The Orion Plan by Mark Alpert

[Gravy]

On an ordinary night, in a New York city park, a very extraordinary thing happens: an alien prob lands and begins to enact it's preprogrammed instructions. One of which is spreading below ground, another is to plant devices in people, and it's plans go unnoticed...at first.

The story is told with chapters alternating between four characters: Sarah works for NASA, and she's the first to see the prob while it's still in space. Joe is a homeless drunk who used to be a doctor, he has the bad luck to find the prob after it lands. Emilio is a thug with a grudge against the world, he encounters the prob when him and his boys harass Joe. And Dorothy is a women, dying from cancer, who gives food to the homeless in the park.
All the storylines weave together, and all were interesting enough to keep me reading.

The science worked into the storyline was a nice addition, but felt a little too clinical to me. Also, while the characters were fleshed out pretty well, they still fell flat for me, and others did things that just never made sense. The characterizations just weren't good enough to really keep me engaged, which is why it took me around two months to finish.
However, after the halfway point it got better, and I did enjoy the storyline and the end was not what I expected.
I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys sci-fi, aliens, or real science in their fiction.
I rated it a three out of four.

[gali]

Sounds good. Will add it to my list, thank you.

[Gravy]

I hope you enjoy it