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Operation Snowflake
An isolated community faces a terrible threat, but they won’t face it alone.
When a remote village is visited by U.F.Os, a fractious team of experts is sent to investigate. Alice Linwood soon learns that the lights in the sky had a terrible effect on one young witness and vows to protect her and those she might hurt. Fighting her own insecurities, Linwood’s mission becomes simple: Capture an alien and protect the village—all whilst convincing her team she’s the right woman for the job.
Operation Snowflake is a prequel novella to the Tombs series. If you miss Torchwood or the X-Files, you're going to love a science-fiction series that you won't be able to put down.
Buy Operation Snowflake and learn about the mission that damned us all.
When a remote village is visited by U.F.Os, a fractious team of experts is sent to investigate. Alice Linwood soon learns that the lights in the sky had a terrible effect on one young witness and vows to protect her and those she might hurt. Fighting her own insecurities, Linwood’s mission becomes simple: Capture an alien and protect the village—all whilst convincing her team she’s the right woman for the job.
Operation Snowflake is a prequel novella to the Tombs series. If you miss Torchwood or the X-Files, you're going to love a science-fiction series that you won't be able to put down.
Buy Operation Snowflake and learn about the mission that damned us all.
103 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 3, 2017
31 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Robert Scott-Norton
21 books23 followersRobert Scott-Norton writes to thrill, entertain, and keep people reading until the last page. Raised in Southport, he’s lived there most of his life and has concluded that this ordinary seaside town is the perfect setting for all the horrors he can throw at it.
www.robertscottnorton.net
www.robertscottnorton.net
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 15, 2017
Scott-Norton focuses on character and ambiguous evidence rather than the overtly inexplicable, to create a UFO thriller that leaves the reader uncertain of how things will unfold even after they’ve settled on a view of what probably happened.
MI18 was created by Winston Churchill to investigate reports of odd lights in the sky; lights that, for decades, have turned out to be the aircraft, quirks of weather, and over-active imaginations the founders assumed they would be. Tucked away in a bunker, far from Whitehall, the organisation is losing relevance and funding. However, when an routine investigation of lights over a coastal village in Northern England uncovers a young girl who displays a radical, almost inhuman, change of personality, Alice Linwood – newly appointed head of the team – starts to believe this is the real thing.
While this novella is a prequel to The Face Stealer, Scott-Norton creates a complete arc rather than merely using it as a vehicle to explain events. Norton also focuses on character and the how of overcoming obstacles rather than the final outcome. As such, this book will provide a tense yet satisfying read both to those familiar with the Tombs series and those who are not.
Where the book does perhaps display its status as a prequel is in the volume of explanation. Although characters do not explain things to other characters that they already know, so the information does not feel forced, the start of the book might feel a little like narrating a premise rather than engaging with an event to some readers. However, this passes quickly once the investigation plot starts.
Opening with Alice discovering she has replaced her colleague Thaddeus as head of MI18, and then almost immediately placing the two of them together to investigate a phenomenon, Scott-Norton firmly establishes a thread of power vs authority from the beginning. This is amplified by MI18 having sweeping powers but because they are a secret organisation not being able to wield them except as a final resort.
This conflict between Alice being in charge and others listening is complemented by Scott-Norton’s portrayal of villagers who consider both the presence of aliens and the idea a young girl could be the danger rather than the victim as vaguely ridiculous.
Maintaining the pressure, Scott-Norton adds the likelihood that MI18 will lose funding without a significant validation of its purpose, forcing Alice to balance following her gut even if it means using her authority as a club against her responsibility to keep the organisation covert.
Alice herself is a well-written character who fits the conspiracy-thriller tone. She displays a plausible mix of open-mindedness and assumptions, which – tainted by both self-doubt about her ability to do the job and determination to get it done – result in equal measures of caution and bravura; each of which are sometimes the right approach and sometimes less so.
Seen through Alice’s eyes, the supporting cast display a realistic range of behaviours, united by an underlying tone of conspiracy and paranoia. This is especially evident in Thaddeus, who appears less sociable but just as competent as Alice, leaving the reader to decide when he is challenging her authority and when he is merely naturally brusque.
