Longshot

John Abbot is at the Lucky Casino in Las Vegas on a winning streak with the goal of winning his wife and daughter back. Unfortunately, the universe has something else in store as Las Vegas is being over-run by invading aliens that have appeared with no warning or communication. The world only found out six days prior to their arrival, as those with an Astral phone app alerted planet Earth! Immediately upon arrival a huge mothership dispersed smaller ships around the planet destroying major cities and beaming up survivors. Las Vegas is the center of this story. Built in the 1960s, the off-strip Casino/Hotel, Lucky was amply named as the alien bombs did little damage, but the more modern buildings were destroyed. Rather than take their chances of going outside and seeing that their casino was holding up well to the bombings, John and about fifty other patrons chose to ride it out and remain inside. However, instead of joining as one group, they divided into, “gangs,” taking over various aspects of the facility. Personalities are clashing, hopes and dreams are deteriorating, and people are preparing to either be captured or killed when a lone alien shuttle crashes into the Casino. The group discovered a lone injured, eight-foot humanoid alien lying outside the shuttle. After much consideration, a group of eight decided to take the alien to Area 51, located one hundred miles away, hoping returning him might be the ticket to saving Earth. I absolutely loved this book! The plot was original, the main protagonists: John, Todd, Dennis, Margaret, Lawrence, Joanne, Lisa, and Kristina are so different, with sad, often tragic varied backgrounds, making for a lively and turbulent story of survival. I highly recommend this book.