The Void Protocol

The ICE Sequence #3

by F. Paul Wilson

F. Paul Wilson concludes his medical thriller trilogy featuring Rick Hayden and Laura Fanning as they confront the entities responsible for the supernatural events of Panacea and The God Gene.

F. Paul Wilson is the winner of the Career Achievement in Thriller Fiction in the 2017 RT Reviewers' Choice Best Book Awards

Something sits in a bunker lab buried fifty feet below the grounds of Lakehurst Naval Air Station.

The product of the Lange-T�r technology confiscated from the Germans after WWII occupies a chamber of steel-reinforced ballistic glass. Despite experimentation for nearly three-quarters of a century, no one knows what it is, but illegal human research reveals what it can do. Humans with special abilities have been secretly collected--abilities that can only have come from whatever occupies the underground bunker in Lakehurst.

And so it sits, sequestered on the edge of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, slowly changing the world.

Genres: Science Fiction, Thriller, Fiction, Audiobook, Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 8, 2019

About the author

Francis Paul Wilson is an author, born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He writes novels and short stories primarily in the science fiction and horror genres. His debut novel was Healer (1976). Wilson is also a part-time practicing family physician. He made his first sales in 1970 to Analog and continued to write science fiction throughout the seventies. In 1981 he ventured into the horror genre with the international bestseller, The Keep, and helped define the field throughout the rest of the decade. In the 1990s he became a true genre hopper, moving from science fiction to horror to medical thrillers and branching into interactive scripting for Disney Interactive and other multimedia companies. He, along with Matthew J. Costello, created and scripted FTL Newsfeed which ran daily on the Sci-Fi Channel from 1992-1996.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/fpaulw...

Reviews

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Void Protocol is the final book in the ICE trilogy. In this last book, Rick and Laura are working together to find people who have begun to exhibit extraordinary abilities. Their boss wants to pay them while he studies them. Rick and Laura begin to realize that the phenomena has closer ties to Rick's past than they ever knew.

I loved this final book. It was a really cool story. I don't want to give anything away because there are some surprises, especially regarding Rick. I think you could read this as a stand alone, but the first two books will give you better context into Rick and his ICE theory. One of the things that I also enjoyed about this series is that no character is safe. I love that unpredictable aspect of the plot lines. I have really enjoyed the adventures in this trilogy. I wish there was going to be one more book. The characters and story lines have been a lot of fun. I really loved the relationship between Rick and Laura. I'll miss reading about them in the future. I highly recommend this trilogy.

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third and final book in the ICE trilogy was another good one. I really enjoy F. Paul Wilson’s work so I do recognize that I might be predisposed to like whatever he produces. In this one, the two main protagonists, Rick Hayden and Dr. Laura Fanning get pulled once again in to billionaire Clayton Stahlman’s orbit. He’s gotten involved with some extraordinary young people who seem capable of what can only be described as superpowers. One of them can levitate, one can turn invisible, one can teleport, etc. Just how they got these abilities is the mystery to be solved and Stahlman knows he can count on Erick and Laura to get to the bottom of it.

This trilogy is part of F. Paul Wilson’s “Secret History of the World” novels and short stories which include all of the Repairman Jack novels, the Adversary Cycle novels, and most of his stand-alone novels as well. So it’s no surprise to see the supernatural elements of this trilogy on full display, and see how they relate to that much larger body of work. It is important to point out that it is by no means necessary to have read all those other books to enjoy this ICE trilogy; they can be fully enjoyed even if these are the first books ever read from this author. But since I have read most of those others, I feel like I am well versed in the “Otherness” of them and so feel a tingle every now and then as I read through these, seeing little glimpses of the larger picture.

While this book does seem to conclude the set, I can easily see more books with these characters being written. I would certainly be onboard for that.

[David Agranoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the record, F.Paul Wilson is one of my favorite living authors. Every time a new book comes out I read as fast as I can. This book is the third in a trilogy but let's face it is more than that. The three books of the Ice Sequence stands alone as a trilogy but if you are interested in Wilson's Secret History universe it connects in small but interesting ways. Wilson has his own Marvel has the MCU and Wilson has the secret history. It spans almost thirty books and short stories starting in his novels Black Wind and The Keep (on my top ten horror novels of all time list) and ends in the novel Night World. That one book is the sixth novel of one series (Adversary Cycle) and fifteenth of another (Repairman Jack). I read the whole secret history as it was in 2012, and it is one of my all-time favorite reading experiences. It is the most insanely interweaving book constructed in fiction that I have ever seen. Equal to or even surpassing King Dark Tower when you talk about a single author interweaving most of their work.

