I found this book in one of the libraries at the DoD where I was working for awhile. The accuracy and detail put into this work should not be missed by any good reader. Great Book!

I discovered this book and author by accident and I'm glad I did. Harrison's style in writing this exciting novel is elegant, smart, witty and packs lots of technical information. The story draws the reader into the atmosphere of a code-breaking branch of the British Intelligence and focuses on a very intelligent mathematician who uncovers a plot that could be damaging to England.

I became so fascinated with the author's elegant style, I bought and (am currently reading) his three other books "Thunder of Erebus", "Forbidden Summit", and "Storming Intrepid."

This book is guaranteed to be a page turner. Enjoy it.

I too, found this book by ACCIDENT, and I am glad I did! It was a great read. Go get it while you can.

I read this book over 12 yrs ago, I was in the Tom Clancy Craze,
of reading all the techo-thrillers I could find. The cover
caught my eye, the Space Shuttle on the cover, and "Storming
Intrepid" (Guess the name of the shuttle :-)

The book is technical, believable, conspiracy theory,
personable characters, lots of action, and I just loved it.!

Have recommended it and loaned it to other techo-thriller fans.

Congratulations to Mr. Harrison's first book! A Russian sleeper agent attempts to steal a space shuttle with a "Star Wars" package. But an accident strands him in orbit. Now the U.S. and the Soviets race to bring down the "Intrepid" first. The characters are thoroughly believeable. Harrison does an incredible job of bringing them to life and making you care about them, including the Russian agent who steals the shuttle. The thrills, the twists, the turns, never stop. The climax is one of the most amazing I've ever read.

A real page-turner! The story is simple - a Russian agent hijacks a US space shuttle and the mission goes wrong, and the US and USSR have to race to bring down the shuttle, using any means at their disposal! This book features everything - Star Wars weapons technology, an experimental space fighter project which might be quite feasible one day, a dnagerous shuttle launch, Stealth bombers on a mission into Russia and a spectacular apperance by the highest-flying plane in the world, the SR-71 Blackbird under attack by Russian air defences! As the story unfolds, so do some exceptional plot twists and a detailed but easy-to-read insight into how the Russian mission to steal the shuttle came about. On the whole, this book is often similar in various aspects to Dale Brown's SILVER TOWER, with the space weapons ideas, but STORMING INTREPID definitely leaves Dale Brown standing on the ground! I would give this book at least 100 stars but the scale won't let me. Oh well. The US vs Russia angle may be Cold War-era, but this electrifying thriller is still a superb read. One I'll definitely read again in a few months, and this I'd recommend to any technothriller fan!

As a reader of military fiction books, Thunder of Erebus let me down. First of all, I do have to admit that I like stories where the US whips ups on the bad guys and wins in the end, which is not the case here. But more importantly, the premise of the books is based upon a previously unknown super weapon that the Soviets have built and unleash on US forces. This is unrealistic and allows the author a convenient way of manipulating the plot.

So in the end, despite some pretty good writing, it's the plot the let me down. If that is what matters to you, then you may want to pass on this book.

To Payne Harrison: I saw a young boy touch Thunder Of Erebus on the shelf. He paused, and then went on. I stopped him and said that that book was one of the best I've ever read. My squadron has enjoyed it, too. Let's have more of your writings! Thank you, Steve Hutchinson, aka Col. Wrecking Crew.

I was a huge fan of Harrion's "Storming Intrepid", and was therefore extremely happy when his second effort came out. At first I was kind of disappointed because it didn't jump right into action like "Intrepid". Instead, Harrison spends the first half of the book building all the necessary elements for the second half, which then just explodes. I'm glad I stuck with it, because I usually dump a book if after 50-75 pages I'm not hooked. I'm glad I stuck with it because "Erebus" became one of my favorite books. I read the first half of "Erebus" in about a week, and the second half in two very long nights. The degree of action, detail, and just great storytelling all coalesce and makes "Erebus" very difficult to put down. I'm not even a fan of the Clancy-style books, but I always keep an eye open to see if a new Payne Harrison is out

That Area-51 may be the most secure airfield (or whatever field) on Earth, but it gets visited routinely in novels like "Forbidden Summit". Not since the 1970's with shows like "In Search Of..." has the link between native americans and ufo's gotten any real fleshing. And it doesn't here either unfortunately. Author Harrison is working on a smaller scale than he had with "Thunder of Erebus" and his story doesn't get much farther than an elaborate chase story as a grizzled USAF officer nearing retirement and his impromptu girlfirend get swept up into a cross-country chase.

Unfortunately, Harrison never fleshes out the story of the UFO conspiracy besides taking it very seriously. That's a mistake - even the X-files knew to set their funniest episode inside Area-51. Harrison, on the other hand takes it seriously, but allows a few gaffes that require serious belief suspension - like the security force for this government cabal being unable to nab our heroes, or even realize that their top-secret base isn't as secure as they imagine (a crazy old hermit knows just how to get in and out). Worse, the author's sense of gullible readers spill onto his own charachters, and it takes very little for suspicions to turn towards UFOs. Finding rectangular indentations on the desert floor may mean a great many different things to different people, but Harrison's hero can come to one conclusion (we're not alone! ) with the gravity that's supposed to equal that of the apes at the monolith in the opening of 2001. There actually is an ironic twist in this book, only it's a shame that it relies on our being distracted by trite plot ideas and contrived coincidences (the hero's nemesis is the same officer who's been making his career a hell for years) and gullible charachters.

TOTALLY based upon the success of 'Storming Intrepid' & 'Thunder of Erebus' I picked up a copy of 'Forbidden Summit' even though I immediately had reservations because it was a dramatic departure from what Harrison had done before (and done well, I might add). This wasn't a techno-thriller...it was more of a combination of Robert Doherty's 'Area 51' books and very serious episodes of the 'X-Files'. Since Harrison is such a good author I gave him the benefit of the doubt and decided to give it a go.

I have to say that while being very good, and giving us a great 'what if' story regarding the Governments 'possible' involvement with alien technology it had its moments which made me go, 'C'mon! You don't REALLY expect me to swallow THIS do you??' Like a few other readers, the so-called defense of America's most Ultra-Secret base is simply ludicrous. I can suspend my belief quite easily while reading almost ANYTHING, but considering how 'realistic' Mr Harrisons works in the past had been, he seemed to have made my expectations a bit too high in his previous works only to have it dashed with a few descriptions here. However this notwithstanding, 'Forbidden Summit' is STILL an entertaining look at a very popular and oft-written subject of the so-called, 'Area 51' base. If you are a fan of Harrisons earlier stuff (far superior in MY opinion) this will still grant you some hours of fun reading, but don't expect it to be nearly as realistic as his first two novels.

An interesting interpretation of Bob Lazar's revelations concerning the truth behind Area 51! A NORAD officer spots four unidentified aircraft on his radar, but why is he told to keep quiet? He sets out to find that in true X-FILES tradition, the truth is out there! Excuse the cliche, but who needs Mulder and Scully?! Suspenseful action scenes, great military research and flashes of imagination are abound in this one. Read it for yourself and enjoy!