Project 1882

David Harker is a British engineer instructed to reverse-engineer alien technology during WWII. He quickly becomes consumed with trying to learn the technology’s secrets while surrounded by a cast of cartoonish American, Soviet, and Nazi agents. David’s relationship with his wife appears to be an attempt to humanize the characters, but it only draws attention to the lack of logic underlying their actions and relationships—or the plot itself. Sloppy research and poor writing, including what looks like extensive thesaurus use, further hamstring the story. The main idea recalls the pseudoscience of Zecharia Sitchin, whose fans might enjoy this look at his theories of ancient astronauts against a WWII background. This debut’s one saving grace is its brevity, though that prevents Shirley from adequately addressing many of the plot points he introduces. [em](BookLife) [/em]