Impact (novel)
Encyclopedia
Plot summary
Wyman FordWyman Ford
Wyman Ford is a fictional character found in many of the solo novels by American author Douglas Preston.-Background:Ford was an agent in the Central Intelligence Agency for several years, all prior to his first appearance in literature. His wife was also a CIA agent, but she was killed when a car...
returns to investigate a mysterious source of gemstones and instead uncovers evidence of an unusual impact crater. Weaving seemingly separate stories of Wyman Ford's engagement by the government to investigate a meteorite's crater in Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, a Mars Mission
Manned mission to Mars
A manned mission to Mars has been the subject of science fiction, engineering, and scientific proposals throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century...
scientist's investigation into unusual gamma ray
Gamma ray
Gamma radiation, also known as gamma rays or hyphenated as gamma-rays and denoted as γ, is electromagnetic radiation of high frequency . Gamma rays are usually naturally produced on Earth by decay of high energy states in atomic nuclei...
activity on that planet, and an intelligent waitress' adventurous trek into the Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
offshore islands to locate a meteor strike that others assumed hit the ocean, the authors resolve the fast moving plots steadily throughout the book, focusing the separate paths to a single conclusion that impacts the future of the entire planet.
The book was reviewed on All Things Considered in Feb 2010.
Timeline
The events in this novel follow those of The CodexThe Codex (novel)
The Codex is a 2004 novel by Douglas Preston and takes place in the Southwestern United States and Central America.The main story is about Max Broadbent, who is an eccentric rich man with terminal cancer, who likes to collect valuable art and treasures...
, Tyrannosaur Canyon
Tyrannosaur Canyon
Tyrannosaur Canyon is a 2005 novel by Douglas Preston. The story revolves around the search for a mysterious item buried in the New Mexico desert.-Plot summary:The novel opens with a lunar find by the Apollo 17 astronauts, which is suppressed....
, and Blasphemy
Blasphemy (novel)
-Plot summary:Isabella, a powerful particle accelerator has been constructed in Red Mesa in the remote Arizona desert, the most expensive machine ever built by science. A team of scientists under the direction of a charismatic Nobel Laureate, Gregory North Hazelius, experience trouble, and the...
.