A Catholic Mission From Outer Space

How would US authorities respond?

You might think the premise of this novel is preposterous, but isn’t that true of many successful pieces of speculative fiction? Don’t worry, like all good books this one has a complex plot, relatable characters and a fast pace that is on a par with the best thrillers.

Austin is an out of work Latin professor. At the start of the book he is obsessed with an on-line sex worker and, it seems, will do anything to spend a night with her. When it is discovered that the occupants of an alien space craft parked in Earth’s orbit want to communicate in Latin he is recruited as translator for a diplomatic mission aimed, ostensibly, to discover their intentions.

Note my use of the word ‘ostensibly’ in that sentence. As will be the case many more times as the story progresses, Austin has not been told the whole truth. The war crazed General who recruited him has devious motives. It would spoil the story were I to say more than that.

Deceit of one kind or another lies at the heart of this novel. The General is acting on his own account, ignoring the wishes of his political masters, in pursuit of his own agenda. Austin, for his part, is so used to being duped that he cannot believe the claimed peaceful intentions of the aliens, even when a friendly priest assures…