I love the Secret History and consider Harbingers (Book 11 of Repairman Jack) to be one of the best twists I have ever read. So Let me be super clear I always root for and promote Dr. Wilson's work. That being said I only kinda sorta liked this book. The story took a turn that didn't exactly work for me.

This trilogy introduced new characters in Laura Fanning and Rick Hayden. Two characters I liked and was fine seeing again. These characters were excellent in the two previous books. Rick is your stereotypical ex-CIA hero type and Laura a Scientist. Sure they are tropes but Wilson always writes these characters with a little tongue in cheek self-awareness. One of the problems with this book for me is that due to the concept they get a little buried in the background and lost.

The concept of these books is that Rick and Laura keep getting drawn into this scientific themed adventures connected to these "Intrusive Cosmic Entities." So what we are seeing is a different window into the moments leading to the cosmic horror at the end of FPW's other two series. While Jack was uncovering the truth, Rick and Laura were also finding clues. They had no idea the world was months from ending.

In this case, they uncover an experiment where the ICE creature's weird DNA was used basically to create a team of X-men like superheroes. I gotta say I didn't like this concept getting introduced to the greater Secret history. IT was OK for this trilogy as an idea but not for the greater universe. It just didn't fit in my mind.

To make matters worse there were just too many characters. Wilson writes with a restrained no-nonsense lack of fluff but with this man characters, it left little room to develop them all. His books always clock in a perfect 330 pages or close to it. I wanted to love this but I just wasn't feeling this one. I mean I liked it, I read it fast and overall I enjoyed the heck out of it. Enjoyment is one thing but I didn't LOVE it as I do most F.Paul Wilson books.

It was still a 3/5 star book for me but in all the books FPW has written it is rare I don't feel 5/5 every time. It is a testament to the high bar he has set over a long and storied career.

[Mike Kazmierczak · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's definitely something to be said about binge reading a series or trilogy. It helps to remember all those small things that connect the books in the series. Plus, it makes for a grander finale when it occurs. Rather than building up for just one book, the finale covers elements from all the books in the trilogy. Characters also get that much more time to develop and change. Unfortunately, too many authors that I read and follow are doing trilogies or shared worlds that I would trap myself to be reading three, maybe four different authors in a year if I tried to do this regularly. Hell, I have six or seven Hap and Leonard books on my to be read pile so I would get "stuck" reading Joe R. Lansdale for a while. (There are way worse fates than that though.) But I am digressing big time. THE VOID PROTOCOL.

The story continues to follow Rick and Laura and their adventures into the strange and unknown. This time rather than traveling the globe, the adventure is in their own backyard. Clayton Stahlman is collecting people who have been touched with various strange powers. As they protect and investigate the people, Rick and Laura discover the source of the powers: an ICE, Intrusive Cosmic Entity. Even though by the end of the book, everything is tied up nicely, the metaphorical door is still there and able to be opened for more adventures.

There was a lot that I really liked about this book. First off, it didn't follow the same rhythm or pattern of the previous books in the trilogy. While there were clues to follow along with a mystery, our intrepid heroes seemed to be more along for the ride than the ones controlling the direction. This made for a nice break during my binge through the trilogy. And I don't remember whether it was THE GOD GENE or THE VOID PROTOCOL but the words Secret History were used by the characters; I geeked out a bit at having the story firmly implanted within Repairman Jack's world. I was a little sad that this was the end, but I was more excited about what the future could hold. It would be super easy for Wilson to bring Rick and Laura further into Repairman Jack's world and start providing a different explanation for what happened in NIGHTWORLD. With the limited experiences he has had, Rick's view of a Cosmic Entity making a change and then watching for the results over years would be an alternate version of the battle between the Otherness and the Ally. Imagine Rick and Laura running into the Lady and her dog. Imagine if "Mother Earth" had to recruit Rick and Laura for a side job that needed to be completed in order to help Repairman Jack complete his primary job of confronting The Adversary. Imagine we see and experience the world after NIGHTWORLD but instead of seeing it through Jack's eyes, we see it through Rick and Laura. Or Wilson can keep it simpler and just give us another trilogy with only minor hooks to the Secret History. Any of those options sound great to me and I would join in the adventure.

[Dan Banana · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like this series...this is part of it. If you can get through the over the top scenarios and embrace your fun loving self you'll enjoy. Characters are the things here, relatable and enjoyable. Another Indiana Jones style love story with twists and action and kind of dorky.

[Jeff Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third entry into the series is really started to grow on me as more than a not-repairman-jack.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great FPW trilogy, so worth reading. Fast paced and quite deep where you don't quite expect it.

[Nan Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Void Protocol is the third (and last) in a sci-fi series by F. Paul Wilson. The ending was the least satisfying of those in the trilogy for me. It was also the most unsettling (or terrifying) because of the government agencies implicated and because there didn’t seem to be any basis in world history for its premise.

Normally I don’t read sci-fi, but got hooked with the first in the series “Panacea.” Wilson is a master story teller who makes the story about his characters rather than have the characters incidental to the anomaly in the plot. His characters are richly drawn and well developed apart from the mystery rather than becoming a part of the mystery. With the previous two books in the series, he brought in some very interesting world history which led me to do further research – always a winner for me.

I would encourage anyone interested in this genre to read this trilogy, but from the beginning. It’s very readable and very enjoyable.

[Linda Branham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have really enjoyed the series . In this last book strange occurrences are happening that appear to be related to expanding human supernormal abilities - where does it come from? what is melis? We learn about secret human experiments by a covert government group... and what is behind it
The characters are well developed and likable
I wish there were more books in the series

[Stacy Krueger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

I love this book. It’s a great wrap up for the trilogy and the Easter eggs related to FPW’s other work made my day. I definitely recommend this novel, but it will be better (but not necessary) if you read the first two before this one.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top notch trilogy. Writing and narrating. Highly recommend.

[Yolanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and exciting except for the way the Anomaly zinged around like the green slime in Ghost Busters!

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

First 200 pages 4 stars, last 130 pages 2 stars.

[Christian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skimmed the last third.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

F. Paul Wilson’s The Void Protocol (The ICE Sequence (3)) picks up with Laura and Rick once again on the outs after his revelation at the end of the previous book. This time, the new bizarre topic is people-with-powers. Sure, they’re pretty minor powers. But one can levitate (less than two feet), one can make things (permanently) disappear from his hand (if he can close his hand over it), two are minor telekinetics who can move things on the order of a pool ball, one can sense other people with gifts, one can go invisible, and one can teleport (although without any clothes, jewelry, and–get this–makeup that she might be wearing). There’s also one who doesn’t seem to have any gift at all, even though Marie (the one who can sense others with gifts) insists she has one. In parallel we get glimpses into an old government black program (starting in 1984) created to study a strange material that doesn’t behave like anything natural (it pours, yet registers as having no weight, for example). The scientist who gets the furthest with it dubs it “melis,” as an anagram for “slime.”

I’m surprised that it took as long as it did to determine what Iggy’s power was. It seemed obvious to this reader from the first time we saw it work, and while I can see why it would take some repetition for other characters to get the idea, the lack of clue was carried too far. We also have yet another secret society that permanently marks its people (branding this time instead of tattoos, which would set off even more alarms if anyone notices).

Laura still tends to annoy me a bit. She’s peeved at Rick for being standoffish when they’re brought together again, but she’s the one who ghosted him. She runs hot and cold on him so often it’s a wonder he doesn’t have whiplash. I’m also annoyed that every time we’re introduced or reintroduced to Ruth (the girl who teleports), we’re reminded explicitly that she’s chubby, like that’s her defining characteristic.

At one point one of the folks with powers tries to kill Rick just for angering him, and Rick… doesn’t tell anyone? Doesn’t think to point out to Stahlman that the person is dangerous? Continues to let him hang out around all the good guys? There’s another girl who “reads” objects and people by touching them, and she’s brought in just long enough to give them a clue and then is never seen again. When trying to see if Ruth can take an item with her if, say, it’s under her skin, no one ever thinks to ask her whether, say, she’s had any dental fillings, and if so, whether they stayed with her. Also, there’s a touch of the “Bury Your Gays” trope in here.

There are story choices I didn’t entirely like in the previous two books–things like the general depiction of Laura, the secret societies that always tag their people in obvious ways, etc. In this volume, however, there are things that seem like actual plot holes or inconsistencies, or characters being suddenly dumb. This volume does still have great pacing and fun action–mobsters, kidnappings, human experimentation, strange anomalies, etc. It could be better, but it’s still fun.

Content note for animal harm and slurs.


Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2020/10/r...

[Dale Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five months ago Laura Fanning had been hired by the mysterious...and ridiculously rich... Clayton Stahlman to track down and bring back a cure for the affliction that would soon end his life. With the assistance of enigmatic Rick Hayden, she follows desperate clues to that leads her to the discovery of a true Panacea that will cure ALL diseases, including the Leukemia threatening to take her daughter from her. Less than a month later Laura and Rick travel to the middle east to investigate a lost, and unknown island that reveals to them the GOD GENE, the genetic trigger that might have been the catalyst for intelligence and humanities evolution.

Now... in this, the third and final book in the ICE Sequence (ICE=Intrusive Cosmic Entities), strange occurrences are happening that appear to be related to expanding human abilities. The VERY rich Clayton Stahlman begins to bring together these disparate people in the hopes of discovering the extent … and cause … of these strange powers. Unknown to him, the people who are responsible for the dramatic genetic changes have discovered his research...and they WANT THEIR TEST SUBJECTS BACK!!!

As the dramatic and terrifying conflict escalates, people are lost, secrets are revealed, and a power beyond human understanding is waiting to claim it all.

F. Paul Wilson is the critically acclaimed, and best-selling author and creator of the SECRET HISTORY OF THE WORLD part of which his amazing REPAIRMAN JACK series is the foundation and heart. He has crafted a wonderful span of work that ties tightly together and moves toward the ultimate confrontation between the Adversary and the Other. The ICE Sequence fits tightly into his universe with this, THE VOID PROTOCOL occurring only 8 months before the final conflict.

The breadth of this conflict is amazing and Wilson has placed this new trilogy deftly into a strategic supporting role to the events that will change the whole world.

While you could read this book by itself, many of the references and story line was developed in the prior two books and should be read as part of the entire sequence.

[Peter Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Void Protocol (The ICE Sequence Book 3) by F. Paul Wilson

Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...

This is book three in F. Paul Wilson's "The ICE Sequence." "ICE" stands for "intrusive cosmic entities" according to Rick Hayden. Rick is convinced that "cosmic entities" are playing mind games with humanity, or only with him, by revealing unexplainable phenomena that upset scientific laws. In past volumes, this has involved miraculous panacea and a newly discovered set of primates that have the human gene for creativity but no junk DNA.

In this book, the mystery involves a number of people with odd but seemingly trivial abilities. One person can teleport, another can make small things disappear, and others are telekinetic. Needless to say, their abilities are unexplained, although there is another storyline about a mysterious substance from a mysterious source called "melise," an anagram of "slime."

Before you can say "Lovecraft knew," Rick is throwing punches to protect these strange youngsters from mobsters and covert government operatives. The storylines converge and Rich and his on/off girlfriend Laura Fanning are in the presence of an anomaly that begs explanation, but which threatens Rick, Laura and maybe the entire human race.

This is a fast-paced story with a lot of action. It almost seems that Wilson had an eye on this story for a movie treatment in that his descriptions almost frame movie shots.

The Rick and Laura dynamic is cliched but enjoyable nonetheless. Let's call it dependable. Who doesn't like romance?

This book is being treated as the last installment of the ICE Sequence, but there is no logical reason for it to be the end. I think I would enjoy another couple of installments.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid ending to the ICE (Intrusive Cosmic Entities) trilogy. Once again, Dr. Laura Fanning and Rick Hayden are on the case of alien happenings in the world. It involves a substance called melis (i.e. slime) that has affected a group of unrelated people in certain ways. They all end up in a central location due to the influence of Dr. Stahlman. All of this begins suspiciously like the first X-Men movie that I wondered a bit about the book. However, F. Paul Wilson would have realized this, too, so I stopped worrying, and just enjoyed the story.

The science fiction aspect of this is a lot of fun. Wilson has come up with a truly sleazy and evil villain along with some more complex characters who fill both good and bad roles in the story. The "nadany" and their attributes are all very interesting characters, although I will admit I had trouble telling everyone apart. The plot includes some interesting twists to it, and F. Paul Wilson, as far as I can tell, is incapable of writing an unentertaining book. His imagination and ideas really seem to have no limit.

