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Tyler Locke #3
The Roswell Conspiracy
After the 1908 Tunguska blast levels a Siberian forest the size of London, a Russian scientist makes an amazing discovery amongst the debris. In 1947, 10-year-old Fay Allen of Roswell, New Mexico, witnesses the fiery crash of an extraordinary craft unlike anything she's ever seen. More than 60 years later, former Army combat engineer Tyler Locke rescues Fay from gunmen who are after a piece of wreckage she claims is from the Roswell incident. Incredulous of her tale, Tyler believes the attack on Fay is nothing more than a burglary gone wrong. But when he finds himself locked in the back of a truck carrying a hundred tons of explosives and heading for a top secret American base, Tyler knows that he has stumbled onto the opening gambit of something more sinister than he ever imagined. Because disgraced Russian spy Vladimir Colchev is after an Air Force prototype code-named Killswitch, an electromagnetic pulse weapon of unprecedented power. Although Tyler is able to avert catastrophe at the US facility, Colchev gets away with the bomb and plans to turn it on America itself. To complete his mission, he needs only one other key component, a mysterious object recovered from the Roswell crash. In a desperate race against time, Tyler must unmask a conspiracy a century in the making to rescue the United States from electronic Armageddon.
374 pages, Paperback
First published May 31, 2012
324 people are currently reading
1563 people want to read
About the author
Boyd Morrison
32 books457 followersBoyd Morrison is an author, actor, engineer, and Jeopardy! champion. He started his career working on NASA's space station project at Johnson Space Center, where he got the opportunity to fly on the Vomit Comet, the same plane used to train astronauts for zero gravity. After earning a PhD in engineering from Virginia Tech, he used his training to develop eleven US patents at Thomson/RCA. Boyd then managed a video game testing group in Microsoft's Xbox division before becoming a full-time writer. For non-fiction thrills, he enjoys white water rafting, skiing, scuba diving, and bungee jumping. Boyd is also a professional actor, appearing in films, commercials, and stage plays. In 2003 he fulfilled a lifelong dream and became a Jeopardy! champion. He currently lives in Seattle with his wife.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 192 reviews
November 12, 2017
A decent adventure/thriller, but perhaps too many plotlines. The basic plot line involves the elderly Fay's memories of an alien sighting in Roswell, where she was given an artifact. Fast forward to today, she is saved from an attack by Tyler Locke and Grant Westfield. Fay is the grandmother of Tyler's college girlfriend and off they go on an adventure. Mix in some sociopathic Russians intent on ruining the U.S. using a secret superbomb, a tough female FBI agent who is not great at following orders, unmanned land vehicles, a manned rocketship, gunfire, and there's your novel.
January 23, 2013
I have to stop being enticed by book covers.
This novel centres around a character, Tyler Locke, who from what I can gather in the blurbs, has starred in previous novels by this author. So I'm coming into this as someone who has never read Tyler Locke or any of Boyd Morrison's work before.
What this read like to me was a guy who wanted to write James Bond with just enough changes to avoid a copyright issue. Although not that many. What I was hoping for was a cool look at Roswell and aliens, I now see the cover is utterly misleading.
The opening chase scene annoyed me off the bat. Tyler, his boat-fanatic, former-wrestler best friend, Grant, and some old woman, Fay, who runs around like a woman half her age, are trying to escape these people who are after Fay's Roswell artifact she found as a child.
"New Zealand normally being a safe place." - I find this a very tenuous thread. I live in Australia so we do get news from NZ when something horrible happens, which it does about as often as any other more westernized country. Perhaps less because it's smaller, but there's definitely some parts of it that are unsafe. Perhaps picking a city or region would have been more accurate than labelling the whole country as safe. Just seemed like a dumb statement to make.
As far as I can tell with Tyler, who is some sort of army engineer, he is pretty much awesome at everything. He knows everything about guns/weapons, he can drive any sort of car/plane, he knows how to evade capture, etc. The only thing it would appear he can't do is drive boats, but not to worry because good ol' Grant is there and we're told he has "several" boats, so he saves the day. This time, gotta be careful not to pull focus from Tyler. :S
Back to the chase scene, we're told the police are on the way; and Fay suggests they hide out in a local store. Tyler muses that there will probably be civilians there who will be caught in the crossfire, but that doesn't put him off. Which kind of goes against the persona of the heroic army dude Tyler is supposed to be. Anyway, the civilians live to shop another day as Tyler et al make it to the water and start a boat chase for some reason that ends with the bad guys dying and the good guys winning. Back on the shore, we're told the police were just watching the chase. No need to get involved then, not like it's life and death.
Out of the water, Fay's granddaughter Jess appears. We're told Jess looks nothing like her Gran and has dark skin. Jess is impossibly fit and gorgeous without makeup gaining looks from all the young policemen. And wouldn't you know it, she's Tyler's college girlfriend. Yikes, not even 50 pages in and I'm cringing.
Then over lunch we're treated to our first actual encounter with aliens in the form of Fay's retelling of something that happened to her as a 10 year old. She witnessed an alien craft crash, and then the alien hopped up on her horse and led her away to safety for some reason. Why an alien has this human response, I don't know. And we're not told, nor are we told how an alien came into contact with the wood engraving that it gives to Fay.
