How I love this series with its strong, capable and interesting characters, archeologist Nora Kelly and FBI agent Corrie Swanson. This is their third and best adventure together . Nora and her brother Skip along with newly introduced billionaire Tappan are working an archeological dig project at Area 51 because Tappan believes there will be proof of extraterrestrial life and although she is a non-believer, Nora will head it up. But a clandestine government group who will do anything to make sure they don’t get their wish is after them, which brings in FBI agent Corrie and sheriff Watts.
For me, this is Preston and Childs best series. It’s fresh, with wonderful characters and page turning plots. And if things are sometimes a little out there, all the better. I look forward to many more installments in this series and hope Tappan stays a part of their group.

368 pages

4 stars

Archeologist Nora Kelly and FBI Agent Corrie Swanson are teamed up once more in this latest novel from Preston and Child.

Her boss wants her to supervise a dig at the Los Alamos “UFO” crash site. This is to be funded by a billionaire who has promised a large donation to the Santa Fe Archeological Institute. Nora patently refuses. Her boss, who is rather snooty, gets angry and Nora walks out. Fired!

The billionaire, Lucas Tappan, beards her in the parking lot and shows Nora some charts and graphs showing that something did, indeed, go down in the desert. She reluctantly agrees to visit the site. At home, she learns that her brother Skip has already signed on to the project.

On one of the diagrams, she notices a grave site. They start to dig there first, knowing that if it is a Native site, they must take precautions. Instead of Natives, they discover two people who have been shot and look to be dressed in 1940’s clothing. Nora calls in the FBI. Agent Corrie Swanson and Agent Hale Norwood arrive. Along with the bodies, a man and a woman, a strange object made in New Jersey was found. The bodies and the evidence are taken back to the FBI laboratory. A tragedy occurs.

Since I have zero interest in UFO phenomena, this part of the book had me rolling my eyes. However, the book was so well written and plotted, that I kept reading in spite of myself. The characters are so very interesting. I really like Nora, Skip and Corrie. And Mitty, of course. Nora is spunky and somewhat outspoken and I like that. Corrie is a little more reserved, but has to be to some degree given her position in the FBI.

Mr. Preston and Mr. .Child can spin a great story. It doesn’t seem to matter what subject they take on. Their writing is so very good, it seems flawless. I truly enjoy their work and have read everything they have written, both together and individually. While some books are better than others, their product remains at a high level. The story in this book was a little slow in the UFO parts, but the action picked up during the last third of the book. The tension was high and I really enjoyed that part. Boy, can Corrie drive, or what?

Even if you don’t have any interest in UFOs, like me, I recommend this book. It is interesting, has engaging characters and is a lot of fun.

I want to thank NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for forwarding a copy of this book to me so that I may read, enjoy and review it. The opinions expressed here are solely my own.

I am a big fan of this writing duo, especially the Agent Pendergast novels. I also like this Nora Kelly series but I must admit I harbor ambivalent feelings about this one.

The subject matter of this narrative is the Roswell crash of a possible alien spacecraft in New Mexico. Nora and her brother join an expedition led and financed by an extremely wealthy tech mogul, ( think Elon Musk),even though it goes against her better judgment. Throw in a shadowy paramilitary group out to keep under wraps anything remotely related to alien life, some dead bodies, and yes Nora’s FBI friend, Corrie, and off we go.

Everyone has their own opinion about Roswell, life on other planets and government coverups. I just felt that Nora was a little out of her comfort zone in this one although she did savor some revenge at the end. The saving grace was the action sequences which are very exciting. I can’t wait to see where Nora goes from here

This book is due out in February, 2022.

The latest stellar entry in the Nora Kelly/Corrie Swanson Series from prolific authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child possesses intrigue and mystery that's literally out of this world, and plenty to entice conspiracy theories, from "what-crashed-at-Roswell in July 1947" to secret-secret organizations hiding top-secret technology. A charismatic billionaire (readers will delight in comparisons to real-life space-obsessed celebrity billionaires) manipulates archaeologist Nora Kelly into leading a new dig at the alleged 1947 Roswell, NM crash site. As she uncovers human remains, the FBI (Special Agent Corrie Swanson) and local sheriffs enter the investigation. But this is just the tip of the desert iceberg, and unraveling the facts proves fascinating and highly dangerous. DIABLO MESA is a mon-stop bullet train of highly-ratcheted suspense!

What is it about modern day billionaires and their fascination with space? Preston and Child parlay that obsession into their newest Nora Kelly novel that has Kelly and her team tasked with looking into the 1947 Roswell event. Lucas Tappan has more money than he will ever be able to spend, and that’s counting the billions he’s rolled into his Icarus Space Systems. He’s approached the Santa Fe Archaeological Institute to request their assistance into a thorough look into the supposed crash of an alien space ship in 1947 Roswell. Nora Kelly is not impressed, but she gets to work and immediately discovers two homicide victims on the site, all their identifying features removed with acid. With Special Agent Corrie Swanson in charge of the homicide investigation, Nora continues her search for little green men, but uncovers violence much closer to home…along with a force that she cannot explain. I’m always so glad when a new Nora Kelly novel come out, I love Lincoln and Childs, but Pendergast has outstayed his welcome as far as I’m concerned. This story is much more in line with the duo’s earliest (and best) books