The Mars Transmission - Ronald Reed Jackson Book Review

Enter a review
of your own!

Other books by
author Ronald Reed Jackson

"The Mars Transmission"
Message Board

Review Summaries

" Keeper & Sol, 1999, 351 pp. ISBN: 1967317208 After years of feeling alone in the universe, a stunning discovery occurs when a repeat transmission of radio waves emulates from Mars. NASA maintenance engineer Tyler Anderson, toilet unclogger superstar works on translating the incoming message though he is unaware of a conspiracy involving his superiors. Instead he soon realizes that someone on Mars is begging for help, but first he must fix a stuffed toilet. The world's space exploration community puts together a manned space mission that includes Tyler to investigate the transmission at its source. On Mars, the crew finds an abandoned still functioning complex, apparently built by an alien civilization that for whatever logistical reason left behind their junk but technological treasures to the earthlings who came after them. However, the crew is soon going to learn how Pandora felt when she opened the box. Things begin to wrong and some of the crew die while communication with mission control fails. Tyler concludes that the message was not a call for help, but a warning that may prove too late to heed. Once readers accept the Walter Mitty like Tyler turning into Rocky defeating Apollo Creed by translating what everyone else thought was noise and being added to the astronaut team, fans will enjoy a strong science fiction thriller. The story line makes the flight to Mars, the subsequent landing, and the climax seem so real that readers will believe NASA and the Russians conducted a joint mission to the Angry Red Planet. Tyler may not at first be suited for the job, but the audience will like him and forget his job description as he is the hero of this epic space adventure. Harriet Klausner "
Harriet Klausner, Resident Ronald Reed Jackson Scholar

Click above for the new Obama Girl Parody video!

Overall Review

Our unique search engine breaks down books and movies into dozens of literary elements, all of which are searchable.

Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%

Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes
Plotlets: - exploring a wondrous planet or phenomena
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - scientist
Age: - 20's-30's
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - an entire race

Setting
Terrain - Space, need spacesuit
Which planet? - Mars
Not Earth, in Solar System? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation
How much dialogue? - significantly more dialog than descript

Most similar books by Gordonator ranking
Asgard's Heart by Brian Stableford
Star Dragon by Mike Brotherton
Evening's Empire by David Herter
Starcruiser Chronicles, Book 4: Infinite Night by Graham D. Watson
Jupiter by Ben Bova

Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

Try our new Star Wars & Star Trek puzzle pictures! Click here

Advertise with us
Feedback
Star Wars Revenge of the Sith plot spoilers
Hobbits
The politics game
The lawyer game

3 Book search options!
1) Simple lookup
(title or author)

or
2) Detailed book search
(click here) or

3) One-click plot searches! Simply click on a plot below!

Animal Story

Clones

Coming of age

Cultural problems, alien culture

Explore/1st contact/ enviro story

Family relations

GIANT monster(s)

Horror story?

Inner Struggle

Lifeform altered?

Mental/magical powers focus

Parody

Political power play

Religious overtones?

Repressive society story

Robots, Computers, VR

Romance

Spying & Investigations

Tech./$$$/Info hunt

Time Travel story?

Training/Apprent.

War or Invasion

Games:
Trivia Masters!

Rescue your favorite
scifi characters from
slavery!

Talk to your favorite
scifi characters!

Eating New Yorkers
Computer Game

Pomeranians

Most recent TV & Movie discussions:

Blade Runner: Blade Runner 9/6/2008 12:13:28 PM

Star Trek Enterprise: T'Pol shows her nude butt on Enterprise! 9/2/2008 3:20:24 AM

Star Trek Enterprise: Jolene Blalock on T'Pol and Star Trek Enterprise 9/2/2008 3:12:39 AM

Star Trek Enterprise: Is T'Pol supposed to be a Vulcan lesbian? 9/2/2008 3:02:45 AM

A Boy and His Dog: A Boy and His Dog 8/31/2008 1:47:59 AM

Charmed: How can Phoebe Halliwell get an abortion? 8/29/2008 10:02:34 PM

Alien Hunter : Alien Hunter 8/28/2008 1:25:23 PM

Charmed: What's wrong with Rose McGowan's chin? 8/26/2008 8:21:36 AM

Charmed: What kind of name is Piper for a girl? 8/20/2008 5:34:24 PM

The Mask: The Mask 8/14/2008 11:06:36 PM

Newest slaves:
Gina Lee Nolin 10:45:51 PM
Salma Hayek 10:45:44 PM
Luke Skywalker 10:45:31 PM
Chellina 10:44:56 PM
Heather Graham 10:44:27 PM
Kim Cattrall (Samantha Sex City) 10:41:55 PM
Jennifer Connelly (Hulk) 10:41:13 PM
Prue Halliwell (Shannen Doherty) 10:39:30 PM
Willow (Alyson Hannigan) 10:38:11 PM
Obi Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) 10:37:52 PM
All slaves
(click here)

Celebrity interviews:
President George W. Bush 6:32:00 PM
Jan-Michael Vincent 2:16:51 PM
Captain Kathryn Janeway 3:47:46 PM
Jack ONeill (Richard Dean Anderson) 1:39:22 PM
Jennifer Aniston (Friends) 5:01:07 PM
All celebrities
(click here)