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Pilgrimage
alternate cover edition for ASIN B00CF7IGDO
Dr. Shipmate thought he knew the answer - all of the answers.
He was a scientist after all. If he could see, touch, measure or calculate it, it existed. If not, it was all hokum.
And yet, despite an esteemed career in academia and a TV show debunking all of the hokum the "man on the street" believed in, he still couldn't answer the big question - what made him who he is?
Finally, over one long weekend with his brilliant and beautiful physicist daughter at his side, Dr. Jonathan Shipmate's investigation into an alien abduction in the heart of UFO-mania, New Mexico, delivers the answer he sought - it's just not the one he wanted.
They are here. They are taking us.
You better pray you're not next.
Dr. Shipmate thought he knew the answer - all of the answers.
He was a scientist after all. If he could see, touch, measure or calculate it, it existed. If not, it was all hokum.
And yet, despite an esteemed career in academia and a TV show debunking all of the hokum the "man on the street" believed in, he still couldn't answer the big question - what made him who he is?
Finally, over one long weekend with his brilliant and beautiful physicist daughter at his side, Dr. Jonathan Shipmate's investigation into an alien abduction in the heart of UFO-mania, New Mexico, delivers the answer he sought - it's just not the one he wanted.
They are here. They are taking us.
You better pray you're not next.
Kindle Edition
First published May 13, 2013
3 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
Steven Orlowski
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 31, 2013
I really enjoyed this read, I am not into science fiction or paranormal genre's, but Orlowski does a great job of storytelling that makes the book entertaining, if you are a mystery/thriller fan. Specifically his character development process- very methodically and dynamic.
March 27, 2014
Wow! I don't usually read alien abduction novels, but this one was really good. There are four disparate groups, and they all unite throughout the book as they seek one common objective -- to get to the bottom of a mysterious location in New Mexico where theories of alien sightings abound.
The characters were multi-layered and perfect for the story. Let me explain why. You have a priest, who is devoted to God, and this type of story makes him question his beliefs, and ours as well. You have a famous television personality, a trained scientist himself, who has staked his career on debunking the existence of aliens (as well as his adult daughter, who has a fascinating family relationship with him, striving to make her flawed father more human). Then you have this insouciant drifter, with a fantastic fictional name, Johnny Riverbank, who likes better nothing than to smoke weed and hit the bars, and has nothing to lose by confronting the harsh reality of alien interference. The interplay between the characters was deftly handled by the author through the format of mixing up chapters, each showing the perspective of the disparate characters. The chapters were purposely short, allowing the readers to impatiently await the insight of the other characters, in turn, as they all inched closer and closer to the resolution of the mystery. In short, I just had to keep turning the pages, and I don't usually get that feeling in a book unless it's as good as this.
Two things I really disliked about the book, but these can be eliminated by a good round of editing, so I'll definitely keep the top ranking. The most serious one is all the swearing in the book. I actually did a word search of one swear word and found ninety instances of it throughout the book. I acknowledge people do use that swear word, but it was way overdone. Secondly, there were a lot of lazy grammar errors, especially anything that had a possessive, like it's. I even found one 'they're' where it should be 'their'. I implore the author, please fix these up so that your book can be perfect.
The story itself is very well done. I really liked the angle of having major characters impaired by substance abuse (one smokes weed, the other is an alcoholic) so that we're intrigued, in the light of alien presence, if it's reality or just all imagined by these characters, plus skepticism by their accomplices.
The characters were multi-layered and perfect for the story. Let me explain why. You have a priest, who is devoted to God, and this type of story makes him question his beliefs, and ours as well. You have a famous television personality, a trained scientist himself, who has staked his career on debunking the existence of aliens (as well as his adult daughter, who has a fascinating family relationship with him, striving to make her flawed father more human). Then you have this insouciant drifter, with a fantastic fictional name, Johnny Riverbank, who likes better nothing than to smoke weed and hit the bars, and has nothing to lose by confronting the harsh reality of alien interference. The interplay between the characters was deftly handled by the author through the format of mixing up chapters, each showing the perspective of the disparate characters. The chapters were purposely short, allowing the readers to impatiently await the insight of the other characters, in turn, as they all inched closer and closer to the resolution of the mystery. In short, I just had to keep turning the pages, and I don't usually get that feeling in a book unless it's as good as this.
Two things I really disliked about the book, but these can be eliminated by a good round of editing, so I'll definitely keep the top ranking. The most serious one is all the swearing in the book. I actually did a word search of one swear word and found ninety instances of it throughout the book. I acknowledge people do use that swear word, but it was way overdone. Secondly, there were a lot of lazy grammar errors, especially anything that had a possessive, like it's. I even found one 'they're' where it should be 'their'. I implore the author, please fix these up so that your book can be perfect.
