When a mysterious weather balloon crashes to earth in the Swiss Alps, the head of the NSA handpicks Robert Bellamy to track down and identify the ten known witnesses to the event. A man whose obsession with his covert assignments has cost him the only woman he can ever love, Bellamy now faces the impossible. But as he searches for clues from Rome to Budapest to Texas, this mission blows up in his face -- and rips the lid off an incredible conspiracy that stretches around the globe and even into space...
Alone and betrayed on every side, Bellamy must run for his life -- holding an astonishing secret and the key to the planet's very survival.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
The late novelist and screenwriter Sidney Sheldon remains one of the world's top bestselling authors, having sold more than 300 million copies of his books. He is also the only writer to have won an Oscar, a Tony, and an Edgar. The Guinness Book of World Records heralds him as the most translated author in the world.
A science-fiction--yes, science-fiction--novel from the master of soap. And one with a MESSAGE, too, just like the sf of yore--the clich‚s of which Sheldon shamelessly recycles as he ham-handedly depicts an earth under threat of invasion by aliens ticked off at- -what else?--our destruction of the environment. US Navy Commander Robert Bellamy--Sheldon's first male lead in many years--is assigned by NSA to locate the 11 people on a Swiss bus who saw the crash of a ``weather balloon.'' It takes only a chat with the bus driver for Bellamy to learn that the ``weather balloon'' was really a downed UFO containing two alien bodies. It takes talks with all the witnesses, however--Yank, Soviet, Hungarian, etc., each tracked down in the novel's repetitive first two-thirds with minimal sleuthing but maximal scenery-stuffing--for him to learn that each is killed right after talking to him: ``It was an international conspiracy, and he was in the middle of it.'' And so are: the aliens (``a form of vegetable life'' whose eyes ``resembled Ping-Pong balls'') circling earth in their mother ship, waiting to see whether world leaders will respond to their secret plea to halt pollution; the missing third occupant of the UFO, dying for lack of pristine water; and the international cabal, led by ``Janus,'' that's killed the witnesses with the intent of fighting the aliens and continuing earth's exploitation. In the livelier last third, Bellamy, resorting to clever spy-tricks and help from a winsome whore, runs from Janus--whose identity you'll spot chapters away--while plotting his downfall. The fitful action climaxes in an Alpine showdown, with the celestial calvary soaring in for the rescue. Inane as sf (and seemingly cribbed in part from sources ranging from John Campbell's ``Who's Out There?'' to Whitley Strieber's Communion); mediocre as a thriller, even Sheldon-style; but fascinating as one top author's earnest if inept effort (backed by a polemical postscript) to voice the kind of warning that H.G. Wells did with so much more style. (Literary Guild Dual Selection for Fall) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Seller: SecondSale, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Condition: Acceptable. Item in very good condition! Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00072766944
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: SecondSale, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Condition: USED_FAIR. Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00052729064
Quantity: Over 20 available
Seller: SecondSale, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Condition: USED_GOOD. Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00045449688
Quantity: Over 20 available
Seller: Gulf Coast Books, Memphis, TN, U.S.A.
Mass Market Paperback. Condition: Good. Seller Inventory # 0446363669-3-18609858
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Orion Tech, Kingwood, TX, U.S.A.
Mass Market Paperback. Condition: Fair. Seller Inventory # 0446363669-4-18698228
Quantity: 4 available
Seller: Orion Tech, Kingwood, TX, U.S.A.
Mass Market Paperback. Condition: Good. Seller Inventory # 0446363669-3-17794219
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Your Online Bookstore, Houston, TX, U.S.A.
Mass Market Paperback. Condition: Good. Seller Inventory # 0446363669-3-18699029
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Reissue. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # GRP9457950
Quantity: 4 available
Seller: Jenson Books Inc, Logan, UT, U.S.A.
mass_market. Condition: UNSPECIFIED. A well-cared-for item that has seen limited use but remains in great condition. The item is complete, unmarked, and undamaged, but may show some limited signs of wear. Item works perfectly. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine is undamaged. Seller Inventory # 4BQM1A000PPY
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Hastings of Coral Springs, Altamonte Springs, FL, U.S.A.
Mass Market Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Seventh Printing. 401 pages. The backstrip is creased. The cover edges are lightly worn. Writing on the reverse of the rear cover. The interior is age-toned. Seller Inventory # 12078
Quantity: 1 available