The Second Ship: Book One of the Rho Agenda by Richard Phillips

The Second Ship: Book One of the Rho Agenda by Richard Phillips. Synergy Books. May 2009. ISBN #: 9780981546261

An alien ship landed in New Mexico over sixty years ago and the secrets of this arrival have been hidden in the National Laboratory in Los Alamos by some very brilliant scientists and one very egomaniacal Director who plans to use these discoveries for his own vision. Enter three teenage friends whose fathers are technicians at the lab who are initially fascinated by this discovery but then enter an unimaginable world when they actually find a second, unknown alien ship located in a nearby cave in the same area. Instead of reporting this discovery, they begin their own exploration of the ship's technology, a course which is about to change their lives forever!

Heather, Jennifer and Mark aren't your average high school teens; each has a unique, advanced knowledge of physics, math, computers and technology. Yeah, they're technogeeks for sure but that ability is about to enable them to expand their physical, mental, and emotional boundaries far beyond ordinary human capacities!

Meanwhile, however, there are multiple foes anxious to possess the discoveries about to be revealed to the public at the Los Alamos Lab, facts that could not only create a new form of clean energy and a super race of humans but could enter America into a final Armageddon war. Is this the plan of the aliens behind the Rho Project? Are the teens' findings an attempt by aliens to save or destroy Earth?

In between the step-by-step discovery process, fearful, murderous, innocent and evil characters fill this story with an unparalleled tension and riveting fear.

While the characters might be a tad stereotypical, the plot and settings within this hard science fiction, first of a series novel, never lag in gripping the reader's attention on every page. There's enough scientific physics and technological information for similar technogeeks and enough explanation for non-tech geeks to thoroughly enjoy the first of what promises to be an engaging series of novels that this reviewer could definitely envision as an exciting movie as well as fascinating read!

Nicely done, Richard Phillips!