It's mentioned that Tyler is actually an expert engineer, yet Jess hires him to find out who is after her grandmother and her alien artifact, which does not at all seem to fit Tyler's field of expertise. Even Tyler brings up to Jess that he isn't the ideal person for the job and suggests she take the artifact to the police. But Jess says she did, and they didn't believe her. Yet on the very next page Jess reveals she has an "in" with the cops and often does work for them, and her connection with them is close enough that she is given details on cases. Yet these people who she works for won't believe her when she asks for help? Nevertheless, we'll carry on.
Then things get majorly sidetracked for reasons I still don't understand. Some guy has a bomb, and some girl wants to disarm the bomb. Tyler and Grant get involved and save the day, complete with running along the roofs of moving vehicles, escaping a bomb blast and planting some C4. As far as I can tell, they're stuck in a truck with the giant bomb and find some C4 to blow a section of the truck open so they can escape. Also, as far as I can tell, this truck is one of many in a convoy that is being watched by people who have cameras trained on the bomb, yet no one sees/hears/witnesses this little C4 blast. Tyler does another stereotypical action move when, whilst he's jogging on top of the truck, someone hits the breaks and Tyler falls onto the windshield but manages to hang on and then climb into the carriage behind the wheel. I cannot find words for how much this guy is annoying me.
While Fay and Jess are told to wait in the car while the men do all the work, they have a chat about terrorists are going to attack. And, according to Tyler, they'll attack Pine Gap because "it sounded like the kind of place a terrorist would want to target." Seems childish to label a town as a terrorist target based only on its name. I live in Brisbane near The Gap, I wonder if I should be concerned?
During this scuffle, we're told Grant and Tyler "crabbed over to a trailer", which marks as one of the weirder sentences in the book. In fact in Australia (not sure if it's the same elsewhere) "crabbing" is funnily enough a term used for going out and catching crabs. But I assume Tyler and Grant weren't catching crabs while they hid behind a trailer.
Up to chapter 22 (140 pages), and there's only been the one mention of aliens via Fay's memory.
On the way to a diner with her Gran, Jess comes to the conclusion that her Grandmother didn't see an alien, but rather one of Stalin's man-made child-sized monsters which he was rumoured to have created and sent around the world to create hysteria. This leads Jess to believe the language the "alien" spoke in to her Grandmother was Russian, so Jess calls someone she claims is her expert in dialects whom she goes to for her translation needs; and this guy tells her all he did was type the phrase into Google and nothing came up. That's the extent of his expertise.
At this point I think I've pieced together the bomb connection from earlier. The Russians need xenobium (Which is what it sounds like, a fake word) to set off their terrorist bomb, and the alien artifact is made from xenobium. I think, I don't really care.
The story heads to Easter Island for some reason, Tyler and his gang are there but the Russian bad guys are on their way. During a conversation between Jess and Tyler that reads like the author just read way too much about Easter Island on wikipedia, Tyler mentions "Fay sure seems convinced we're dealing with spacemen." Which implies that no one else is really taking the alien connection seriously. The book title "The Roswell Conspiracy" along with the cute little doodle of an alien on the cover and a statement that this book will uncover what really happened at Roswell? And I'm nuts for thinking it will go into that? Now I'm not saying aliens exist, but surely I'm not crazy to think that a book proclaiming aliens on the cover would in fact be about aliens? And as a reader almost 200 pages into the story, it's a little annoying to read our protagonist confirming he doesn't believe what the whole story is based on.
Maybe someone should flick Tyler a copy of this book cover, just to remind him that he's supposed to be investigating aliens. Or maybe he's not, and I'm the one mislead by the cover's repeated use of the word Roswell and the alien picture.
Meanwhile in Sydney, Grant is being cringeworthy with Morgan, another impossibly gorgeous CIA agent, and the two wind up on a chase with the bad guys on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It reminds me of an episode of Bold and the Beautiful where they filmed in Australia, and they used a full two minutes of a hot guy running after a hot girl through the gardens around the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. It screamed that they were just trying to cram as much of Australia that people would recognize into one scene which was complete with pulsing didgeridoo music in the background. Just because it's there doesn't mean you HAVE to use it. When I write about America I don't set everything at the Empire State Building and have people say "Howdy, y'all!". Oh, I should mention there was an Australian earlier on who said "bonzer" which no one over here has ever said and is one of those words people THINK Australians use.
Anyway, back to Easter Island and Jess, Tyler and Fay are searching caves. Jess being an expert spelunker and Fay being fearless, they have no trouble that normal people would have. Fay starts deciphering ancient drawings on cave walls using her sudden genius with such things, and determines that the drawings are of aliens despite Jess and Tyler thinking they're not.
Tyler shows he has no regard for others when he digs a part of the ancient engraving off the wall which he then reveals to Fay and Jess has xenobium in it. Still not sure how they found it, everything leading up to this has been happenstance, with characters guessing what everything means and having it all pan out. The amount of times people say "maybe this is because..." or "this must be where..." or "I think this is..." and it turns out to be exactly right although there is no actual confirmation of it, happens too often to count.
The main Russian bad guy catches up with the gang at Easter Island but instead of killing them when he has the chance, he decides that would take too much time and instead lets them go but not before sending one of his goons to stick a car in neutral and roll it off a cliff. Not sure why the Russian bad guy didn't just chuck grenades over there until Tyler blew up.
Anyway, Russian bad guy kidnaps Fay because he finds the video footage on her camera she made of finding xenobium in the caves. As he witnesses it, Russian proclaims that Fay has provided him with all he needs to find the xenobium, which I found strange since he has never been there before and has no idea what he's actually seeing, so how he can be sure that Fay filmed some sort of virtual map to find the xenobium cave, I don't know.
With their car off a cliff, Jess and Tyler decide running after the Russian who took Fay is the best idea. Then when they inevitably tire, they steal two scooters. Not from the side of the road or from a store, but literally off two people scooting past them. In fact, happy, waving, smiling locals. Both Jess and Tyler knock them off their scooters and jump on apparently without losing any speed on the scooters. Sorry, random locals. You don't matter, we just need your scooters to speed up this boring story.
Tyler and Jess find the xenobium bomb at the airport, and realize that if it goes off everyone on Easter Island will die. Why they're only coming to this conclusion now, I don't know. Bombs blow up, it's what they do best. But Tyler continues to show his disregard for anything that doesn't immediately affect him by considering dumping the bomb in the ocean, emitting radiation to the millions of underwater animals as well as contaminating a huge chunk of the Pacific Ocean. Thankfully for all of us, he realizes this isn't ideal.
Tyler then decides to launch a suicide mission and fly the plane + bomb to somewhere safe, which is exactly what happens in season 2 of 24. Jack Bauer (whom I'm sure Tyler is based on as he is an amalgam of every movie/TV hero I have ever seen) flies a plane with a bomb into a lower-populated area with no intention of coming back alive. But Jack Bauer is Jack Bauer, so he found a way out. Tyler Locke is a moronic protagonist, so he found a way out, too.
Did I mention Jess has professed her love for Tyler "after all these years"? Well, she did. Not that it matters. The pair jump off the plane before it blows up, but the bomb still blows. I don't know the details because I don't care, but what could turn into a cool island adventure becomes a page and a half of Tyler and Jess floating about in a lifeboat and making out and then being rescued. Nothing happens.
Tyler and Jess follow the evil Russians who took Fay and unveil that there is a ship the government has made to launch into space, which would just be called a rocket or space shuttle in normal human speak, but this author decided to call it a spaceplane. In fairness, the author has done work for NASA so maybe there is something called a spaceplane. But to me, like xenobium, it just sounds stupidly made up.
I don't get why terrorists would bother making a weapon triggered by a substance you can only get from space or Australia.
More nothing happens, the bad Russians are defeated, Fay is rescued and safe, Jess and Tyler are in love but part ways for some reason, Grant gets with that chick he's been annoying all book, and we never get to Roswell.
This novel centres around a character, Tyler Locke, who from what I can gather in the blurbs, has starred in previous novels by this author. So I'm coming into this as someone who has never read Tyler Locke or any of Boyd Morrison's work before.
What this read like to me was a guy who wanted to write James Bond with just enough changes to avoid a copyright issue. Although not that many. What I was hoping for was a cool look at Roswell and aliens, I now see the cover is utterly misleading.
The opening chase scene annoyed me off the bat. Tyler, his boat-fanatic, former-wrestler best friend, Grant, and some old woman, Fay, who runs around like a woman half her age, are trying to escape these people who are after Fay's Roswell artifact she found as a child.
"New Zealand normally being a safe place." - I find this a very tenuous thread. I live in Australia so we do get news from NZ when something horrible happens, which it does about as often as any other more westernized country. Perhaps less because it's smaller, but there's definitely some parts of it that are unsafe. Perhaps picking a city or region would have been more accurate than labelling the whole country as safe. Just seemed like a dumb statement to make.
As far as I can tell with Tyler, who is some sort of army engineer, he is pretty much awesome at everything. He knows everything about guns/weapons, he can drive any sort of car/plane, he knows how to evade capture, etc. The only thing it would appear he can't do is drive boats, but not to worry because good ol' Grant is there and we're told he has "several" boats, so he saves the day. This time, gotta be careful not to pull focus from Tyler. :S
Back to the chase scene, we're told the police are on the way; and Fay suggests they hide out in a local store. Tyler muses that there will probably be civilians there who will be caught in the crossfire, but that doesn't put him off. Which kind of goes against the persona of the heroic army dude Tyler is supposed to be. Anyway, the civilians live to shop another day as Tyler et al make it to the water and start a boat chase for some reason that ends with the bad guys dying and the good guys winning. Back on the shore, we're told the police were just watching the chase. No need to get involved then, not like it's life and death.
Out of the water, Fay's granddaughter Jess appears. We're told Jess looks nothing like her Gran and has dark skin. Jess is impossibly fit and gorgeous without makeup gaining looks from all the young policemen. And wouldn't you know it, she's Tyler's college girlfriend. Yikes, not even 50 pages in and I'm cringing.
Then over lunch we're treated to our first actual encounter with aliens in the form of Fay's retelling of something that happened to her as a 10 year old. She witnessed an alien craft crash, and then the alien hopped up on her horse and led her away to safety for some reason. Why an alien has this human response, I don't know. And we're not told, nor are we told how an alien came into contact with the wood engraving that it gives to Fay.
It's mentioned that Tyler is actually an expert engineer, yet Jess hires him to find out who is after her grandmother and her alien artifact, which does not at all seem to fit Tyler's field of expertise. Even Tyler brings up to Jess that he isn't the ideal person for the job and suggests she take the artifact to the police. But Jess says she did, and they didn't believe her. Yet on the very next page Jess reveals she has an "in" with the cops and often does work for them, and her connection with them is close enough that she is given details on cases. Yet these people who she works for won't believe her when she asks for help? Nevertheless, we'll carry on.
