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Description
In Douglas Preston's Impact, Wyman Ford is tapped for a secret expedition to Cambodia... to locate the source of strangely beautiful gemstones that do not appear to be of this world. A brilliant meteor lights up the Maine coast... and two young women borrow a boat and set out for a distant island to find the impact crater. A scientist at the National Propulsion Facility discovers an inexplicable source of gamma rays in the outer Solar System. He is found decapitated, the data missing. High resolution NASA images reveal an unnatural feature hidden in the depths of a crater on Mars... and it appears to have been activated. Sixty hours and counting. Read more
Book 3 of 4 : Wyman Ford Series
Listening Length : 11 hours and 38 minutes
Author : Douglas Preston
Narrator : Scott Sowers
Publication date : January 5, 2010
Language : English
Publisher : Macmillan Audio
Version : Unabridged
Program Type : Audiobook
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Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Kindle
I'm a newcomer to Douglas Preston, but I'm very impressed with his work so far. Starting with "Tyrannosaurus Canyon", the first novel in the Wyman Ford series, his books are fascinating, scientifically oriented, extremely thought provoking, and even truly frightening as he deftly tackles subjects one may not give a lot of attention, but sure do after reading his books. "Impact" is a very engaging and spooky novel, as the story starts with a seemingly meteoroid object reported off the coast of Maine, and a much larger new crater in very dangerous Cambodian jungle territory, where a horrific discovering of gems laced with Americum-241, meaning highly radioactive are being trafficked for possible terrorist dirty bomb construction, and killing those forced to mine the stones and those who unknowingly wear the stones and die from radiation poisoning. But that is just the bare bones beginning of a truly gripping altogether plausible story that encompasses a hitherto unimagined threat of global destruction Ford and the world have scant days to neutralize. Preston weaves a tale with accurate science, and unlike Michael Crighton, who turned me off to his books because he couldn't keep his political opinions to himself, and even wrote a disgusting novel attacking global warming, keeps his politics out of the story. His picture is a world encompassing one, and Wyman Ford is a very good character who has to risk life and limb to find out precisely what is going on. I recommend new readers to Preston, especially the Ford Series, to start with the first, "Tyrannosaurus Canyon" and work up from there. A reader can access a great website, fantasticfiction.com and access books and authors galore, where one can find the chronological listings for tons of books, fiction or non-fiction. The stories stand on their own, but the series is well worth the effort to start from the beginning. I look forward to what is a huge volume of books by Preston and sometimes co-author Lincoln Child. Rather than your usual cliched murder mystery where little is gained as far as insights or learning a little something along the way, Preston gives you plenty of food for thought, and that makes the books even more appealing.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2018 by Scott Hedegard
Format: Audio CD
Douglas Preston has had a hard time in his past couple of novels, with them being very poor stories told in a long-winded and dry fashion. "Impact" was a return to his earlier style of storytelling, and I enjoyed it. While the scientific theory and postulation was still there, it wasn't the prevailing message throughout the story like it had been with "Blasphemy" (his worst novel ever) and "Tyrannosaur Canyon" (a close second). I was very intrigued with the device that was near Mars and its origins. It was a great "hook" Preston used to make the story unique. The problem for the story came when it wasn't dealing with Wyman Ford and the extraterrestrial object. An incredibly drawn-out boat sequence at the end of the book had me skipping through the pages to the next chapter as it just kept going on and on without going anywhere. It had already happened to some extent earlier in the story, so this was a plot device that ended up just being filler more than anything else. I think he had the kernel of the story and just needed to up the page count so he threw in the subplot with Abby and her dad. That being said, there are some great moments in here. I liked the plot twist at the end that wrapped things up nicely rather than leaving us with this dangling thread to be picked up later possibly. It was a nice novel in parts that did drag at times but seemed to hold my attention for the main story. I sped through several chapters and stopped to read the main plot when it came back. Not as good as "The Codex", but definitely an improvement over his recent work.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2010 by Brian Reaves
Format: Kindle
Such a magnificent and enthralling novel. It gets better and better as one reads. It actually makes the reader stop and really take notice of the world around us. And perhaps begin to believe there is life out there. Our baby steps are only the beginning.
