Title: Contact
Author: Susan Grant
Publishing Date: 2002
Genre: Futuristic
Rating: B
Sensuality: Hot
Jordan Cady is a pilot for United Airlines. While making a quick flight to Hawaii her plane is swallowed up by an unknown alien aircraft. The lead pilot has a heart-attack from the stress and dies, leaving Jordan in charge of almost 300 people that make up the crew and passengers of Flight 58. Kao Vantaar-Moray has been assigned to debrief the survivors from Earth. The alliance patrol ship rescued Flight 58 right before Earth was hit by a comet. It is his job to help the last remaining survivors of Earth assimilate to their new life.
I usually don't read a lot of books in the science fiction category. I don't know why that is, because when I do, I really seem to enjoy myself. Contact was a very enjoyable read. Jordan finds herself in the role of not only Captain, but the leader of the survivors. She steps up the challenge of providing strength that others can rely on to get through this very tough time. Even though she wants to curl up into a ball and mourn the loss of her daughter and her life, she straightens her spine and gets to work.
While working out the details on their new life with Kao, she develops a friendship with him and discovers that Kao is not the cold-hearted, unfeeling man she first assumed him to be. She discovers that she has much in common with him and he helps her battle her grief over her daughter. I really liked that the author showed Kao's growth through out the story. Kao has been through a lot and it was good to see him work though all his problems and fight for what he most desired.
There is a secondary political plot that is also important to the development of the story. It was relatively easy to follow along with and didn't detract from the romance in any way. If anything I wish that more of the story could have been on the survivors assimilating in the new world. The majority of the story took place on the Alliance patrol ship. It would have been nice to see more of the other planets. But keeping things simple worked in the favor of making it more realistic and believable.