Then things get majorly sidetracked for reasons I still don't understand. Some guy has a bomb, and some girl wants to disarm the bomb. Tyler and Grant get involved and save the day, complete with running along the roofs of moving vehicles, escaping a bomb blast and planting some C4. As far as I can tell, they're stuck in a truck with the giant bomb and find some C4 to blow a section of the truck open so they can escape. Also, as far as I can tell, this truck is one of many in a convoy that is being watched by people who have cameras trained on the bomb, yet no one sees/hears/witnesses this little C4 blast. Tyler does another stereotypical action move when, whilst he's jogging on top of the truck, someone hits the breaks and Tyler falls onto the windshield but manages to hang on and then climb into the carriage behind the wheel. I cannot find words for how much this guy is annoying me.
While Fay and Jess are told to wait in the car while the men do all the work, they have a chat about terrorists are going to attack. And, according to Tyler, they'll attack Pine Gap because "it sounded like the kind of place a terrorist would want to target." Seems childish to label a town as a terrorist target based only on its name. I live in Brisbane near The Gap, I wonder if I should be concerned?
During this scuffle, we're told Grant and Tyler "crabbed over to a trailer", which marks as one of the weirder sentences in the book. In fact in Australia (not sure if it's the same elsewhere) "crabbing" is funnily enough a term used for going out and catching crabs. But I assume Tyler and Grant weren't catching crabs while they hid behind a trailer.
Up to chapter 22 (140 pages), and there's only been the one mention of aliens via Fay's memory.
On the way to a diner with her Gran, Jess comes to the conclusion that her Grandmother didn't see an alien, but rather one of Stalin's man-made child-sized monsters which he was rumoured to have created and sent around the world to create hysteria. This leads Jess to believe the language the "alien" spoke in to her Grandmother was Russian, so Jess calls someone she claims is her expert in dialects whom she goes to for her translation needs; and this guy tells her all he did was type the phrase into Google and nothing came up. That's the extent of his expertise.
At this point I think I've pieced together the bomb connection from earlier. The Russians need xenobium (Which is what it sounds like, a fake word) to set off their terrorist bomb, and the alien artifact is made from xenobium. I think, I don't really care.
The story heads to Easter Island for some reason, Tyler and his gang are there but the Russian bad guys are on their way. During a conversation between Jess and Tyler that reads like the author just read way too much about Easter Island on wikipedia, Tyler mentions "Fay sure seems convinced we're dealing with spacemen." Which implies that no one else is really taking the alien connection seriously. The book title "The Roswell Conspiracy" along with the cute little doodle of an alien on the cover and a statement that this book will uncover what really happened at Roswell? And I'm nuts for thinking it will go into that? Now I'm not saying aliens exist, but surely I'm not crazy to think that a book proclaiming aliens on the cover would in fact be about aliens? And as a reader almost 200 pages into the story, it's a little annoying to read our protagonist confirming he doesn't believe what the whole story is based on.
Maybe someone should flick Tyler a copy of this book cover, just to remind him that he's supposed to be investigating aliens. Or maybe he's not, and I'm the one mislead by the cover's repeated use of the word Roswell and the alien picture.
Meanwhile in Sydney, Grant is being cringeworthy with Morgan, another impossibly gorgeous CIA agent, and the two wind up on a chase with the bad guys on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It reminds me of an episode of Bold and the Beautiful where they filmed in Australia, and they used a full two minutes of a hot guy running after a hot girl through the gardens around the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. It screamed that they were just trying to cram as much of Australia that people would recognize into one scene which was complete with pulsing didgeridoo music in the background. Just because it's there doesn't mean you HAVE to use it. When I write about America I don't set everything at the Empire State Building and have people say "Howdy, y'all!". Oh, I should mention there was an Australian earlier on who said "bonzer" which no one over here has ever said and is one of those words people THINK Australians use.
Anyway, back to Easter Island and Jess, Tyler and Fay are searching caves. Jess being an expert spelunker and Fay being fearless, they have no trouble that normal people would have. Fay starts deciphering ancient drawings on cave walls using her sudden genius with such things, and determines that the drawings are of aliens despite Jess and Tyler thinking they're not.
Tyler shows he has no regard for others when he digs a part of the ancient engraving off the wall which he then reveals to Fay and Jess has xenobium in it. Still not sure how they found it, everything leading up to this has been happenstance, with characters guessing what everything means and having it all pan out. The amount of times people say "maybe this is because..." or "this must be where..." or "I think this is..." and it turns out to be exactly right although there is no actual confirmation of it, happens too often to count.
The main Russian bad guy catches up with the gang at Easter Island but instead of killing them when he has the chance, he decides that would take too much time and instead lets them go but not before sending one of his goons to stick a car in neutral and roll it off a cliff. Not sure why the Russian bad guy didn't just chuck grenades over there until Tyler blew up.
Anyway, Russian bad guy kidnaps Fay because he finds the video footage on her camera she made of finding xenobium in the caves. As he witnesses it, Russian proclaims that Fay has provided him with all he needs to find the xenobium, which I found strange since he has never been there before and has no idea what he's actually seeing, so how he can be sure that Fay filmed some sort of virtual map to find the xenobium cave, I don't know.
