Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Review - Contact




Title: Contact
Author: Susan Grant
Publishing Date: 2002
Genre: Futuristic
Rating: B
Sensuality: Hot

Jordan Cady is a pilot for United Airlines. While making a quick flight to Hawaii her plane is swallowed up by an unknown alien aircraft. The lead pilot has a heart-attack from the stress and dies, leaving Jordan in charge of almost 300 people that make up the crew and passengers of Flight 58. Kao Vantaar-Moray has been assigned to debrief the survivors from Earth. The alliance patrol ship rescued Flight 58 right before Earth was hit by a comet. It is his job to help the last remaining survivors of Earth assimilate to their new life.

I usually don't read a lot of books in the science fiction category. I don't know why that is, because when I do, I really seem to enjoy myself. Contact was a very enjoyable read. Jordan finds herself in the role of not only Captain, but the leader of the survivors. She steps up the challenge of providing strength that others can rely on to get through this very tough time. Even though she wants to curl up into a ball and mourn the loss of her daughter and her life, she straightens her spine and gets to work.

While working out the details on their new life with Kao, she develops a friendship with him and discovers that Kao is not the cold-hearted, unfeeling man she first assumed him to be. She discovers that she has much in common with him and he helps her battle her grief over her daughter. I really liked that the author showed Kao's growth through out the story. Kao has been through a lot and it was good to see him work though all his problems and fight for what he most desired.

There is a secondary political plot that is also important to the development of the story. It was relatively easy to follow along with and didn't detract from the romance in any way. If anything I wish that more of the story could have been on the survivors assimilating in the new world. The majority of the story took place on the Alliance patrol ship. It would have been nice to see more of the other planets. But keeping things simple worked in the favor of making it more realistic and believable.


This review was part of Avid Book Reader's 2009 TBR Challenge. February's theme was a Desert Isle Keeper (DIK) romance from AAR. You can view a list of other participants here.

7 comments:

Tracy said...

I started reading the review without seeing that it was a sci-fi futuristic and when I read that the plane is swallowed by an alien aircraft I just had to burst out laughing!

Of course I stopped soon enough because the woman has been separated from her daughter. Is the daughter an adult? How sad. I don't know that I'd be able to read this because of that.

Jill D. said...

Tracy, The daughter is actually six years old and right before her flight Jordan promises her daughter that she will be home soon. So yes, in that aspect it was sad. I can't give too much of the plot away, but I will say that Contact is a romance, so there is a happy ending.

Victoria Janssen said...

I loved CONTACT--it's still my favorite of the Susan Grant books I've read. I lent my copy out and never got it back...maybe it's time to read it again!

Jill D. said...

Hi Victoria, This was quite a pleasant read. I am definitely going to look into Grant's backlist. I hear many of her other books are great too.

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed this one too - as I have most of her books. I don't know if you know but there was som contreversy when this one first came out. Walmart refused to carry it because it wasn't that long after 9/11.
I never did see the connection at all and thought it a very silly decision on Walmart's part.

Kris said...

I have not thought of this one in a long time. I remember enjoying it alot though. I think it was my first Susan Grant book. I am glad you liked it, I might have to go re-read this one.

Jill D. said...

Kristie, Are you serious? There was nothing deragatory about 9-11 in it. The fact that it mentions 9-11 made me think about that tragic day. Not in a negative, but in a way to pray for the victims and their families. Walmart is so stupid sometimes.