Not Alone

Not Alone: Second Contact by Craig A. Falconer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a very long series, close to 100 hours of listening in the unabridged audiobook format of six novels. Given the length, you need a voice pleasant to hear and James Patrick Cronin does a terrific job throughout. Pacing, tempo, male and female voices, etc., overall production very well done. Not Alone is a SciFi series and Book One was released in August of 2016, book 6 in June of 2020, all by Audible Studios. Not Alone is character-driven, albeit few main characters – which is nice listening and you get to know everyone. No need for struggling to keep track of who-is-who, and thanks to the excellent narration, no problems with who-is-speaking-to-who.

Plot. Dan McCarthy, while riding his bike on a delivery, collides with a robber who drops an envelope containing definitive proof of a government cover-up. Human knowledge of aliens, i.e., we are Not Alone, has been a fact since 1938. Early on, you’re skeptical and before the books are finished – well, no spoilers. But, SciFi lovers will be beyond pleased as Dan’s amazing adventures unfold. Start with book one, and read in sequence or you’ll miss a great deal.

Liked. Character development, humanoid, and otherwise. You like most, hate a few. The ultimate goodness of mankind, and any potential visitors, is something we all wish to be true.

Not so hot? Repetitive. Most noticeable in the series, Falconer re-caps a great deal, almost as if he needs to remind himself where the plot is and how we got here, reading from his own notes. Painful to listen to for anyone who is binge-listening to all six books in the series. Kept mumbling, ‘Yeah, yeah, I know, I know – move on.” Actually did have to fast-forward a bit.

No clicking knees, not a blood-and-guts type horror SciFi. This is a first contact story out of a vivid imagination telling us what it might really be like. World politics, wonder, fear, greed, hope – it’s all here. No sex, nothing offensive. Recommended!