What do you think?
Rate this book
Alien Summer
When down and out Jim Cherry wakes up in an alley in New York in the summer of '98, little does he know that the future of the world may well fall on his shoulders.
Finding a free health check leaflet in his pocket, he heads off for a consultation with Consultant Surgeon Louis Dourner who diagnoses him with terminal cancer. Is this the end?
Apparently not. Dourner offers Jim a lifeline. If he signs up with Section 16 of the US Army Medical Corps his cancer will be cured ...
But who is Doctor Louis Dourner and exactly what is the purpose of Section 16?
Stripped of his whiskey and cigarettes, sixty-two-year-old Jim saddles up with a doomed desert reconnaissance mission to find out.
First review on Amazon:
Wow !!!! This is a very intense read. Jim The main character asks himself : " When had he fallen asleep....when had he died....when had he slipped into coma....when had he gone insane ?" Or had he ? I was totally absorbed in the story This is a must for all Science Fiction readers.
Finding a free health check leaflet in his pocket, he heads off for a consultation with Consultant Surgeon Louis Dourner who diagnoses him with terminal cancer. Is this the end?
Apparently not. Dourner offers Jim a lifeline. If he signs up with Section 16 of the US Army Medical Corps his cancer will be cured ...
But who is Doctor Louis Dourner and exactly what is the purpose of Section 16?
Stripped of his whiskey and cigarettes, sixty-two-year-old Jim saddles up with a doomed desert reconnaissance mission to find out.
First review on Amazon:
Wow !!!! This is a very intense read. Jim The main character asks himself : " When had he fallen asleep....when had he died....when had he slipped into coma....when had he gone insane ?" Or had he ? I was totally absorbed in the story This is a must for all Science Fiction readers.
271 pages, Paperback
Published August 8, 2016
6 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 3, 2016
I'll be frank. I had no idea what this book was about when I picked it up. Now that I've read it, I am at a loss to explain what I just witnessed. As the title suggests, there were aliens, but I can't describe them. They were fleetingly vague. Men were transformed from elderly, fragile beings into biomechanical warriors. Drainpipes metamorphosed into formidable weapons that fired purple bolts of destruction. There were foxholes in the desert, and not far away was a lonely diner without customers. I would be remiss not to mention my new favorite anti-hero, the amiable and exceedingly likeable Jim Cherry. As a matter of fact, Mr. Cherry and I experienced this adventure together. Neither of us were certain whether we were imagining things or if they were real, but we had one hell of a ride! Follow our footsteps into the desert and find your own mirage. Mr. Cherry and I will see you in San Diego.
December 3, 2016
This book is from a genre I am not normally used to so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. The word I have come up with to sum up this book from the start is different. Definitely different.
The story is based around Jim Cherry, an old, 'dying', homeless man with no family; given another chance at life , another 30 years of life, under dodgy 'need to know' circumstances. It features a sinister,sadistic, two sided psychopath magic 'Doctor' controlling the fate of Jim and his comrades, leading them into the unknown, with little to no information of their mission, other than to kill the enemy, whoever or whatever that may be. Some other peculiar characters and you are pulled in and out of flashbacks or dreams, before switching back to the main story, which keeps you thinking and wondering how it all ties together and what it all means.
The author allows you to follow Jim and the many painful toils he has to endure and I could only feel sorrow and complete empathy for poor old Jim and found myself willing him
on to survive throughout the book.
A few unexpected surprises thrown in for good measure and an open ending allowing for a potential second book. This had me hoping for at least one more chapter!
Alien Summer......it certainly was! 4 stars! ****
A great read for any Science Fiction or even Mystery/Suspense fans.
The story is based around Jim Cherry, an old, 'dying', homeless man with no family; given another chance at life , another 30 years of life, under dodgy 'need to know' circumstances. It features a sinister,sadistic, two sided psychopath magic 'Doctor' controlling the fate of Jim and his comrades, leading them into the unknown, with little to no information of their mission, other than to kill the enemy, whoever or whatever that may be. Some other peculiar characters and you are pulled in and out of flashbacks or dreams, before switching back to the main story, which keeps you thinking and wondering how it all ties together and what it all means.
The author allows you to follow Jim and the many painful toils he has to endure and I could only feel sorrow and complete empathy for poor old Jim and found myself willing him
on to survive throughout the book.
A few unexpected surprises thrown in for good measure and an open ending allowing for a potential second book. This had me hoping for at least one more chapter!
Alien Summer......it certainly was! 4 stars! ****
A great read for any Science Fiction or even Mystery/Suspense fans.
August 31, 2016
Only once in a while do you read something that makes you question your own mental health... did I really just read that? Am I sure I should be feeling like this after that? Dhalgren and The Quantity Theory of Insanity did it to me and, for some reason best left unexplored, so did watching the recent remake of I Spit on Your Grave. Alien Summer by Robert Bayley did it to me too... I was reading sections - particularly those in the desert - and started to confuse myself with what was real and what wasn't, how had I as the reader, and Jim as the protagonist, got here? Putting the book down was a little like waking after a long nights sleep after taking Night Nurse and while wearing your most comfortable and warm poorly jumper; a huge relief! Though a relief tinged with confusion.
As a writer, he's just getting better and better and the story just flows beautifully with any lapses being perfectly in keeping with the overall story. Sometimes slightly purple in language but not overly and the bits where Jim was falling in and out of memories were tantalising: we see him as a down-and-out but there is a whole history there that we're given glimpses of - we see so much more than a snapshot of a person.
As a writer, he's just getting better and better and the story just flows beautifully with any lapses being perfectly in keeping with the overall story. Sometimes slightly purple in language but not overly and the bits where Jim was falling in and out of memories were tantalising: we see him as a down-and-out but there is a whole history there that we're given glimpses of - we see so much more than a snapshot of a person.
September 7, 2016
I had no idea what I was getting into when I picked this up but it was a crazy ride. For a while I was concerned that my reading comprehension skills had drastically deteriorated. Once I determined for sure that I was not crazy and it was the story that was insane I felt much better about myself and the book.
I enjoyed how I was not just told about Jim Cherry's confusion, doubts and excitement. I lived it right along with him. Sometimes I had to put the book down to think about what I had just read and others I couldn't put it down.
Not my normal type of read but it was a very interesting change of pace for sure.
I enjoyed how I was not just told about Jim Cherry's confusion, doubts and excitement. I lived it right along with him. Sometimes I had to put the book down to think about what I had just read and others I couldn't put it down.
Not my normal type of read but it was a very interesting change of pace for sure.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews