A Review Of "Cold Eyes (First Contact)" By Peter Cawdron
A Cool And very Intelligently Written Read
James C. Rocks
It took me a while to persuade myself to buy Peter Cawdron's book, "Cold Eyes (First Contact)" but the description was intriguing and that was enough. I am glad that I did, as it is one of the best books I have read in recent years, so good I felt I had to review it. Here goes...
It takes some time for the book to reach any real action but, when it does happen, it isn't dull and was sometimes, quite visceral. It is, however, refreshing to read a book where we humans are not, once again, defending the Earth in the last decrepit spaceship against evil aliens. Relationships are well realised with strong romantic bonds (by design) between the lead characters and, more to the point, Cawdron keeps those romances at a level I think works for a story that is, for the most part, about other things.
Having seen some of the rather negative reviews of the book, I didn't expect the book's ending and actually thought that it was pretty damned good. Unfortunately, I can't explain that much better without giving key elements of the plot away.
Overall, the plot was good, there is plenty of adventure (away missions and associated problems) along the way but my real fascination with the book is the intelligence with which the author has put together the scenario and the way he has, within it, set out to tell the story he did. Cawdron appears to be something of a First Contact afficionado, not exactly a specialist (hard to specialise in something that's never happened) but certainly very keen to envisage such things given the series of stories he has written all ostensibly about the same subject (although I'm sure they are still very different). Had I not read this book, I probably wouldn’t have read any others of his but, despite some trepidation on my part, the description was sufficient to persuade me to try and now it seems I have a new author I'd be happy to read. The end result is a book that is optimistic, hopeful and reflects the kind of human race I would like us to be but that, unfortunately, we usually aren't.

