[.ca] Outer Perimeter (ISBN 0553579169)

From Amazon.com:
With Outer Perimeter, Ken Goddard, the author of seven previous novels of suspense and science fiction beginning with 1983's Balefire, returns to the Oregon of his 1999 SF thriller, First Evidence. And he's brought the disgraced crime scene investigator, Detective Sergeant Colin Cellars of the Oregon State Police, and his shape-shifting, silicon-based, extraterrestrial life forms with him. Cellars, understandably, isn't in tight with his superiors just now. It seems that he and some friends (Bobby Dawson, forensic scientist and Cellars's erstwhile girlfriend Jody Catlin, and the NSA's Dr. Malcolm Byzor) recently blasted to smithereens a slew of police vehicles. They explained that the whole thing wouldn't have happened if they had not been in a life-or-death struggle with invisible, immensely intelligent, coldly murderous space aliens with half a mind to destroy civilization unless they reclaim some missing baggage. Still, some 50 locals have disappeared, officers have been killed or nearly killed, DEA agents are lurking about, and the NSA has set up housekeeping in a "black operation" in the nearby piney woods. With that, OSP Internal Affairs Commander Hightower and watch commander Bauer have little choice but to turn Cellars and his coconspirators loose--but they ask him to please not rewrite those reports. Cellars' eyebrows furrowed in surprise. "Why not?" "Think about it. At the moment, given the discussion she and I just had with \opolice psychologist\c Pleausant before you got here, there's no official reason why we can't put you back on the street immediately, and there's every good reason why we should. But if you were to write and sign an official report in which you claim to have killed a shape-changing extraterrestrial who immediately morphed into a small rock--" "Ah." A reasonably well-written (excepting a ridiculously expository phone conversation early on) if standard outing, this occasionally humorous, mostly engaging, and sometimes downright suspenseful book will, if nothing else, encourage you to revisit those early X-Files episodes you've been meaning to watch. --Michael Hudson

Yecch!:
Too long, too technical, too boring! Atrocious!

What a waste:
This was by far the worst book I have ever read. I can hardly believe a publisher actually thought it was worthy to publish. The plot is ludicrous and loosely strung along. I only finished this book simply because I had to see if the ending was as innane as the rest of the book. It was.

Too much of a good thing:
I thoroughly enjoyed "First Evidence" and anxiously awaited the sequel. "Outer Perimiter" was good, but the plot was too dependent on "First Evidence". If you haven't read the first book, this one will not make much sense. I find the plot of this "series" interesting and exciting, and most of the characters well developed. However I was hoping that "Outer Perimeter would advance the plot more than it did. About half of the book was a retelling of events in the first installment. Mr. Goddard is an excellent writer and has provided many great thriller stories. This plot line has great potential. I hope the next installment, if there is one, will advance the plot and provide closure to some of the plot lines.

Second Contact:
Being the sequel to one of the most suspenseful books I've ever read, (First Evidence) I expected a lot. I didn't get quite what I expected but it was an engaging read. For the most part, this book fills in the gaps from "First Evidence." It explains a lot and makes you go, "Oh yeah." You must, however, read the first book or you will be lost. "Outer Perimeter" started slow but built it's intrigue bit by bit. Several times, I thought of putting it down but it finally grabbed me. Most books fizzle by the last third. This one takes off like a UFO! The ending didn't grab me but it makes me think he may be thinking of writing another one. (Sidenote: It's interesting that three recent novels all have "black panthers/jaguars" as a nemesis. Have I missed a wildlife trend?)

I feel cheated!:
...we join this X-Files in progress, and finish because there is nothing else on... Yes, I was another who purchased this book after reading the cover, where there is no mention of it being a sequel. It took reading up to the 176th page until I felt the actual story of the book started, and the summary of the last book was over. Goddard's writing style is also a little annoying, the book reads like a history text of events that are taking place in the present. I gave the book two stars because it had at least enough in it to enable me to finish the thing.