Echo

September 27, 2010
Fans of antiquities dealer Alex Benedict will find their expectations fully met by his fifth outing (after 2008's The Devil's Eye). Benedict innocently arranges the purchase of a curious but not obviously significant stone tablet with an unreadable inscription. When the slab proves inexplicably difficult to collect, Benedict and his partner, Chase Kolpath, investigate its connections to explorer Sunset Tuttle's abrupt abandonment of his quest to find another intelligent race. Death hounds Benedict and Chase as they inch closer to an old shame someone will kill to protect. McDevitt's characters may live 9,600 years in the future, but their values are entirely 21st century, which will endear them to some SF fans and turn off others. There are hints of the existential malaise that permeates McDevitt's Priscilla Hutchins novels, but despite the book's terrible events, the series retains its essential optimism about redemption and progress.

October 15, 2010

Through eight millennia of star travel, humans have discovered only one other intelligent species. Twenty-five years after the death of intrepid explorer and alien enthusiast Sunset Tuttle, a tablet with strange, indecipherable markings comes to the attention of antiquarian Alexander Benedict. He seeks more information from its current possessor and Tuttle's former lover, Rachel Bannister, but is rebuffed. Benedict's attempts to discover more about the mysterious tablet and the elusive Bannister lead him on a journey that proves both enlightening and deadly. The latest Alex Benedict novel (A Talent for War; Polaris; Seeker; The Devil's Eye) maintains the author's high standard of storytelling excellence. Benedict is a thoroughly likable protagonist, and McDevitt imagines the far future with precision and believability. VERDICT The author's fans and lovers of sf mystery/adventure should enjoy this polished addition to a popular series.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.