Lost: Signs of Life - Book #3 (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Frank Thompson is an author, filmmaker, and film historian with a lifelong interest in the Alamo. Among his previous twenty books are two on the subject: The Alamo: A Cultural History and Alamo Movies. He has also written many articles on the Alamo for publications ranging from Texas Monthly magazine to The Philadelphia Inquirer. As an Alamo authority, Thompson has appeared in the television documentaries The Alamo (the History Channel, 1996) and History vs. Hollywood: The Alamo (History Channel, 2001). As a producer, he prepared the current video releases of Martyrs of the Alamo (1915), With Davy Crockett at the Fall of the Alamo (1926), Heroes of the Alamo (1937), and The Alamo: Shrine of Texas Liberty (1938). For the latter film Thompson also wrote, produced, and narrated a documentary, The Alamo: Shrine of Texas Liberty . . . Lost and Found (2000).

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786890924
• ISBN-13: 978-0786890927
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #771,741 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is just bad, April 20, 2006

By	K. Falanga "Mighty_Squid" (Jersey City, NJ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

These things are just getting worse. Why do I buy them?

The first hint should be that the back of the book names the main character as "Nick Hadley" and throughout the actual novel the main character's name is "Jeff Hadley". Is the publisher paying any bit of attention to these books?

The book is about a man who is stranded on an island after Oceanic Flight 815 crashes there. The characters names are the same. However that is where the simularity with the show of Lost ends. None of the characters act or talk like themselves and the author can't decide if the caves are somehow an evil place where no one goes or if some of the castaways live there.

There really should be a rule that if you write a Lost novel you need to actual watch the show. It's a popular show, how hard can it be to find a halfway decent author to write these things?

I don't recommend buying this book. The only reason why they can get away with such poor quality is because they stamp the word "Lost" on it and stupid fans like me buy it. Don't be like me.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars That was pretty bad., April 26, 2006

By	N. Matthews (London, England UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am not sure why there are so many spinoff books of the show like this, or better yet why they get published. This book kept me fairly interested in the beginning, but it just fell very, very flat.

The ending is extremely STUPID, and absolutely corny.

Don't bother with this book, it wont fulfil your need for the show between episodes.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fails to Live Up to Caliber of Previous Installments, March 20, 2006

By	H. Marker - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

To begin with, this book pales in comparison to the previous installments, both written by Cathy Hapka. The author this time around, Frank Thompson, writes as if he has never seen an episode of the show, and is going by CliffsNotes given to him. Cathy Hapka was clearly a fan of the show, because she got the nuances down pat, and every bit of dialogue she put in, you could clearly imagine the character saying it. Thompson's dialogue is off, and the characters' dialects seem to have become distinctly more British, with phrases that you would be hard-pressed to hear an American say.
In addition, Thompson's story completely contradicts the Lost universe. Without giving away the plot, what happens in the story significantly changes the characters (and their relationships) that live in the Lost universe, including Hurley, Michael, and Locke. Hapka's novels, while they did involve the main character interacting with familiar Lost-aways, stayed within the bounds of the universe established by the television show, and except for the main character, the characters were the same at the end as they were in the beginning.
The one good part about Thompson's novel is that it is faithful to the 'nature' of the show, in that it involves a person forced to re-evaluate himself on the island. But because the dialogue just doesn't ring true for the characters, and because Thompson takes so many liberties in dramatically changing the relationships between familiar Lost-aways, this book comes off as more of a rough draft for an episode that was never made.