by 
You can tell by looking the cover of Impact that a meteoroid strikes off the coast of Maine. Except it’s not a meteoroid and there is a corresponding crater on the other side of the planet in the mountains of Cambodia. Something strange has just happened and the world is in peril.
The heroine is a college drop-out who studied astronomy living back home with her lobsterman father. The hero is a super-spy contracted to investigate the crater in Cambodia. They eventually come together and try to save the world.
It was an intriguing page turner, even though I found elements a bit frustrating.
But I had an even more frustrating experience when I bought the book.
<Rant>
One of the most controversial things about the Kindle is pricing. If you’re traveling and want to bring a few books to read, then the Kindle is fantastic (except having to shut it off when the plane is landing and taking off). Otherwise, it’s an inferior product.
I agree with this quote about books from Free by Chris Anderson (Editor of Wired magazine and GeekDad Editor Emeritus):
“For all their cost disadvantages, dead trees smeared into sheets still have excellent battery life, screen resolution, and portability, to say nothing about looking lovely on shelves.”
I was confronted with conundrum of paying $12.99 for the inferior Kindle edition of Impact or $10.14 for a new hardcover from Amazon. Sure, you need to add in shipping costs to the price. (Or I could wait for a bigger order and save the shipping costs.)
At a minimum, you need to get a cost savings on the Kindle edition to amortize the cost of the Kindle device.
</Rant>
I became interested in the book after reading Alan Cheuse’e review of Sci-Fi Novels to Keep You Awake at Night. I had already read the other book in the review, Sleepless, and really enjoyed that.
I found the characters to be a bit too dimensional. I expected that and can accept that in a thriller. The main story is really unique, but offset by some plot elements that are cliched and expected.
Even with its flaws, I stayed up late a few nights in a row because I was enjoying the story and wanted to see where it went.
