Not Alone

By: Craig A. Falconer

Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin

Length: 22 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Aliens exist, the government knows, and Dan McCarthy just found the proof. When Dan McCarthy stumbles upon a folder containing evidence of the conspiracy to end all conspiracies - a top-level alien cover-up - he leaks the files without a second thought. The incredible truth revealed by Dan's leak immediately captures the public's imagination, but Dan's relentless commitment to exposing the cover-up and forcing disclosure quickly earns him some enemies in high places. For his whole life, Dan McCarthy has searched for a reason to believe. Now that he finally has one, he might soon wish he didn't.... Not Alone is a stand-alone tale of contact and disclosure for the 21st century.

©2015 Craig A. Falconer (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Impressive Book About Aliens & the Hype Industry

There is an important lesson from this book. If you ever discover evidence of a government coverup about the existence of aliens - the first thing you will do is get a good public relations agent. Who knew Sci Fi could be linked so closely to the recent phenomenon of how we get our news and how ideas are marketed to influence public opinion.

There are a couple of major twists in this epic story and I would be careful of reading too many reviews in case one of them spoils it for you. For those that remember the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest, it would be like being told the Indian talks. When he asked for chewing gum near the end of the movie, instead of being awestruck you would just be saying - so that is when it happens.

This is intelligently done, the characters are multi dimensional, and there are no holes in the story. The author did a great job of presenting opposite points of views as people reacted to the possibility of aliens. I was also impressed by the narrator.

I have been lucky to read two phenomenal Science Fiction books, back to back. Sometimes you are lucky if two out of the last ten were merely good. I just passed the previous one on to my daughter and she texted me that she is loving it. i can't wait to tell her about this one.If you are looking for an inspiring read over the holidays, get this book.

Sci fi nerds will be rewarded

I really like Dan (the main protagonist). He works in a bookstore, loves sci fi, reads a lot, and always does what he thinks is the right thing. A kind of person any sci fi enthusiast could admire. But, he's a regular guy and doesn't really know how to move about in the real world (unfortunately, the kind of person many sci fi enthusiast are also like!) and needs his brother and a PR specialist who see him for the special person he really is. All sci fi nerds who believe "the truth is out there" are going to identify with the main character and will see that there is a reward that await them for worshiping at the shrine of sci fi and science.

I listened to this one with my wife (much more entertaining then watching politics, sports or most TV shows for the both of us). A good story such as this one illustrates perfectly how the number of facts that which we become aware of there will always be more than one set of theories that can adequately explain the data. Absolute certainty is always fallible in the hands of a master story teller and with a narrator who makes the story come alive with images that seem more real than TV, I can fully recommend this audible book.

(I'm straying close to a spoiler, but within the story, the author is very explicit that there awaits a reward for the sci fi nerd. I'm being cryptic, but for those who read the story that is made explicit and that was a take away for me from the story).

Great storytelling

Craig Falconer proves that he can hit the trifecta - develop his characters, write with wonderful detail without overdoing it, and to be so creative that the reader is happily surprised at his twists and turns.
I got into science fiction novels about a year and a half ago. In that time I've read or listened to about 200 novels. I'm not trying to be a braggart, rather, but want a reader of this review to understand the context when I say that this is in my 'top 10' in this genre.
I hope I'm not steering you wrong, but I sincerely enjoyed this audiobook.

Update: April 10, 2020. Please see my review of Book 5 of this series. I haven't changed my initial review that had 80 people find helpful. However, by book 4, the series is just plain bad.

Silly Unbelievable Amateurish

I did finish this book, but it was difficult.
Firstly this is not Science Fiction...I guess this is political/conspiracy fiction?
The story is mostly just silly. Silly plot, silly characters (lacking depth and humanity), silly psychology (the people don't behave like humans actually do), silly politics (politicians are one dimensional caricatures), silly media, silly science, silly twists, and a really, really, silly ending.

The prose were poor, using a lot of techniques I dislike.
It was cliche ridden ("above my pay grade" was used WAY too many times) and when a cliche was not used, the imagery was strangely off. Oddly of the few places where intense imagery appears when the author is very clear and detailed when describing vomit. For a story about hiding the truth, the book used a "dramatic" technique that generally bugs me; when something happens and the characters clearly know what happened, and the usually omniscient narrator clearly knows what happened, yet the author waits a chapter to tell the reader what it was that happened.

It felt to me a lot like this was written by a very inexperienced young person.

The narration is quite acceptable, but does not add much to the poor writing. It was slightly humorous that the narrator always read out S.E.T.I as letters (since the author had made a point of 4 letter abbreviations always being pronounced as a word as in NATO, NASA, FEMA (and SETI))!

Science fiction with no science nor fiction

Not for hard science fans. There is very little dependence or elaboration on scientific facts, logic, and philosophy. Plot moves slowly and writing style more or less meandering chit chat. The author goes frequently into unnecessary details (via dialog or thoughts) on purely random things like hair straightening or media town. Had to return this.

Really interesting premise.

Overall, it was interesting, but I feel like it dragged on in the middle with no apparent destination. The action certainly started to heat up again at the end and the twisting and turning helped pull me back in to a story I was last ready to abandon. I have two other pieces of criticism. It was a little tough to swallow the seemingly powerless and incompetent portrayal of world leaders. Making them appear barely competent at best and simply ruthless caricatures of greed and avarice at worst. Also, I wish there was a bit more of a conflict with regards to the main characters. The audio performance was well done.

Quantity over Quality

When it comes to spending credits, this one is definitely quantity over quality. Science fiction fans will likely make it through all 23 hours, but unless you're a UFO conspiracy geek, it will be done a bit grudgingly. You do get somewhat attached to the three main characters, especially Emma the PR superstar, and that's what keeps you going through the ho-hum plotline. But the political backdrop is totally absurd, especially the actions of the British PM. As he egotistically, in good British form, connives to take over the new World, he continuously bashes the United States over everything to include our space program. (This from a country that has put fewer satellites in orbit than North Korea). And surprise, the chief antagonist is an over zealous patriotic American war hero (yawn - keep moving, nothing new here). Fortunately for the author, narrator Cronin is the one who brings life to this book with his great performance, otherwise I probably wouldn't have made it to the 2 or 3 good parts. So I give Falconer credit for a good first try, but anything more than 3 stars is gratuitous.

Excellent story and narration

What a great experience. I was repeatedly (and pleasantly) surprised by the twists and turns in this story. In my experience with Audible, a narrator's performance is just as important as the author's story. This narrator's performance was excellent and made this great story even better. I highly recommend this audio book.

Not interesting, not well-written

I hate being one of those people that might ruin the day of an author, so sorry author, but this is a extremely boring book. And contrary to what some the reviews are saying, the writing is just awful. I don't remember the last time I heard such terrible, pointless dialog, and that's how I would describe the entire first half of the book, and it's a long one. And the "twists" that other reviewers talk about are actually exactly what I thought would happen, so there aren't any twists. I would suggest to the author that he try the exercise in the beginning of the movie A River Runs Trough It and make what he writes shorter, then make it shorter again, then make it shorter again, while still telling the story.

Nope

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

The premise sounded promising but it soon devolved into a rather implausible tale. It features several card board cutouts as protagonists and antagonists contest who vie over what supposedly is a monumental revelation about alien visitors. Maybe I'm being too harsh but if you can accept that a small town writer/barista, with the aid of some colorful locals and a PR guru who just happens to be in the neighborhood, can outwit entire federal agencies and the president, I have a bridge story I can sell you.

I probably should have let it go after an hour or two but stubbornly stuck it out. My bad.

Would you ever listen to anything by Craig A. Falconer again?

Probably not.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Passable other than his insistence on attempting unique voices for the characters.

What character would you cut from Not Alone?

The British PM was insufferable and would never have been able to ascend to the position of relevance he attained in the real world. He was unnecessary, distracting and annoying. His plot function would have been better served rolled into the president who was otherwise extraneous.

Great but...

Please don't let Americans do bad English impressions, no one in the UK actually sounds like Dick Van Dyke.
Otherwise I really enjoyed this book :)

LOVED this!!

I absolutely loved this book! The story had me hooked the whole way through, I couldn't stop listening (much to my partner's annoyance). It's a long book, but I didn't want it to end.

Only one criticism is that the narrator couldn't do accents AT ALL, it was almost comical!

Bottom line: I love good sci-fi and long audiobooks, and this ticked the boxes!

A fun yarn with some unexpected twists.

Good conspiracy theory thriller. I do wish the narrator knew the difference between a Sheffield and cockney accent though. that was pretty jarring.

Good story, so-so performance

Enjoyed the book in general; plenty of twists and turns and interesting characters. For the most part, the performance is fine, but man does he mangle a British accent!

Worth a listen.

Wanted: Editor for basically good story....

As a fan of scifi novels I was bound to like this story which served up enough heroes, villains, aliens and plot twists to make it a page-turner.

The book is about a third too long and can be ponderous in the extreme explaining the obvious to avoid excluding any reader and this could be fixed by a good editor. It has the feel of a self published book and needs the blue pen on both a tendency for over description and some serious correction of phrases and slang that too often sound British when they are American in setting or voice. I believe the author originates from Edinburgh so is bound to use some British terms. I thought he did dialogue much better than his exposition.

The narrator has a likable voice, good pace and conveys excitement well; but roamed into out and out comedy on his rendering of British accents and pronunciations. His prime minister sounding like the baby on Family Guy, and the others so far off the locations suggested (the PM's crony, John, so far from a Yorkshire accent he may as well have been the alien) it was just distracting at times - not that I could do regional American accents justice. But the narrator is an actor and if he's going to attempt the accents, he should really research and learn them.

Overall enjoyable enough to get to the end and I could see this turning up as a Netflix mini series.

Quite good

This book focused too much on the politics for me but otherwise very enjoyable and very well read.

Good read! Great Sorry. .

Good take on the first contact scenario from the ground level up.
the only slight hiccup was the narrators non American accents... That British accent was awful..

Could not stop listening.

The book is well written. The plot is good. Plenty of twists. Would not normally listen to a book this long, but well worth every word.
Highly recommend listening.

Great listen

This audio book is first class, if you believe we are not alone. Listening felt like I was there. Very good

A real page turner

An epic Science fiction novel. My only disappointment was the narrator. I suspect he went to the "Dick Van Dyke" school of British accents.