With their car off a cliff, Jess and Tyler decide running after the Russian who took Fay is the best idea. Then when they inevitably tire, they steal two scooters. Not from the side of the road or from a store, but literally off two people scooting past them. In fact, happy, waving, smiling locals. Both Jess and Tyler knock them off their scooters and jump on apparently without losing any speed on the scooters. Sorry, random locals. You don't matter, we just need your scooters to speed up this boring story.
Tyler and Jess find the xenobium bomb at the airport, and realize that if it goes off everyone on Easter Island will die. Why they're only coming to this conclusion now, I don't know. Bombs blow up, it's what they do best. But Tyler continues to show his disregard for anything that doesn't immediately affect him by considering dumping the bomb in the ocean, emitting radiation to the millions of underwater animals as well as contaminating a huge chunk of the Pacific Ocean. Thankfully for all of us, he realizes this isn't ideal.
Tyler then decides to launch a suicide mission and fly the plane + bomb to somewhere safe, which is exactly what happens in season 2 of 24. Jack Bauer (whom I'm sure Tyler is based on as he is an amalgam of every movie/TV hero I have ever seen) flies a plane with a bomb into a lower-populated area with no intention of coming back alive. But Jack Bauer is Jack Bauer, so he found a way out. Tyler Locke is a moronic protagonist, so he found a way out, too.
Did I mention Jess has professed her love for Tyler "after all these years"? Well, she did. Not that it matters. The pair jump off the plane before it blows up, but the bomb still blows. I don't know the details because I don't care, but what could turn into a cool island adventure becomes a page and a half of Tyler and Jess floating about in a lifeboat and making out and then being rescued. Nothing happens.
Tyler and Jess follow the evil Russians who took Fay and unveil that there is a ship the government has made to launch into space, which would just be called a rocket or space shuttle in normal human speak, but this author decided to call it a spaceplane. In fairness, the author has done work for NASA so maybe there is something called a spaceplane. But to me, like xenobium, it just sounds stupidly made up.
I don't get why terrorists would bother making a weapon triggered by a substance you can only get from space or Australia.
More nothing happens, the bad Russians are defeated, Fay is rescued and safe, Jess and Tyler are in love but part ways for some reason, Grant gets with that chick he's been annoying all book, and we never get to Roswell.
April 19, 2013
In Morrison's latest novel, the autor presents an interesting set of ideas and tries weaving them together, using his series character Tyler Locke. As the early chapters of the book lay the foundation of the novel, the style and plot direction leave much to be desired. While not immature per se, the narration simply does not develop in a way I had hoped and I was left feeling as though I was stuck reading a cheesy novel. It did get a little better, as the discovery came to light and the mystery kept me reading, though I really did have words like 'silly', 'verbose', and 'cookie cutter' come to mind, which lessens the true value of the novel. Using the traditional 'hero is chased by former KGB-like goons in order to protect what is his' plot, the book falls short of entertaining the reader, unless you're into that sort of thing. The latter third does make a triumphant attempt to turn the book into a Steve Berry or Chris Kuzneski hit, it falls short and can only be called second-rate.
Having read a fair bit of Morrison's work, it remains inconsistent. Some of it is quite good and other books are as corny as they get. Perhaps it is just me, as I see many people laud and applaud his work, but I just cannot see myself finding anything on which I can assure myself in his work. The topics and some of the background research cannot be faulted, but the means by which the information is presented and the fiction surrounding the real aspects of the tale really leave me no choice but to 'punish' the book in this review. Will I race to pick up another Boyd Morrison book? The jury is still out.
Mr. Morrison, please find your niche and stick to it, for all our sakes!
Having read a fair bit of Morrison's work, it remains inconsistent. Some of it is quite good and other books are as corny as they get. Perhaps it is just me, as I see many people laud and applaud his work, but I just cannot see myself finding anything on which I can assure myself in his work. The topics and some of the background research cannot be faulted, but the means by which the information is presented and the fiction surrounding the real aspects of the tale really leave me no choice but to 'punish' the book in this review. Will I race to pick up another Boyd Morrison book? The jury is still out.
Mr. Morrison, please find your niche and stick to it, for all our sakes!
June 13, 2012
You might think that you know the story of Roswell but Morrison skillfully weaves a fast paced action-adventure story that continues to surprise throughout the book. I love the international locations and having experienced the jetboats in New Zealand, it's great to see them used for a chase scene. Tyler Locke and his sidekick Grant rescue Faye, an older lady who was given an artefact by what she perceived as an alien all those years ago at Roswell. This leads them on a trail through Australia to Easter Island and then the Nazca ruins with a dramatic conclusion high above the earth. I enjoyed the research that had gone into the book as well as the fictional story that kept my attention. This is definitely my favorite of Boyd Morrison's books so far.
June 23, 2014
“After all, Tyler thought, what’s the point of life if there isn’t any mystery?” – The Roswell Conspiracy
Non-stop action, a heap of mystery, suspense galore. A good blokey book.
For me, the Australian and NZ settings were an added bonus.
Non-stop action, a heap of mystery, suspense galore. A good blokey book.
For me, the Australian and NZ settings were an added bonus.
February 1, 2013
Ever read one of those books that you really want to like, but you had trouble getting into? You give it the benefit of the doubt, and read another chapter, hoping it’s just your mood, or the fact that you had a hard day. And four or five days and several chapters later you’ve read so far that even though you’re still not into the book now you feel guilty when thoughts of giving up cross your mind.
