Another fantastic story by Alma Katsu! She never disappoints! This was like an X-Files episode but in book form. Page-turning and edge-of-your-seat tense moments with a satisfying ending. Katsu has perfected the short story.

CIA officer Craig Norton is close to retirement when he gets put on a special task force to investigate sightings of unexplained aerial phenomena. He finds this odd given 15 years ago reporting seeing one such phenomena and how that one incident had imploded his career and personal life. As he embraces his new assignment with gusto, he and his team members uncover some interesting details and an international cover-up years in the works

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of the book to read.

Black Vault was a very interesting take on alien and UFO fiction. It almost felt like this was a story that actually happened. Considering current events, that makes sense, but I also mean that the protagonist was very believable. Alma Katsu has a talent for writing characters that are not only interesting, but relatable.
I really haven't read much UFO fiction, but this short story definitely sparked an interest in the genre for me. Had this been a full length novel and had more page time to expand upon certain elements and side characters, it very well could have gotten a five star rating from me.

This thoroughly enjoyable novella feels like Katsu’s spy novels (Red Widow/Red London) had a child with the X-Files. I read the entire story in one sitting—which isn’t easy when you work full time and have a kid. There are a lot of twists, and I’m not sure how much I can say without getting spoilery, but if you enjoyed the episodes of the X-Files where Mulder and Scully were dealing with government cover-ups and conspiracies, you should definitely give this one a chance.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Black Vault is my first Alma Katsu work. This book is about a spy who reported that he saw a ufo while waiting to meet an asset and, years later, he learned what happened that night and found himself in a very dangerous conspiracy. I think this is more it's not the book, it's me problem. The story was interesting, and the writing was great, but it took me a while to read this short novella. Maybe I was expecting more action scenes. Maybe I was not the right audience. Overall, it was a good novella but not for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for an ARC in return for my honest review.

A CIA operative sees something unusual during his posting in Mongolia, and that sighting, and his reporting of it, come back to bite him in the ass years later, months from retirement. When the navy reveals they have been seen unexplained aerial phenomena during operations, Craig Norton’s boss appoints him to a CIA UFO task force; Craig knows it’s because of his irrelevance in the CIA because of his report, but, he wants his pension and can’t afford to tell anyone to shove it…..

Alma Katsu gives a nod to Fox Mulder and his office in the basement when Craig meets the rest of the team in a recently repurposed basement storage room, now the task force’s office.

Their investigation leads them to a mess the head of the division in Mongolia has kept secret for years, and even more interesting, a long held secret.

For a short story, this packed in a lot, and well. Katsu gives clear voice to Craig's disillusionment and frustration with his years being professionally sidelined, and its impact on his personal life.

I particularly enjoyed Craig's descriptions of politics between divisions, and the obstinance and foot-dragging of department heads not wanting to rock the boat with new ideas.

And the ending was a nice surprise, making this an entertaining read.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Amazon Original Stories for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Amazon Original Stories, and Alma for this arc in exchange for an honest review. I really loved this short story! I’m a huge fan of Alma Katsu and highly recommend!
@almakatsu @netgalley @amazonpublishing

Other books of hers I recommend:
💙The Hunger
💙The Fervor
💙The Deep

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Summary: It was a very suspenseful fast read. It was the perfect mix of politics, excellent characters, espionage, packed with a punch! 🛸

#read #book #booksbooksbooks #bookworms #readmore #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #almakatsu #blackvault #readersofinstagram #tbr #bookaddict #thriller #arc #booklovers

Black Vault by Alma Katsu is a new Amazon Original Story that provides an hour or two of delightful suspense. CIA officer Craig Norton sees strange lights in the sky. As unbelievable as it seems, This Unexplained Ariel Phenomenon seems unbelievable. Despite his misgivings, he fears that it could be cutting edge enemy technology and that it is his duty to make a report. So, he makes the career strangling mistake of firing a cable to Langly. Fifteen years later, Norton is just months away from retirement. He has been shelved from one dead end position to another and he is considered at worst a joke and at best, irrelevant. When Airforce piolets reveal sightings on television news show”60 Minutes” all other government agencies launch their own task forces. This is Craigs chance to finally investigate what he saw.