I enjoyed the Laura/Rick romance, which has been developing since the first book, "The God Gene" and goes through some twists and turns, rather than a simple increasing love that just mounts throughout the trilogy. The one aspect that I didn't like that much was the backstory of the "Anomaly" which was quite vague. Exactly where it came from, how it appeared, and where it ended up is all quite vague. As a result, the ending of the book seemed more abrupt than usual for a Wilson novel. That being said, there is apparently a lot of melis still out there, so perhaps F. Paul Wilson has plans for a fourth Laura/Rick novel. If he does, I will be reading it.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Void Protocol is one final adventure for Rick Hayden and Laura Fanning. Rick's "employer" has found a group of people, mainly between the ages of 18-30, all of whom have special abilities - telekinesis, invisibility, making things disappear - and is giving them housing and payment in order for his scientist to study them and try to figure out how they got their powers. Rick and Laura are brought in to help try to secure more of these gifted people. The story feels a lot like a Stranger Things Plot, except the people in the study are treated humanely. But as it turns out, their origin goes back to a top-top-top secret government facility located in a deep bunker near the Pine Barons in New Jersey. And in that bunker are a dastardly agent who began everything, and an otherwordly entity known only to a few people. Again, very much like Stranger Things.
While the story takes a bit to get going, once things really get into motion the book is a real page turner. While there have been hints and suggestions that the ICE novels are part of Wilson's Secret Histories, of which a majority of his stories are a part of in some way, until now that had mostly been hinted at or in slight form such as an Easter Egg referencing the novel The Tomb. However, in The Void Protocol things become very much Secret History-centric, with connections to Septimus and even the appearance of Vinny Donuts, a character from early Repairman Jack books, which place the events of this novel squarely into that same world and time frame.
I liked The God Gene better, but this was still an exciting novel and great entry in the Secret Hisotry.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the first book in the ICE sequence a year or two ago and never followed up. At the time I felt like main character action man Rick Hayden was too reminiscent of Repairman Jack, Wilson's best-known character, and without enough distinction to make him really interesting. With a new Jack novel due out by the end of the year, and having heard that the ICE books eventually tie in with the larger Adversary Cycle, I decided to revisit Rick Hayden and his doctor pal Laura Fanning.

And...it didn't really gel for me. Rick stills feels like a bland rehash of Jack, and Laura spends most of this book moping over him. They're working together to investigate a cohort of young adults with paranormal abilities a la X-Men at the behest of a wealthy benefactor, when sinister government types get word and try to grab the specials for themselves. Wacky hijinks and bloody murder ensue.

It just doesn't feel like there's enough here. Rick finally comes face-to-face with one of the Intrusive Cosmic Entities which give the series its name, but it remains effectively unknowable. The bad guy is a bit too cartoonish for me to really buy (seriously, he's actually more evil than the literal Nazi mad scientist he works with), and it didn't feel like the specials got nearly enough character development.

It's not bad. It's just not as good as I expect from F. Paul. Here's to hoping that his upcoming Repairman Jack novel satisfies my jones.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another home run for FPW. A Grand slam. For all those (like me) sad to say goodbye to Repairman Jack and THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE WORLD, FPW has given us another gift with the adventures of ex-spook Rick and M.E. Laura in THE ICE SEQUENCE, of which THE VOID PROTOCOL seems to be the third and last. Appropriating some of H.G. Wells’ terminology from WAR OF THE WORLDS in Rick's description of, the intrusive cosmic entities (ICE) from the RJ and ADVERSARY series are prominently featured in the ICE SEQUENCE, albeit under a different name.

In this third entry, Rick and Laura team up with billionaire Stehlman from PANACEA to investigate the origins of a group of young people invested with extraordinary paranormal abilities, like telekinesis, teleportation and so on. The plot is original - the plots of the all the ICE SEQUENCE novels are examples of FPW at the top of his game. The writing and pacing is great as always from FPW, and the novel takes off fast and accelerates from there. The last 25% or so is at a breakneck pace

I will be sorry to see the end of Rick and Laura. At least with Repairman Jack, we had some twenty-odd full novels plus a couple of novellas. Here it looks like we'll have to make do with only three. I hope not. Both Rick and Laura are great characters and I don't see why it needs to end here (hint, hint FPW).

Highly Recommended.

JM Tepper

[Lee Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

MAJOR PLOT HOLE AT THE END!