I really wanted to love Boyd Morrison’s THE ROSWELL CONSPIRACY. Boyd’s a terrific guy; his books are very popular; and he’s from Seattle, my backyard. Here’s the thing: there’s nothing wrong with this thriller. It’s by-the-numbers genre fare, and handled quite capably. In fact, if you like Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt, you’ll probably love Boyd Morrison’s Tyler Locke. Handsome, smart, athletic and handy in a firefight (not to mention anytime you need someone to pilot your C-17), Locke is perhaps a stereotypical thriller hero, ably assisted by friend, engineer and former Special Forces sergeant Grant Westfield.
My problem with THE ROSWELL CONSPIRACY is that it’s too cookie-cutter. Like I said, it’s not bad. It’s just been done before, and more originally, by guys like Cussler, who invented this particular sub-genre a generation ago. Oh, did I mention that if you like that sort of thing—muscular action figures (guys and gals), globe-trotting searches for clues to ancient riddles, world-changing discoveries and/or treasures, constant danger from evil, power-mad villains with access to the nastiest of weapons—you’ll love this book?
I really wanted to love Boyd Morrison’s THE ROSWELL CONSPIRACY. Boyd’s a terrific guy; his books are very popular; and he’s from Seattle, my backyard. Here’s the thing: there’s nothing wrong with this thriller. It’s by-the-numbers genre fare, and handled quite capably. In fact, if you like Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt, you’ll probably love Boyd Morrison’s Tyler Locke. Handsome, smart, athletic and handy in a firefight (not to mention anytime you need someone to pilot your C-17), Locke is perhaps a stereotypical thriller hero, ably assisted by friend, engineer and former Special Forces sergeant Grant Westfield.
My problem with THE ROSWELL CONSPIRACY is that it’s too cookie-cutter. Like I said, it’s not bad. It’s just been done before, and more originally, by guys like Cussler, who invented this particular sub-genre a generation ago. Oh, did I mention that if you like that sort of thing—muscular action figures (guys and gals), globe-trotting searches for clues to ancient riddles, world-changing discoveries and/or treasures, constant danger from evil, power-mad villains with access to the nastiest of weapons—you’ll love this book?
October 17, 2016
A good part of the series but the story a little muddled with the trail of a number of parties involved at one point; the final battle too like a scene from Moonraker.
Very good, but not in the same division as the first two.
Very good, but not in the same division as the first two.
January 19, 2023
Boyd Morrison has a way of reworking mysteries, legends and urban myths into a workable yet entertaining yarn. Laced with strong, unrelenting action bonded with incredible chemistry between its characters, this is one book I had to finish -- at the risk of my own deadlines!
Grab it and read it now!
Grab it and read it now!
November 25, 2017
Hmmm, an okay read. Full of action and racing against time. But not quite what I thought it would be.
November 28, 2012
Having watched The X-Files and Roswell for many a year, how could I pass up the opportunity to read a book entitled The Roswell Conspiracy? I picked the book because of the title, but then to add icing on the cake, some of the opening chapters take place in and around Queenstown, New Zealand. This is one of my favourite places in the world and I was even more hooked. I felt like I was back there, the author described everything so well.
This book has an unusual publishing history, in that it is the third of a series but the US publisher of the first two didn't want it. The author did get a publishing deal in the UK, but not in the US, so it's a book that's both self-published and traditionally published at the same time.
It's a fantastic book and the US publisher has missed out here. Unlike with a lot of thriller/conspiracy novels the characters are well drawn with great depth, even the 'bad guys'. I adored Fay, the feisty grandmother who is determined to go along on the adventures and discoveries. The plot can be a little bit far-fetched and convoluted at times, but I was having so much fun reading it that it wasn't a bother. You can suspend your disbelief for the time it takes to read.
Mr. Morrison has written a fast-paced page-turner of a book which takes the reader on an adventure from Australia, New Zealand, the US, Russia and Easter Island to name a few. So you think you know what happened in Roswell in 1947? Think again. The author has taken a well known story but given it an entirely different spin, but I won't give it away.
You don't just feel you've read the book, you feel you've been there with the characters. It's was wonderful, a real joy to read and I was sorry to finish it. I'll definitely be looking out the first two now.
Review copy from Netgalley.
This book has an unusual publishing history, in that it is the third of a series but the US publisher of the first two didn't want it. The author did get a publishing deal in the UK, but not in the US, so it's a book that's both self-published and traditionally published at the same time.
It's a fantastic book and the US publisher has missed out here. Unlike with a lot of thriller/conspiracy novels the characters are well drawn with great depth, even the 'bad guys'. I adored Fay, the feisty grandmother who is determined to go along on the adventures and discoveries. The plot can be a little bit far-fetched and convoluted at times, but I was having so much fun reading it that it wasn't a bother. You can suspend your disbelief for the time it takes to read.
Mr. Morrison has written a fast-paced page-turner of a book which takes the reader on an adventure from Australia, New Zealand, the US, Russia and Easter Island to name a few. So you think you know what happened in Roswell in 1947? Think again. The author has taken a well known story but given it an entirely different spin, but I won't give it away.
You don't just feel you've read the book, you feel you've been there with the characters. It's was wonderful, a real joy to read and I was sorry to finish it. I'll definitely be looking out the first two now.