The author has created a character driven psychological suspense story exploring the events that ruined the main character’s career. A short story or novella doesn’t provide enough opportunity to develop a fully realized cast of characters. Although most of the people in the story are one dimensional, the main character is fully fleshed out. The plot is more of a procedural than a thriller. We follow the characters as they interview witnesses and track the paper trail of the original reactions to his sighting Office politics and spy intrigue dominate the story. Although this is touted as a “heart-pounding thriller short story, there is very little action and no danger. Rather, it is actually a longer novella length suspense story of reclaiming one's reputation and self-respect... That said, I highly recommend this book.

I think I was not the audience for this book. I have read one other novella from this author and didn't really enjoy it, either. If you enjoy stories about UFOs you might enjoy this story.

3.5 stars rounded up
This author is definitely not a one-trick pony. Each publication is completely different from the last. While this wasn’t as riveting as her novels, she managed to pack character development, politics and an engaging plot into this small package.

I've never been much for thrillers that don't have some sort of a horror or murder mystery aspect to them, but I saw this one mentioned in the same sentence as X-Files and had to give it a shot. (I loved me some Fox Mulder back in the 90s.) And, well, I'm certainly not disappointed in my decision, because Black Vault is a well-written and suspenseful story that I ended up enjoying quite a bit.

Katsu's prose borders on lyrical at times, especially in the beginning when the main character, Craig, is describing his fateful night on the Mongolian plains. The plot is solid and I really enjoyed the flashbacks to the night in question. The ending was fantastic – short story endings often leave me feeling dissatisfied due to their abruptness, but this one came to a more than satisfactory conclusion.

My only complaint is that I wish this story had been longer – I think it would have made a most excellent novel. This is the first I've read by Alma Katsu, but now I think I need to check out some of her longer works because she's definitely a talented writer.

Final score: 4.25 stars, rounded down.

Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for providing me with a copy of this story to review.

3.5

On assignment working for the CIA, Craig Norton sees something unusual in the sky, an unexplainable object, a UFO. He reports it and is immediately ostracized and marginalized for much of his career- that is, until the public sentiment turns and a new interest and belief in such phenomena takes hold. Suddenly Craig finds himself in the center of a new committee to explore such happenings.

This is described as “a heart-pounding thriller,” but it’s definitely not that. Not a lot of action, it’s more a redemption story with an accompanying mystery, and it’s a bit too bogged down in bureaucracy and repetition for how short the story is. I enjoyed it well enough but walked away with no strong feelings in any direction.

Thank you Alma Katsu, Amazon Original Stories, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is a really fun, quick read with definite X-Files vibes. I am a huge fan of Alma Katsu. Her books never fail to please and even though this story is under 100 pages it still felt like an extremely satisfying read. Highly recommended.

This is a fun little short story. Kind of a CIA+Aliens snack, perfect for a Sunday afternoon. The characters come together super fast and you move between now and then rapidly but it all ties together quickly. I really enjoyed it.

I received an Advanced Review Copy of this book and my thanks to the team of NetGalley, the publishers and the author for the copy.

All views expressed in this review are my own and based on my reading of this book. Some of the initial comments were made as I progressed in this book and I have not tried editing them as it expresses my contiguous thoughts as I proceeded with the story.

This has been one of my better read books this year easily my top 5 from 150+ read at this point.

Any book about an unidentified flying object creates a buzz in my mind and add the CIA into the mix and the blurb explodes the readers imagination with anticipation of UFO's, cover-ups, buried under piles of paperwork or as the title suggests.

Catching sight of an UFO is one thing but putting this information on paper is another and when you are a government officer and more so a CIA case officer and you learn to your chagrin that this is one blot that never comes off from your career. This is the point that we see our protagonist Craig face when he puts the information of an unexplained phenomena in the skies over Mongolia in his report. His career gets flushed down the toilet and we find him 15 years later a shell of a man and looking forward to retirement.
Chance disclosures by the navy on live TV about their tete-e-tete with such phenomena opens a whole new can of worms and every service races to cover their bases by initiating internal investigations to understand UFO/similar incidents.
Craig finds himself a part of such a taskforce to his disbelief, thinking that this was another low blow to his career. How he resurrects and redeems himself forms the basis of the rest of the story.

The story is the size of a short novella and therein lies its strength.
What I liked about the story was first the concept, focusing on the human element of Craig and his loss both family and career. I loved how Katsu has played with the timelines vacillating between the past and the present always keeping the human element as the focus and not the UFO's. The hit that Craig takes to his career following his report is telling and that's what happens when we start discussing these kinds of incidents in public. The task force filled with wasted elements gives a feel of the government style of functioning when no one wants any work to be done but puts a group who are basically spineless and lackluster to take the fall in case things go south. The redemption when it comes is expected but feels a nice fit to the story.
The office politics and domains within domains in an organization like a CIA is expected and we have seen/read similar in books like ones on Hoover. The fact that silos headed by nondescript people who suddenly start having their own fiefdoms which they protect with sinister possessiveness at the cost of the country is again something that we see in real life and is relatable.


The story gives too much feel of the X-files and feels like a pilot episode of the series where Craig is starting off on a series. Despite catcalls in the book itself there could have been more tongue-in-cheek about the same. The writing could have been more tighter though for me it did not matter as the book was completed in one sitting. I felt that the book could have eased into the ending which seemed quite sudden and abrupt.
For a seasoned CIA officer Craig seemed very naïve when it came to dealing with people and their promises especially when it cam to talking to the division head regarding his suspicions and findings. This was unbecoming of an officer 15 years in the organization and was a rookie mistake. I felt that this was a rookie mistake of Katsu as well.

Overall I loved this book despite the slight minimal bumps and have no problem recommending this to others.
A damn good read.

This was a short novella was a very interesting read for sure. It included a dual timeline which I loved because it showed how people, government, culture, etc can change through time. The MC was crazy for reporting a UFO sighting but then 15 years later oh how the tables turned. They still treated him like crap IMO. This was a quick paced steady read and due to the length I felt like the ending was a bit rushed. Overall I’d recommend it. I received the ARC of this book from NetGalley and am leaving my honest review and opinion.

Ehhh this was fine. The plot was intriguing but lacked punch and was unfortunately bogged down by garbled writing. Craig was a strong protagonist and I enjoyed the dual timelines, especially the parts about how his life unraveled. The fracture (and eventual repair) of his relationship with Charlie left me a bit emotional, while some revelations were very well done.

This was a pretty good novella but the writing kept me from enjoying it more.

CIA agent Craig Norton witnesses a UFO while working in Mongolia. After filing a report outlining what he saw, his career tanks, as he is written off for making such an ill-advised decision. Fifteen years later and nearing retirement, Norton is dismayed to discover that the CIA is setting up a task force to search their files and catalog any relevant findings and he is being reassigned to that department. Though it seems like a dead end for the last of his career, Norton is suddenly given an opportunity to turn it into something meaningful. But when he ends up digging deeper into his original report, he discovers there may be much more to everything that happened than he ever could have imagined.
Somewhere between short story and novella length, this story was a fairly captivating read that clipped along at steady pace. While it could have been lengthened, the short tale stuck to the more relevant features and details needed to get its points across. Though the ending felt a bit rushed and lacking a few details, it was overall an entertaining read.

This was a good read and an interesting look into the CIA. It really makes you wonder how it has been handled when case officers see things that can't be explained and how often personal politics and treason get in the way of keeping our country safe!

This was my 1st book by Alma Katsu but will definitely not be my last!

#BlackVault
#NetGalley

I don’t care for spy stories, but I like Alma Katsu’s writing. Granted, I’ve only read her scary stories, and was rather disappointed to see she veered into spy thrillers lately. Although given her past life as an intelligence officer, it’s hardly surprising.
So it is on the strength of her non-spy writing that I chose this spy tale from Netgalley, thinking, well, at least it’s short.
Turns out, it’s also very good. Guess this is one of those instances when a writer is talented enough to hop genres AND attract non-typical readership, too.
Yes, this is a spy tale, but it’s got UFOs, which is pretty awesome. It’s also well written, interesting, and fun. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.