Lost Contact

The Bridge Sequence, Book 1

By: Nathan Hystad

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's Summary

Rex Walker always wanted to be like his father: a daring, adventurous man, traveling the world in pursuit of mysterious relics. Now Rex is the same age his father was when he disappeared without a trace. 

While teaching anthropology at a Boston college, Rex attempts to bury the past, until he discovers a hidden clue he can’t ignore. 

With the help of his sidekick Marcus, a former student turned protégé, he teams up with an alien-obsessed billionaire, and they search for the fabled Bridge. 

As an unidentified object nears Pluto, speculation surges. Some hail it as the homecoming of a distant alien race, and this cult is unwavering in its efforts to usher our world into a new era. 

Will Rex solve the puzzle before it’s too late? Find out in Lost Contact, the first installment of The Bridge Sequence by Nathan Hystad, the best-selling author of The Event.

©2021 Nathan Hystad (P)2020 Audible, Inc.

Interesting premise but poor execution

I wanted to like this book so much, it's read by one of my favorite narrators and was recommended by Craig A Falconer, but the book is poorly executed. It doesn't feel believable. The characters feel fake and in the beginning they seem to bribe every single person that they meet. I will give 2 stars for Ray Porter but I do not recommend this book.

Searching for the Means to Open the Bridge

I requested a free review copy of this audiobook. After listening to the ‘Final Days’ series by Nathan Hystad and Jasper T Scott, and superbly narrated by Ray Porter, I had to give this one a listen as well. I am now writing my voluntary opinion of it.

Another reviewer stated ‘Lost Contact’ is “Indiana Jones meets Ancient Aliens Theory”. I agree with this assessment. Rex is following in his archaeologist father’s footsteps. He embarks on a Jones-like world-wide quest, investigating what happened to his vanished father. With cryptic clues to follow, it could be said the book alludes to ‘The DaVinci Code’ too. A cult calling itself The Believers are convinced the ancient inhabitants of Earth are returning home in the spacecraft spotted moving toward Earth. Rex and The Believers are in a race to find the artifacts that open the Bridge, albeit with different agendas in mind.

While there are sci-fi elements in this series starter, it's more an archaeological mystery/thriller. And if you like conspiracies, there’s plenty here to satisfy. Hystad delivers an interesting, well-written novel, complete with complex characters. The book ends at a natural pausing spot, leaving the reader pleased but still wanting more. I look forward to what’s next for Rex after the Bridge is opened. And how the arrival of the mysterious ships will affect Earth.

Ray Porter is one of my favorite narrators. I enjoy the tone and cadence in his voice. He’s skilled at creating differentiation among characters. And like every performance of his I’ve listened to, he perfectly conveys the author’s style of storytelling.

Recommended.

Great character development cool story

Great first book definitely looking forward to the next one. And Ray rules!!! Listened straight trough couldn’t wait to see what happened next

kind of a slow burn ,excellent payoff.

Pretty fun listen. The characters are well written and Ray Porter brings them to life wonderfully.
suitable for all listeners.

Indiana Jones meets Ancient Alien Theory

I’ve been fascinated by ancient alien theory for years. Getting to listen to a book that is not only narrated by Ray Porter but has also done an amazing job combining Indian Jones and Ancient Alien Theory was exciting and fun. I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

Excellent

Wow what a great book. Starts off a little slow, but quickly will grab you and take you for a ride you won't expect. Nice that it wasn't predictable. Ray Porter is his usual masterful self. If you love Ray Porter, come join us on Facebook at 50 Shades of Ray.

Ray Porter Gets Nathan Hystad’s Characters

Enjoyed the story and will get the series as each is released. It felt like an Indiana Jones and National Treasure tale. Nothing new under the sun, I guess.

painstakingly boring, tedious pretension

The premise is laughable. The writing juvenile. it was so bad, even Porter couldn't elevate it.

Wonder Exciting Performance

Ray Porter brought to life the characters and drama of Lost Contact! Excellent adventure with an Indiana Jones type professor seeking to find artifacts that will open a mythical bridge to some unknown destination. The adventure began when his father disappeared decades earlier in a similar quest. In the meantime, objects have appeared in the solar system that are alien in nature headed toward Earth. Add to that a powerful cult seeking to interfere finding the bridge and forming an alliance with the unknown aliens.

Indiana Jones-esque

My go-to listen is something that has some element in it that's not based in reality (sci-fi, fantasy, magic, etc). This book is reminiscent of Indian Jones, but with a sci-fi twist and perfectly fits into my prefered reads.

And I would listen to Ray Porter read the phone book to me, so that didn't hurt.

I am pleased at the decision to release the subsequent books one month apart. Many times I fall in love with a book or books that are part of a series and forget to check back for the rest of the series in a year+.