Review copy from Netgalley.
July 26, 2015
I've been reading a lot of heavy books lately, so I thought a thriller would be a good palate cleanser. I don't have super high expectations of this kind of book, I just want to be entertained - but the writing was so sophomoric and the plot such a stretch, I almost didn't make it through. ("I'm as hungry as a Vegan at a pig roast.")
This far-fetched story dealt with Roswell, Easter Island and the Nazca lines, plus Australia and New Zealand. A bad Russian dude, steals a highly secure, highly secret weapon and manages to get it into the US to do bad things. What's his motivation, I wondered.... never fear, the book told me "I will chill the vodka tonight, for tomorrow we will be toasting the downfall of America and the establishment of Russia as the most dominant nation on the planet." mmmm, kay.
And what did this all have to do with Roswell? According to 75-year-old spitfire Kay "A spaceship crashed. An alien climbed out and saved me. He gave me the wooden engraving and then drew a rectangle in the dirt before he died."
I had to suspend disbelief a lot (like the time the Air Force chick had a plane all gassed up and ready to take some non-military people to Easter Island even though she didn't even know about them, or Easter Island) and though I was moderately entertained, and did manage to finish, the entertainment to eyeroll factor was low.
Not recommended.
December 29, 2012
This skillfully told tale of secrets, discoveries and, of course the mysteries of Roswell, NM is full of mystery, talk of aliens, and scientific horrors that go back for decades.
When Faye Allen was only ten years old, in 1947, she sees what she believes to be an alien aircraft crash in Roswell, NM, and sixty years later becomes the victim of a kidnapping when it is discovered that she has a piece of the wreckage. Enter Tyler Locke, a former military combat engineer, who rescues Faye and helps to discover the ugly truth behind her claims.
The telling of this tale is blunt, full of action and imagination. The characters are strong, the men are manly, seasoned, and totally human heroes. Faye is a charmer with her feisty attitude and the conviction that she isn't the 'crazy woman' many believe, because what she has found could bring the United States to its knees if foreign entities succeed with their evil plans.
Boyd Morrison has been compared to having a style like Clive Cussler with characters and plots that are larger than life! I believe its true and think this is well worth the time to read! Tyler Locke is a hero to enjoy, either by reading all of the series or selected books as stand alones.
This edition was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
When Faye Allen was only ten years old, in 1947, she sees what she believes to be an alien aircraft crash in Roswell, NM, and sixty years later becomes the victim of a kidnapping when it is discovered that she has a piece of the wreckage. Enter Tyler Locke, a former military combat engineer, who rescues Faye and helps to discover the ugly truth behind her claims.
The telling of this tale is blunt, full of action and imagination. The characters are strong, the men are manly, seasoned, and totally human heroes. Faye is a charmer with her feisty attitude and the conviction that she isn't the 'crazy woman' many believe, because what she has found could bring the United States to its knees if foreign entities succeed with their evil plans.
Boyd Morrison has been compared to having a style like Clive Cussler with characters and plots that are larger than life! I believe its true and think this is well worth the time to read! Tyler Locke is a hero to enjoy, either by reading all of the series or selected books as stand alones.
This edition was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
January 1, 2013
I'm not going to get into the premise of the story, the synopsis does a very good job of that.
Not a bad adventure type thriller. The book moves along at a good pace without getting bogged down. Always a plus in an action based novel.
Although the story tends to move around between characters, it revisits each character often enough that the reader does not lose track of that character's role in the overall story.
Although this is the third in the Tyler Locke series, I didn't have the feeling that I had lost anything by not having read the first two. There were a couple of references to the previous 'adventures', but they weren't a distraction from this book.
Reading Morrison reminds me of Clive Cussler. Tyler & Grant/Dirk and Al. If one has read Cussler, then they are familiar with the genre.
Not a bad adventure type thriller. The book moves along at a good pace without getting bogged down. Always a plus in an action based novel.
Although the story tends to move around between characters, it revisits each character often enough that the reader does not lose track of that character's role in the overall story.
Although this is the third in the Tyler Locke series, I didn't have the feeling that I had lost anything by not having read the first two. There were a couple of references to the previous 'adventures', but they weren't a distraction from this book.
Reading Morrison reminds me of Clive Cussler. Tyler & Grant/Dirk and Al. If one has read Cussler, then they are familiar with the genre.
January 2, 2015
Not especially thrilling, though the underlying story is quite good and has a nice twist.
The characters are as two-dimentional as you can find - making Harlan Coben seem like a wizard on deep, intriguing character-building.
Fast read though. But didn't make me wanna check out the rest of the series.
The characters are as two-dimentional as you can find - making Harlan Coben seem like a wizard on deep, intriguing character-building.
Fast read though. But didn't make me wanna check out the rest of the series.
November 6, 2016
A very enjoyable read, but not what I was expecting. Despite the connection to the US in 1947 very little of this book actually took place in the US. A well thought out story that linked a number of events and took you to many different places across the world. As well as a good storyline there was also a good group of characters I want to read more about.
May 26, 2017
Every now and again I return to the conspiracy type books, there are so many out there and Ive lost count to the number relating to Area 51 and Roswell. This is one of them, nothing new, nothing to twisty or shocking. But if you like these type then this one will be right up your hyperbolic flux drive. For me ok ... will leave this area for another day
January 16, 2013
Just got started with the ebook Finally had to stop before finishing due to book borrowing time was up. Good what I read of it.
