually a lot of fun and I didn't want to put it down. A ripping yarn with UFOs, aerial combat, alien abductions and dodgy politicians. For 99p this was far from a waste of time or money and I demolished it in a couple of days.
Enjoyably poor I would say. There was a lot wrong with this, especially the tendency to call some characters by their rank or acronym (e.g. S of S for secretary of state, uS of S for under secretary of state) rather than their actual name. There were just too many of these people to keep track of, so in the end I just lumped them together as 'military person' or 'civil servant'. The point of view for the narrative changed every page it seemed which was confusing and broke up the action. But... but... it was actually a lot of fun and I didn't want to put it down. A ripping yarn with UFOs, aerial combat, alien abductions and dodgy politicians. For 99p this was far from a waste of time or money and I demolished it in a couple of days.
June 1, 2021
Excellent, quintessentially British, fast moving Science Fiction
Recovering from covid-19 has seen me reading a lot once more, and I've 're-discovered' Nick Cook. I've read a couple of the Earth Cry books which I found slow going - but in Thunder Child I found a story which literally kept me going for a non-stop reading session.
The novel would have benefited from a glossary of terms and acronyms as extensive use was made of these, but their usage tended to lend a degree of authenticity to a fast moving tale.
I look forward to the sequel - but will start reading that one earlier!
Recovering from covid-19 has seen me reading a lot once more, and I've 're-discovered' Nick Cook. I've read a couple of the Earth Cry books which I found slow going - but in Thunder Child I found a story which literally kept me going for a non-stop reading session.
The novel would have benefited from a glossary of terms and acronyms as extensive use was made of these, but their usage tended to lend a degree of authenticity to a fast moving tale.
I look forward to the sequel - but will start reading that one earlier!
March 26, 2019
I bought this book at a second hand shop and thought, yeah, why not? I am glad I did. It takes a very interesting, official look at a "what if" of alien invasion, and the collusion of certain powers and people. It started and I thought, yeah, not sure... and before I knew it I was over halfway through and unable to put it down. It is a little dry (and thank God for the glossary of initials at the front!) and occasionally technical, but I still couldn't stop reading it. When I get that invested in a book, I know it's a good one.
October 10, 2017
I think Nick is brilliant and eloquent in his understanding of the field, both politically and philosophically. Although it was difficult for me, as a novice regarding the inner workings of the MOD, to fully comprehend the chain of command so fluent throughout the novel, I was still able to appreciate the profound circumstances put forth with the overall scope of the plot. I look forward to reading the rest of his books.
January 25, 2023
Nick Pope, we get it, you know all the job titles in the government and the military, as well as every little thing those jobs entail. But do you need to drone on about them? According to my Kindle I am over 30% into the book and you're still side-tracking with new characters, where they are based, what the base is known for. You keep dragging us out of the story. There's no flow.
It's a shame because I think there might be a good story buried under it all.
It's a shame because I think there might be a good story buried under it all.
May 13, 2021
We are not alone
I found some of this tedious. However in saying that, it also made me very curious. I firmly believe in the existence of UFO and alien life. Surely if we evolved on planet Earth. Other life forms evolved on other planets, too. We are desperate to explore space and the galaxy, so why not expect others to do the same.
I found some of this tedious. However in saying that, it also made me very curious. I firmly believe in the existence of UFO and alien life. Surely if we evolved on planet Earth. Other life forms evolved on other planets, too. We are desperate to explore space and the galaxy, so why not expect others to do the same.
November 6, 2020
A fun read that keeps you’re interest about aliens and the reasons for their visits and the need to abduct humans. Pope knows the subject inside out and fills the novel with insightful tidbits about the workings of the British government. Altogether, an enjoyable read.
September 14, 2018
A very British military affair, it's great knowing where most of the sites are. A fast read and a change from the more common American military might.
June 7, 2021
A bit heavy on the procedures rather than progress on the interesting plot line. However I will read the next in line when available.
March 13, 2017
Reading this book is like wading through mud. I gave up after a few pages.
September 30, 2016
A very believable UFO story, perhaps a little too believable - procedurals are good but get the balance wrong and they can be a little dull. It took a while to get going and it looked at lots of different people so it wasn't that easy to follow. However, the people are real, with realistic reactions. None of them is a cartoon and most of them are reasonable too. I enjoyed it and will look forward to the sequel.
January 1, 2017
This is an entirely believable story of what may happen if there was an alien encounter. The book, which is fiction, details how the government would respond and the steps they would already have taken in order that the news of alien life would be kept away from the public. Author Nick Pope worked for the British government, a fact which leaves you wondering how much of this book is fiction... and how much is fact. Thoroughly enjoyable read.
February 7, 2011
A good idea but poorly executed and very tedious in places. Reads like it was written by a 15 year old schoolboy geek in an English class.
September 18, 2016
Bit slow
Not really my cup of tea. Story took long time to develop. Then had disappointing ending. Not very fulfilling. End
Not really my cup of tea. Story took long time to develop. Then had disappointing ending. Not very fulfilling. End
April 20, 2017
An interesting read. Interesting story and I liked who the bad guys turned out to be. But also it has to be said a bit of a UK government procedural on how the systems could operate with an alien encounter. So that means it is very heavy on the acronyms: do you know your S o S from your U S o S or your CAO from your AVRAAM? etc etc. With so many characters in wildly different only a few are developed.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews