One Way

April 23, 2018
Morden (author of the Petrovitch Trilogy and others as Simon Morden) sets this sharp thriller in a crisply imagined near future. Former architect Frank Kittridge is serving a life sentence for shooting a drug dealer. He’s made an offer he can’t refuse: travel to Mars with seven other convicts who have a number of necessary skills, and set up the Mars Base One habitat for NASA scientists. After months of grueling training and almost a year of cryosleep, they arrive on Mars and soon find out that their supplies are scattered miles away. Nevertheless, the group must get the job done, all under the eye of devious overseer Lance Brack. The death of their transport specialist shortly after arrival kicks off a series of deaths due to mystifying accidents, and emails and internal memos indicate that their employer doesn’t have their best interests at heart. Frank, a capable but refreshingly ordinary protagonist, resolves to root out the culprits and stop the killings. Morden makes the science accessible as he steadily ratchets up the tension and paranoia, fully utilizing the starkly beautiful but utterly deadly setting. A bloody finale paves the way for further installments. Agent: Antony Harwood, Antony Harwood Ltd. (U.K.).

April 15, 2018
Frank is serving out a life sentence when a representative of a private space company, XO, approaches him for a chance to go beyond the walls of the prison or, more specifically, to Mars. Frank joins a team of other ex-cons at a training facility. The group's mission is to build the base on Mars, then stay there to maintain it for the scientists that will inevitably arrive. The motley crew of convicts is sent to the planet with the materials needed and one employee of the company. As soon as they wake up from their hypersleep, the plans set out for the group by XO go wrong. Items that they need to establish the base on Mars are miles away from their intended landing spot. As the group adapts to conditions on the planet, crew members begin to die, and with every additional death, the remaining crew grows ever more suspicious about the situation. Morden expertly melds the genres of science fiction and mystery in this whodunit set on Mars.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)