February 5, 2015
This book was awesome. I must get the rest of the series. I wish there were more than three.
July 12, 2018
Roswell 1947. Everyone knows someone who is either a believer or a big skeptic of what went on that day. Without trying not to give away spoilers I can now say there was another direction I never considered. The whole premise of of Roswell is that a flying saucer, spaceship, etc. that crashed right outside of Roswell, N.M. A ten year old girl sees what happens and even claims she “talked “ to one and has some pieces of the craft.
Leap forward to the year 2012. Former Army soldier/engineer Tyler Locke flys to Australia with his former Army Ranger buddy Grant to visit with 75 year old Fay who now lives there instead of the U. S. They didn’t realize they were about to enter an adventure that consisted of Russians, super bombs that were an incredible EMP producer that could basically destroy every electrical system and put the country back 200 years.
The book is fast paced and will keep you spell bound. I enjoyed the book immensely.
Leap forward to the year 2012. Former Army soldier/engineer Tyler Locke flys to Australia with his former Army Ranger buddy Grant to visit with 75 year old Fay who now lives there instead of the U. S. They didn’t realize they were about to enter an adventure that consisted of Russians, super bombs that were an incredible EMP producer that could basically destroy every electrical system and put the country back 200 years.
The book is fast paced and will keep you spell bound. I enjoyed the book immensely.
October 27, 2019
On the plus side this was a fun and entertaining read. On the negative side it was predictable and it felt very formulaic. These type of, "find the ancient secret and save the world in five days", are best done probably by Clive Cussler and Steve Berry, but also by Will Adams, David Gibbins, David Wood, Andy McDermott and others. I'd put Boyd Morrison at least in the middle of the pack. I've read the first three of Boyd Morrison's, Tyler Locke series, and have to say this might be the best so far, I did enjoy "The Ark". At this time there's only one left, as Morrison seems to have forsaken the Locke series to collaborate with Clive Cussler on his Oregon Files Series. If you like this kind of formula thriller with plenty of action, but not much substance, You'll probably like this book. For me, I can only stomach about one every 20 books or so.
February 6, 2020
I was looking for a fun story, and the premise caught my eye. A 10 year old girl witnesses the crash of an UFO at Roswell in 1947. 65 years later, two relics from that crash she has kept now have gunmen showing up at her home to take them from her. At least 3 different forces are attempting to use those relics for a possible weapon that could set back a civilization more than 100 years. The action fired up early, and bounced around the globe at high speed through the end. I am sure that my rating is higher because of my proximity to where it reaches its climax, but still 3.5 stars for the fun I had reading it.
November 27, 2020
Tyler and Grant are led all over Australia and the South Pacific in a race with rogue Russian agents searching for an extraterrestrial mineral that can be used as a deadly power source.
Footnote: 1) That dust is a cool idea.
Fave scenes: Fay meeting the alien, Kessler in the vault, the Nazca lock and Jess getting rid of the Killswitch.
Footnote: 1) That dust is a cool idea.
Fave scenes: Fay meeting the alien, Kessler in the vault, the Nazca lock and Jess getting rid of the Killswitch.
May 6, 2017
This was an interesting take on the events at Roswell, made even better by having Tyler Locke and Grant involved. I enjoyed the story and the characters and the history involved. I look forward to more adventures!
November 6, 2017
WOW For The Roswell Conspiracy
As usual, I could not put the book down. I love this author's work. Loch Ness, you are next!!! Boyd thank you for such great reads. I look forward to future works.
As usual, I could not put the book down. I love this author's work. Loch Ness, you are next!!! Boyd thank you for such great reads. I look forward to future works.
November 8, 2017
Aliens, international conspiracies, could it happen?
Exciting read page after page. The Roswell Conspiracy is always interesting to read about and this will not disappoint. Well researched by the author.
Exciting read page after page. The Roswell Conspiracy is always interesting to read about and this will not disappoint. Well researched by the author.
December 21, 2017
it starts off kind of wonky, disjointed even and then coalesces into a decent story. I was expecting so much more but this one was mediocre. It had so much potential but felt like a dry read, still it Fay was reason enough to keep reading!
June 10, 2019
I have read several of Locke books and found the stories engaging and interesting characters. I like the interplay between Grant and Tyler each knowing the others faults, getting the one another into trouble and getting out of it.
Fun book!
Fun book!
January 29, 2020
I read this book a while back unaware that it was the third in a series. This didn’t spoil my enjoyment. A fast-paced adventure-thriller wrapped around the old Roswell story of the alleged 1947 UFO in such a clever way. I feel I ought to try numbers 1 and 2 now!
February 20, 2020
Roswell Conspiracy captivating
A great story, although at times the detail of the action seemed to confuse the direction. As the story unfolded, the interaction of these portions of the story made more sense. A surprise ending capped it off well. A good read.
A great story, although at times the detail of the action seemed to confuse the direction. As the story unfolded, the interaction of these portions of the story made more sense. A surprise ending capped it off well. A good read.
June 16, 2022
I must confess I’m really enjoying the Tyler Locke series so far. The heroes are likeable and the plots although somewhat fantastical in places are never so unbelievable that they could be denied as being possible.
I hope the rest of the series are as good and I look forward to giving them a try.
I hope the rest of the series are as good and I look forward to giving them a try.
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