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2026 by Amazon Customer
Format: Kindle
Abbey Straw and her best friend Jackie are trying out Abbey’s new telescope when what appears to be a meteor streaks across the night sky and appears to go down somewhere in the ocean. Abbey has a plan to borrow her father’s lobster boat to go in search of it, certain it must be valuable. Mark Corso, the youngest technician on the Mars Mission Project receives a classified hard drive in the mail from his mentor who is recently deceased. With the hard drive came a note asking for Mark’s opinion of the gamma ray data collected from the Mars probe. Gamma ray data? There shouldn’t be any gamma rays from Mars? Mark becomes very paranoid about possessing that hard drive, and he should, for more reasons than he knows. Wyman Ford is once again contracted by the Science Advisor to the President, asking Wyman to check find a mine that yields attractive radioactive stones. So much more is going on than any of these people can imagine, and it all comes together in a way that actually makes sense in this explosive mystery. I enjoyed this Wyman Ford mystery so much more than the last one. There’s still a lot of science in this Preston’s work, but it was far easier for a lay person to understand in IMPACT. I gave this a 4.5 for keeping the action going with great writing and creativity, rounding up to five.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2024 by LynnS77
Format: Kindle
Liked not loved this book. The Thai/Cambodia stuff was fun. The premise was interesting. I’ll keep reading about Wyman Ford.
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2026 by Benjamin C Fineburg
Format: Kindle
Starts a tiny bit slow. But don’t let that stop you from finishing this great read. I was sorry it ended.
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2026 by HAR
Format: Hardcover
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have written a number of really interesting and exciting novels together. In recent years, however, both have fallen victim to what I like to call "short chapter syndrome," in which a writer decides his readers are incapable of sustaining interest in any one subject or event for longer than it takes to read three pages. These novels are easy to spot - just open the covers and count the number of chapters (this one has just over 300 pages and literally 100 chapters). The problem with such a method of writing is that the novels become almost totally plot driven, with each mini-chapter driving the action forward in choppy, cliff-hanger-ridden jumps that allow for no character development and very little point beyond the bare bones of a rather ridiculous and incredible plot. "Impact" does have its moments, and it is a fast and fun read that works well on the beach; it won't tax your mind any, that's for sure. But it's disappointing, because Preston (with or without Child) is a talented writer who could (and has) done much better than this. The story is three-pronged - 1) a brilliant young college drop-out is searching for a mysterious meteoroid, 2) a career-driven astrophysicist believes he has discovered evidence of a strange phenomenon in outer space (a phenomenon a lot of people are hell bent on keeping secret), and 3) an ex-CIA operative is commissioned to investigate the sudden appearance of dangerous radioactive gems that have begun showing up all over the world. These three storylines do come together by the end of the novel, and I can't deny that Preston knows how to connect the dots in a very complex and convoluted narrative. I just wish the brilliant young college drop-out wasn't quite so brilliant (by the end of the novel I felt like I was reading one of those young-adult tomes in which a teenager saves the day - since all the adults are stewing in their own stupidity). And I wish the other characters were more than just cardboard types that could be plugged into pretty much any such thriller. Too many successful writers today have learned that once they have a name in the market it's easy to keep raking in the bucks - just map out a plot, churn out those three-page chapters, and wait for the money to flow in. Preston and his contemporaries should take a lesson from Stephen King, Michael Crichton, and Peter Straub - thrillers are better (and much more satisfying) if they are about more than "what happens next." "Impact" is a popcorn novel that could (with just a little more effort) have been a full-course meal.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2010 by Kathy Cunningham
Format: Kindle
While Mr. Preston is one of my favorite authors, I feel he's outdone himself with this one. And the ending twist came as a bit of a surprise. Well done again, Sir!
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2026 by Amazon Customer