Actually it is 3.5 stars. It was 4.5 until, to me, a MAJOR plot hole near the end of the book.
Forgive all misspellings...I listened on audio

After revealing his true hidden secret, Grieve drops the gun in the restricted area and runs away. When he comes back, he sneaks in and grabs the gun out of Maureen's pocket and shoots Iggy.

Q1 How did he know it was in Maureen's pocket? WE knew but he had no way of knowing that. He had run away. In fact, if I am him, I would assume that Rick would be holding the gun.

Q2-5 Assuming the latter, he would be taking a huge risk coming back. So why come back? On the oft chance that Maureen would have the gun? And what led him to believe that he could even sneak in and grab it? Odds are SOMEONE would see or hear him. He had no way of knowing that Rick was being mesmerized by the anomaly. And what about the old technician (I can't recall his name at the moment) or even Iggy?

Up until then, it was 4.5 stars. I deducted a whole star for that egriegous oversight. Despite that, since I was 85% into the book, I finished it. But that was wholly unbelievable. F. Paul should've just let Grieve run away with the gun and then come back. It would've been more believable. I suspended 'reality' and just assumed that, since it actually, you know, made sense.

[Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, Wilson knows how to write an engaging novel. The story is interesting with strong paranormal elements, very bad villains and very capable heroes. This third book in the series is supposed to be the last one, but I don't know why.
There is supposed to be an underlying theme between the three books, but it isn't apparent to me other than the intrusion of outside force or forces is playing with us. In this book, we encounter a manifestation of such force directly but it isn't explained what the force represents or why each of the books hooks existed in the first place. So, it feels like there is a need for further story telling to bring all the stories together. In the Reparman Jack series, for instance, we get a somewhat better picture of what is moving the pieces behind the curtain, even if ultimately, such forces are somewhat unknowable. Of course there, Wilson had many more books to develop such an underlying theme.
Anyway, enjoy the book for what it is, a good paranormal adventure well written. It will help to start from the first book for relationship nuances.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book randomly at the library, having no idea what I'd be reading, to be honest. And I was pleasantly surprised! F. Paul Wilson is a great author. The story follows humans with special abilities, created when expectant mothers were secretly experimented on with technology discovered by WWII Germans. I thought dialogue was smart and characters were great. I will say that - halfway through - I did start to feel like the book wasn't moving forward as much I'd like. But the beginning and ending made up for it, so I overall really enjoyed this read! (Also I started it, not realizing that it is the last book in a trilogy. Oops! There were things referenced that obviously pointed to previous interactions between characters. But I still had no problem reading this one as a stand-alone).

[Gilda Felt · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I do like the two main characters, well, mostly Rick, it was refreshing how much of the story revolved around several other characters. They add depth to the story, and keep the story from just being about Rick and Laura relationship.

All their stories are intertwined, but they still give a fresh perspective on what’s going on with Rick and Laura, and definitely added to this next chapter in what is slowly moving toward an unexpected ending.

While we never really know what was held in the underground bunker, Wilson gives us enough hints to take a good guess. And while all’s well that ends well, given that the three ICE books are part of Wilson’s Secret History universe, Rick and Laura are in for a very unpleasant surprise in the coming year.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Intrusive Cosmic Entities (ICE) trilogy was awesome! What a great idea and fun series. Paul Wilson has a gift - I have read about vampires Midnight Mass, a fixer Cold City, and this series regarding alien overlords. ;) I this book concludes the trilogy well, and I think each novel stands alone.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure what happened with this book but I want to blame the editor. F. Paul Wilson's writing is uncharacteristically head-bashing in this particular novel with phrases repeated ad nauseum and characters seem more cardboard, not reacting at all as real people would or taking multiple chapters to do so. A lot of it seems like filler and Wilson just phoned it in. It is far from the satisfying conclusion to this trilogy I'd been expecting.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book concludes the trilogy of Laura Fanning and Rick Hayden. This go-round, they investigate how a group of teenagers/young adults obtained interesting powers, such as telekinesis, the ability to teleport, and invisibility. An WWII-era underground bunker and a mysterious government program are part of the equation.

A fun, fast-paced conclusion and an enjoyable read (as are all of Wilson's books).

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was too formulaic. Some parts of the story were unique and others seemed badly placed. I am giving the book three stars because I haven’t read any of the previous books in the series. I did miss some of the nuances that I would have understood having read previous volumes. Overall, the story had strong elements but it needed a stronger plot.