Event

Just finished reading Event. As far as first novels go, Event is pretty solid. I was skeptical when I picked this book up because I'm sooooo tired of the Roswell/gray alien deal, but I fought past that and enjoyed the book. What I found refreshing was the new take...or rather the non-boring take on the grays and their war with a slave-race. Of course, what I was really looking for in this book (and a lot of books I read...and write) were monsters/creatures/nasties/whatever you want to call them. And Event paid off in that category with a very original creation, the name of which escapes me. But they're very frightening, very cool and I'm sure we'll see them again in a future Event Group novel.

On to the complaints and the reason for a star deduction. Honestly, I would have done 3.5 stars if I could have. The reason is 1. Characters. Now, I expect the character in these kinds of novels to be kind of thin. I don't mind that. But the cast of characters in Event is immense and even in the end I had trouble knowing who was who in the Event Group crew. The few locals in the story stood out as the strongest, but the Event Group cast, the people that will be coming back again and again, got lost. I THINK the main character was Collins, but I'm not sure. 2. The pacing was a tad slow for me. The fast pace beginning hooked me enough to pull me through the very slow middle and then end picked up to a nice, fever pitch pace, but that middle was so slow I had to really work at reading, which isn't fun.

It paid off in the end with a great, action-packed climax, so it's forgivable, but still, slow. Overall, the book should do the trick for thriller fans and sci-fi fans alike. I liked it enough to pick up Goleman's second title, LEGEND, with the hopes that the pace set at the beginning keeps going throughout!

– Jeremy Robinson, author of Antarktos Rising, Raising the Past and The Didymus Contingency.
www.jeremyrobinsononline.com