The evidence of alien presence is similarly balanced: as the reader follows Alice they see why she believes; however, with much of the things that convince her happening when she is alone or with only a few people, the supporting cast seem rational in not seeing more than a young girl scared by perfectly explicable events.
Overall, I enjoyed this novella. I recommend it to readers looking for a thriller with tinges of UFO conspiracy.
I received a free copy from the author with a request for a fair review.
MI18 was created by Winston Churchill to investigate reports of odd lights in the sky; lights that, for decades, have turned out to be the aircraft, quirks of weather, and over-active imaginations the founders assumed they would be. Tucked away in a bunker, far from Whitehall, the organisation is losing relevance and funding. However, when an routine investigation of lights over a coastal village in Northern England uncovers a young girl who displays a radical, almost inhuman, change of personality, Alice Linwood – newly appointed head of the team – starts to believe this is the real thing.
While this novella is a prequel to The Face Stealer, Scott-Norton creates a complete arc rather than merely using it as a vehicle to explain events. Norton also focuses on character and the how of overcoming obstacles rather than the final outcome. As such, this book will provide a tense yet satisfying read both to those familiar with the Tombs series and those who are not.
Where the book does perhaps display its status as a prequel is in the volume of explanation. Although characters do not explain things to other characters that they already know, so the information does not feel forced, the start of the book might feel a little like narrating a premise rather than engaging with an event to some readers. However, this passes quickly once the investigation plot starts.
Opening with Alice discovering she has replaced her colleague Thaddeus as head of MI18, and then almost immediately placing the two of them together to investigate a phenomenon, Scott-Norton firmly establishes a thread of power vs authority from the beginning. This is amplified by MI18 having sweeping powers but because they are a secret organisation not being able to wield them except as a final resort.
This conflict between Alice being in charge and others listening is complemented by Scott-Norton’s portrayal of villagers who consider both the presence of aliens and the idea a young girl could be the danger rather than the victim as vaguely ridiculous.
Maintaining the pressure, Scott-Norton adds the likelihood that MI18 will lose funding without a significant validation of its purpose, forcing Alice to balance following her gut even if it means using her authority as a club against her responsibility to keep the organisation covert.
Alice herself is a well-written character who fits the conspiracy-thriller tone. She displays a plausible mix of open-mindedness and assumptions, which – tainted by both self-doubt about her ability to do the job and determination to get it done – result in equal measures of caution and bravura; each of which are sometimes the right approach and sometimes less so.
Seen through Alice’s eyes, the supporting cast display a realistic range of behaviours, united by an underlying tone of conspiracy and paranoia. This is especially evident in Thaddeus, who appears less sociable but just as competent as Alice, leaving the reader to decide when he is challenging her authority and when he is merely naturally brusque.
The evidence of alien presence is similarly balanced: as the reader follows Alice they see why she believes; however, with much of the things that convince her happening when she is alone or with only a few people, the supporting cast seem rational in not seeing more than a young girl scared by perfectly explicable events.
Overall, I enjoyed this novella. I recommend it to readers looking for a thriller with tinges of UFO conspiracy.
I received a free copy from the author with a request for a fair review.
September 7, 2018
Intriguing X-Files/Torchwood type novella, prequel to a series. Newly-appointed Director of MI 18 (it exists as a non-used code for a branch of MI, set up by Churchill to monitor/coordinate UFO sightings) Alice Linwood tackles her first field case - UFO sightings off the Isle of Arran in October 1984. Not a very hospitable site (snow and an isolated and close-knit small community) what she and her colleague Thadeus Dominic will, it seems have a massive impact on the world.
In itself this is a straightforward read but has implications that are far-reaching (in the sequel books). Well worth reading alone, however (not too many prequels can fit that description) with a satisfactory pause in the action setting up for the next books.
In itself this is a straightforward read but has implications that are far-reaching (in the sequel books). Well worth reading alone, however (not too many prequels can fit that description) with a satisfactory pause in the action setting up for the next books.
October 18, 2017
Excellent start
This is a prequel so it was quite short but certainly hooked me. Following along the lines of X-Files I find this fascinating and look forward to discovering what happens next!
This is a prequel so it was quite short but certainly hooked me. Following along the lines of X-Files I find this fascinating and look forward to discovering what happens next!
October 24, 2017
Quick read, more like a short story. But entertaining. And that is why I read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews