SOLVED. Spy/Thriller/Espionage with a SCI-FI twist: I read a book on my mother's suggestion in the late 1990s that had a gray cover (i think) and was written by a novelist who normally wrote spy/thriller/espionage type books. [s]

[Keith]

...My mother suggested this one because it had a sci-fi element, namely, a crashed flying saucer. The action takes place mostly (or all) in Europe. The hero works for an American gov't agency who is sent somewhere to find out a down satellite. At some point he figures out it's a crashed UFO/flying saucer. For one reason of another, he is burned by his agency and he goes on his own finding old contacts who can help him stay one step ahead of the antagonists (I think one betrays him). At the end of the novel, the hero finds the alien who crashed, and I think the alien says he came to Earth with a warning about something something.

[Mai]

Maybe The Doomsday Conspiracy by Sidney Sheldon? It does take place in Europe and the readers' comments sound a lot like your description!

[Keith]

That's it! Strange how memory works: red cover not gray; weather balloon not satellite.

Thanks!

[Mai]

You're welcome. I'm glad this is the book you were looking for! It's hard to remember the details but you remembered enough!