It’s fine, but doesn’t make much sense

It was an ok listen and the narrator was great, which is why I probably stuck it out.

I found a lot of it to be a bit silly. They “just happen” to guess the coordinates correctly with a bit of rearranging .... I mean it seems a bit convenient that they ended up in the right place first time, and “just happen” to keep bumping in to the right people! I mean you could literally have arranged the numbers around 50 ways and ended up all over the place. They then just kept following co-ordinates with a rich person paying for flights which I kind of think any fool could do.... feels like he didn’t need to waste 30 years becoming an archaeologist for that..... and then it just became a bit of, “and then we went here”, and “then we went there”.....thank goodness there were only 6 things to find, I don’t think I could have taken any more!

I think it’s an American thing but everyone seemed totally ok about guns and shooting people.... would a university professor be ok with this!?!? Maybe in America they would?

Overall everything was just a bit “convenient” and predictable. Along the lines of a Dan Brown book, but this was better than one of his (I didn’t want to burn it and set fire to the bookshop also, which was what I wanted to do 3 chapters in to the davinci code)

It also ends pretty much on a cliffhanger so you have to get the next book, which is a little annoying.

But overall not terrible.... and if you like Dan Brown you will probably enjoy it.

Could have been so much better.

I bought this because Ray Porter narrates it and it sounded like National Treasure meets Stargate.
The story is good but there's waaay too much overly descriptive narrative, its unnecessary and detracts from the characters. So much so that the cliffhanger seems pointless as a lot of time and text could have been saved with better editing. That said, it was a fun story.

How to annoy your readers 101

Ian Fleming wrote james bond to be spy fantasy, but this author seems to want to fantasise about characters going to dinner parties, characters going to bars, characters visiting relatives. I kept waiting for something to move the plot forward, but the same pattern of characters going to a social function, perceiving a vague threat, fleeing and going to another social function kept repeating. Peripheral characters are indistinct and blend together, plot lines with side characters are introduced and then never mentioned again. The bad guys have no clear motivation or established villain (the faceless, nameless 'Sovereign' is mentioned. Don't worry, we never meet him or her, and their involvement doesn't resolve or matter by the end of the book). Either the editing or the structure was poorly done, as secnes seem to jerk instantly from one to the other, so it feels like the characters lurch from one place and time to another, inexplicably. I noticed several times in the book where I found myself saying things like: 'Oh! Well I guess they are in France now?'. It became infuriating. After 5 hours or so I decided to keep listening out of bloody mindedness, hoping to get some satisfaction from the ending. NOPE! Thats the main reason I'm writing this. I don't normally write bad reviews, but in this case I had to make an exception, as the ending we had been waiting for all of the book was a complete bait and switch, essentially resetting the characters 'progress' to getting any answers back to zero. Who are the threatening aliens? We don't know, except we do know, we just won't tell you. Who built the bridge? Don't know. Why did they build the bridge? Don't know. Whats on the other side of the bridge? Nothing, but also something, but also something we won't tell you. Buy my next book to find out!

**** off.

There's not many books that have made me legitimately angry at how the author treats the reader, but this was one of them. I bought it because I like Ray Porter as a narrator, and he does his usual top notch job of bringing characters and story to life, but even he can't put life into a lifeless plot. I had hoped that like RC Bray, he had curated his projects somewhat to cover stories he thought were high quality, but I guess sometimes a guy just needs to work.

Scrambles over the line as Sci-fi...

Not my usual cup of tea and debating to get the 2nd book...Ray Porter is swinging it for me at the mo...
bit of a let down ending but it definitely sets the next book up as most trilogies should...
I highly recommend THE HIDDEN SHIP...

A bit of a let down

I’ve just finished the book and feel rather deflated with it. The book felt rushed and scenes seemed to move too quickly to build the story or atmosphere. The ending just felt as if it was set up to promote the next book.

Absolutely fantastic

An epic sci-fi full of twists and turns, exciting storylines and characters full of depth.

I really really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down, another fantastic read from Nathan!

P.s if you enjoyed this book please listen to "The Rise" series also written by Nathan and narrated by Ray porter.

brilliant story

Great story that is also believeable. best way to describe is National treasure crossed with Da Vinci code.

onto the sequel

Great stuff.

Ray Porter does it again and this time with a little help from Nathan Hystad. They really enjoyable listen. I was hooked from the start it had the right amount of Indiana Jones adventure with a sprinkle of sci-fi to finish it off. Right I can’t be here all day I’m off to find book 2... do yourself a favour and download it now.

Hooked

Can't wait to hear the next part of the story. Genuinely excited to find out what awaits

a mix of indiana and national treasure with alians

loved the first one the story is gripping and very well wrote and read keeps you wanting to hear more love the how adventurer biz and mixing that with sci-fi is making for a really interesting story excite for more