When Rip Cantrell, an engineering student working the summer as a seismic
survey worker in the Sahara, spots a glint of reflected light in the
distance, he investigates -- and finds a piece of metal apparently entombed
in the sandstone. Before long, Rip and his colleagues uncover a flying
saucer that has been resting there for 140,000 years. Their discovery
doesn't remain a secret for long. The U.S. Air Force sends a UFO
investigation team, which arrives just minutes before a team of mercenaries
sent by an Australian billionaire to steal the saucer's secrets. Before
either side can outwit the other, the Libyan military appears. Meanwhile,
Rip has been checking out the saucer. With the help of a beautiful ex-Air
Force test pilot, Charley Pine, Rip flies the saucer away, embarking on a
fantastic journey into space and around the world, keeping just ahead of
those who want the saucer for themselves, and touching off a world-wide UFO
sighting frenzy.

This isn't my usual type of book, but it was a very quick little read and
quite entertaining. Mostly dialogue and short paragraphs, the book didn't
last long or go too deeply into character development, but it was
thought-provoking and I enjoyed it. A nice way to spend a summer afternoon
and evening. 3.5 ( )

Protagonist: Rip Cantrell, a 22-year-old with a prodigious appetite and a remarkably level head
Setting: present-day Sahara Desert, Australia and Missouri
Series: #1

First Line: Rip Cantrell was holding the stadia rod, trying to blink away the sweat trickling into his eyes, when a bright flash of light caught his eye.

Some researchers find an ancient flying saucer in the Sahara desert, the U.S. air force becomes involved, then an Australian multibillionaire takes the craft. The original finder of the saucer, 22-year-old Rip Cantrell,
takes offense at this and vows to get the saucer back. It's his. A ½ cup of excitement, a ¼ teaspoon of romance, a ¼ cup of technical lingo and a cup of satire make a fine recipe for a book that's just plain fun. Yes, the characters are a bit flat and credulity gets stretched a mite here and there, but like I said, this book is fun to read. Coonts wrote the further adventures of Rip Cantrell, and I may just have to check them out! ( )

the story is well composed and keeps one turning the pages, BUT, and it's a big but, so does Victor Appleton's Tom Swift series and that is what this reminds me of. "Rip" Cantrell and "Charlie" (a girl) meet after Rip has uncovered a saucer made of unidentifiable metal in the Sahara Desert. When Quadaffi's gunsmen come they get in the saucer and Charlie, a certified test pilot, flies it away. the rest of the book is spent trying to keep the saucer and its mysteries away from several nations, including the good ole military, and a crazed Australian trillionaire who will stop at nothing to own and sell the saucer. Naturally, 20-year-old Rip and 30-year-old Charlie win over all these men, and fight their automatic machine guns, army tanks, and missiles to come out victorious. They win victory with the help of Egg, Rip's benevolent genius uncle, who holds 25 patents and farms in Missouri. Yes, Captain America wins his Lois Lane and finally the saucer is turned over free to the U.S. Space and Air Museum when another uncle pops out of the woodwork and files suit against the President of the United States and the Chief of the US Air Force to claim ownership for Rip Cantrell. Said uncle being a smalltime attorney who carries the case immediately before the U.S. Supreme Court. At the end, despite being knifed, having ribs and other body bones broken, and being shot at by scores of people (who obviously missed every time, Rip gains victory and Charlie. Of course, he never has to work again because his genius Uncle has filed some 25 patents covering everything of the future technology located within the saucer, including, but not limited to, its hydrogen drive (it runs on water) anti-gravity device, basketball-sized nucelar reactor, and advanced computery that allows the pilot to "think" the ship to where he/she wants it to go. This all exists because the ship was built by our ancestors. Coontz conveniently blows away the theory of evolution and explains the Prime Nature of the Universe at the end. God Bless Him! Are you throwing up yet? There are so many imaginative leaps that anyone schooled in contemporary science couldn't make, the only person who could enjoy the book in any way is an open-minded, addled-brain idiot like me. ( )

When a UFO is discovered by a team of researchers, they have to decide what to do with it. The rest of the world, of course, wants to get their hands on this piece of technology, so this is likely to get dangerous.

Eventually, they decide to take it out of everybody's hands.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/01... ( )

A find at the Outdoor Castle Bookshop in Hay-on-Wye. Had not been rained on (easy, since there hadn't been any rain for months, basically).
A quick read, with an interesting premise (geologists find a UFO buried in sandstone in the Sahara, excavate it and are suddenly surrounded by Air Force, Australians and Lybians. What happens next?)
Some weak points in the characterisations and the dialogue is sometimes a bit uneven. But still, an easy and interesting read. ( )