Outer Perimeter (ISBN 0553579169)

Amazon.com Review:
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 (police psychologist) 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

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?)

When is the next one?:
I really enjoyed this read.You really put a lot of excitement into your books, Mr. Goddard.Please e-mail me as to when your next part of this series is coming out.Thank-you

Could have been more enjoyable:
I bought this novel based on only the reputation of the author and past novels he has written. I did not know this was one of a series. I was lost during the first third of the book trying to fathom out reasons for the actions and fears of the characters. No mention of a prior book anywhere. Lots of questions go unanswered at the end of a chapter then show up later as a flashback or a narrative as to what had happened. I may have enjoyed the book more if I had read the first of the series. I'm not really a science fiction type although some parts were plausable. I found the ending to be irritating, with unresolved questions. I doubt if I will by the next in the series if one come out.

An Engaging CSI vs. Extraterrestrial Invasion Whodunit:
This is my second book by Goddard that I have read - this one being the sequel to his earlier First Evidence book about First Contact with an alien species. I had this book for a long time before I finally started to read it and once I did, I moved through it more quickly than I had suspected I would. I found this book to be more engaging than his first story, probably because I knew the underlying premise. This story set in Oregon where a cop who is a CSI guy worries about being attacked by some alien baddies and runs around trying to deal with their activities to regain their lost alien comrades. With the recent successfull TV series about CSI stuff, this book matched well and perhaps better with the current CSI interest. Characters were believable and the story flowed well. My only disappointment was in the ending, in that like a lot of books and authors, the end came too quickly and seemed to beg more. It was not an ending that made you feel like a sequel was hiding there, it just seemed to lack a satisfying ending. That said, I still found this book very entertaining and thus my 4-star score.