Atmosphere

The Jason Parker Trilogy #3

by John Clarke

One-hundred feet below the surface of the frozen Ross Sea, crushed between 200 feet of glacial ice and volcanic rock, lies the remains of an ancient flying saucer and the unidentifiable remains of its luckless pilot. U.S. Navy divers have been tasked in a top secret mission to extract information from that crash site. In this third and final book of the Jason Parker Trilogy, government scientists Jason Parker and Laura Smith join forces with an investigative reporter, a blind remote viewer, an Osage Marine from the Oklahoma Tzu Washtaki clan, a synesthete cosmologist, and a Troll named Truman to save the world. In the midst of threats and squabbles between the U.S. and China, and conflicts both on and off planet, world survival concerns remain hidden. On Mars and its moons, Earth’s Polar Regions, and the deep sea off Taiwan and the U.S. East coast, the light side and dark side of U.S. Intelligence competes to gain advantage in a world where insidious genetic warfare may hold the upper hand. But like swords and plowshares, there are two sides to human genetics. In the right hands, it might be the solution to saving mankind. When the cosmos strikes Earth with a fatal blow, will salvation come in time?

404 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 28, 2019

About the author

John Clarke has been a diving scientist with the U.S. Navy for thirty-eight years, conducting research specializing in the adaptations of people and animals to the deep-sea. That research began at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and Florida State University, culminating in research in the Puerto Rico Trench and participation in the U.S. Navy Scientist in the Sea Program. The University of Florida School Of Medicine provided NIH-funded postgraduate training in human medical physiology. His Navy research began at the Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda, MD and continues at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit in Panama City, Florida. He has conducted diving research in both Antarctica and the Arctic, and aviation research for the Navy and Air Force. He is a Physical Scientist and holds a Ph.D. in Physiology. He lives in Panama City, Florida, USA.

Reviews

[Robert Williscroft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Atmosphereis the third book in the Jason Parker Trilogy. The author, Dr. John Clark, is a diving expert, not just scuba, but diving in all its fascinating variations. In this series, Clark explores saturation diving, not just to the relatively shallow depths that are the daily venue for oil-rig divers – 500 to 1,000 ft deep, but many times that using exotic gas mixtures predominating in hydrogen. I am an experienced saturation diver, and I can tell you that Clark knows his stuff. Beyond that, he is an excellent writer. His characters are well developed and charismatic, even the non-human ones, and he places them within a fascinating plot.

Clark’s story backdrop is that humans have shared the planet with an alien species that has been here for a very long time. They know about us, but until Jason Parker, we really did not know about them. The first volume is about this discovery. The second is about the aliens leaving Earth for their own purposes. To get the most out of Atmosphere, you really need to read the first two books even though Atmosphere stands on its own.

Atmosphere is about Earth minus the aliens, but with some of their technology, and about what happens when Earth is hit with a near extinction level gamma-ray burst (GRB). The characters you come to know and care about play significant roles throughout the series – especially Jason Parker and Laura Smith. Both are top-notch scientists, both are adept at “distance viewing,” and their individual and intertwined lives form the connecting link for the entire Trilogy. Clark’s ingenious solution to continuing the human species despite the GRB will leave you astonished and breathless. He leaves the door open for further tales in this fascinating hard science fiction universe.

The Jason Parker Trilogy consisting of Middle Waters, Triangle, and Atmosphere, is top notch hard science fiction well worth your time.

[Susan Kayar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Atmosphere is the finale to John Clarke's Jason Parker Trilogy. As a scientific researcher for the US Navy, a pilot, and a sport diver himself, John is uniquely positioned to write these stories which are a fascinating blend of real science and science fiction. John also has the talent as a writer to portray characters we can either root for or hate, as the plot dictates. He is bold enough in his narratives to shoot you from two thousand feet below sea level to Mars, and cheerfully leave you and your favorite characters there, as he literarily annihilates millions of Earthlings. And yet, believe it or not, the plot elements never seem gruesome or unnecessarily violent, but simply events of life and death. Well done, John!

Susan Kayar, author of Operation SECOND STARFISH, A Tale of Submarine Rescue, Science, and Friendship