Falling Star by Philip Chen - $2.99 Kindle Edition

Philip Chen was born in China in 1944 and immigrated to the United States in 1949. Growing up in Washington, D.C., during the 1950s and 1960s, Philip learn both the pains and triumphs of American society at a crucial turning point in America's history. After receiving a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering with Distinction from the University of Virginia and a Master of Science from Stanford University, he worked as an ocean research engineer in the development of deep submergence systems. Part of his work dealt with vehicles that could freely dive to 20,000 feet of water depth. He also participated as a hyperbaric chamber operator for manned dives inside a pressure chamber to 1,500 feet. He holds one U.S. Patent for an underwater mooring system.

After his stint as an ocean research engineer, Philip was an environmental and energy engineer, a trial attorney, a public securities attorney, an investment banker, a corporate executive, a private equity manager (in Africa), a strategic consultant, a cartoonist, an illustrator, a website manager, and author. He received his law degree from the University of Minnesota.

One of his mentors once told Philip that it wasn't that he couldn't hold down a job; he couldn't even hold down a career!

Philip's biography has been included in Who's Who in America and in Who's Who in the World for many years.
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The World is at risk; not the ordinary risk seen every night on prime time news, but a horrific one that portends the possibility of total annihilation. Mysterious but silent objects have been found buried deep in the murky depths of the ocean. However, something has suddenly happened. These objects wake up and start sending messages to outer space. Mike, pulled back into a clandestine world that he thought he had left behind to help decipher these messages, is attacked by gangs of ordinary looking Americans and must fight for his very life. Who are these attackers? Why have they targeted Mike and his colleagues in the secret agency? On top of these interwoven threats, Mike learns that a revered friend has died. With the death of this friend, is mankind's last hope for understanding the signals lost forever in the silt and muck of the ocean bottom?

EDITORIAL REVIEWS:

Alan Caruba, Charter Member of the National Book Critics Circle had this to say about Falling Star:

"It is rare when a novelist makes his debut with as powerful a novel as Philip Chen’s Falling Star ($15.25, available from Amazon.com, softcover and on Kindle). It begins in 1967 and concludes in the Oval Office in 1993. In between Chen introduces you to an array of characters, all of whom have unique talents, some of whom are U.S. Navy officers, some with the FBI, all devoted to the protection of their nation. They are a handful of people who know about mysterious entities far beneath the surface of the waters surrounding the U.S. Others are members of a rogue KGB unit, moles who lived among us, but whose mission ended when the former Soviet Union collapsed. This novel stands out for the way you are introduced not just to the characters, but the physical reality in which they live, the sights and even the smells. Slowly and then with increasing intensity, the mysteries are unraveled, the enemies identified, as life and death often hangs in the balance. Drawing on his own life as an ocean research engineer, attorney and banker, Chen brings an authenticity to the novel that provides a heart-pounding reality that forces you to ask “What if?” What if Earth was under observation by those from another planet that is circling a dying sun? What if they intended to colonize it? What if the year for this was 2013? If you read just one novel in 2011, make it Falling Star."

Robin Hathaway, well-known mystery author of the Dr. Fenimore and other series, and an Agatha Award winner (1998) and the David G. Sasher, Sr. Award (2009) winner, writes,

"The discovery and subsequent search for a mysterious weapon buried deep in American waters, is the chilling subject of this thriller. The author’s knowledge of engineering and his use of specific detail increase the credibility of this intriguing story. A colorful cast of characters are involved in the search and their dramatic interaction is vividly portrayed.

"Anyone interested in the future of America’s defense and weaponry will find this novel gripping."

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