The story itself is very well done. I really liked the angle of having major characters impaired by substance abuse (one smokes weed, the other is an alcoholic) so that we're intrigued, in the light of alien presence, if it's reality or just all imagined by these characters, plus skepticism by their accomplices.
December 7, 2014
Was I really just bushwhacked by an interesting story? Yes! I try to never make my mind up about a book before I read it, but this one I had pegged as goony before I opened it. Alien abductions... It's not really a realm I venture for satisfaction. I love a good abduction, especially from an alien race, but books written around the subject sometimes put me to sleep. Pilgrimage is a delectable fast paced character smorgasbord, that ambushed me in a good way.
There are two questions that drove the pace of this book for me:
What was going to happen next?
What was going to happen to each character?
It was a book that one can put down, change some diapers, cook dinner, do some homework, and pick up again, without any regrets of wasted time. Every time that I came back to Orlowski's work, it actually swallowed more time than I could have imagined, and once, I forgot my broken dryer was on for two and half hours! No designer clothes were ruined in the process.
Orlowski provided a network of interesting characters that can only be suitably described as a smorgasbord, a buffet that gave me a bit of everything, a priest, an alcoholic, a dude, and throw in a wanting relationship and it a fantastic recipe. I think that not all his character creations were sound, as some things the alcoholic did as his routine, were unimaginable for me, but he was one of my favorites regardless.
The skill came in the form of design, as Orlowski took his characters on a ride that I just couldn't let go. Now that I am finished, I share a lot of the same thoughts as the characters in the book. All in all, Pilgrimage was fun, fast, and fluid fiction—which is a lot of F-words. *Wink*
Please don't judge this book before you pull it up on your tablet! Give it a shot.
There are two questions that drove the pace of this book for me:
What was going to happen next?
What was going to happen to each character?
It was a book that one can put down, change some diapers, cook dinner, do some homework, and pick up again, without any regrets of wasted time. Every time that I came back to Orlowski's work, it actually swallowed more time than I could have imagined, and once, I forgot my broken dryer was on for two and half hours! No designer clothes were ruined in the process.
Orlowski provided a network of interesting characters that can only be suitably described as a smorgasbord, a buffet that gave me a bit of everything, a priest, an alcoholic, a dude, and throw in a wanting relationship and it a fantastic recipe. I think that not all his character creations were sound, as some things the alcoholic did as his routine, were unimaginable for me, but he was one of my favorites regardless.
The skill came in the form of design, as Orlowski took his characters on a ride that I just couldn't let go. Now that I am finished, I share a lot of the same thoughts as the characters in the book. All in all, Pilgrimage was fun, fast, and fluid fiction—which is a lot of F-words. *Wink*
Please don't judge this book before you pull it up on your tablet! Give it a shot.
March 3, 2016
The premise of alien abduction was promising, but this book failed somewhat to deliver the satisfaction and fulfilment I was hoping for. A lot of my disappointment, I think, came from the severe lack of editing that was prolific throughout the whole book—lots of missing commas, punctuation, apostrophes and words, and the lazy misuse of the old bugaboos such as it’s and its, you’re and your, etc, which is my personal biggest pet peeve. Maybe this was only evident in the Kindle version I downloaded, but it certainly took away from my enjoyment of the story.
I also found it difficult to connect with many of the characters. They seemed rather flat and one-dimensional and their interpersonal relationships, even the one between father and daughter, felt awkward and painful. Dr. Jonathan Shipmate was not a nice man for the most part with his rigid narrow-mindedness and tendency to mock and ridicule in a mean way. I don’t think I’m a prude, but the overuse of the f-word made me cringe at times. It was way over-the-top, in my opinion.
It certainly wasn’t all bad. There were definitely some entertaining and thought-provoking moments, which made this a three-star read instead of a two-star read for me.
I also found it difficult to connect with many of the characters. They seemed rather flat and one-dimensional and their interpersonal relationships, even the one between father and daughter, felt awkward and painful. Dr. Jonathan Shipmate was not a nice man for the most part with his rigid narrow-mindedness and tendency to mock and ridicule in a mean way. I don’t think I’m a prude, but the overuse of the f-word made me cringe at times. It was way over-the-top, in my opinion.
It certainly wasn’t all bad. There were definitely some entertaining and thought-provoking moments, which made this a three-star read instead of a two-star read for me.
June 20, 2014
A book with lofty goals I hoped would sweep me away, but falls horribly short. Interpersonal relationships are awful, and as the pages pass all the characters stay horrifically flat-- the author gives them no room to grow (or grow on you); their interactions are unbearably repetitive, and with zero interest in any of them or reason to care about their plight, one can only hold on so long. The scene-setting does its best to be grand but turns out to be long-winded drivel. Too, too bad.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews