Phobos by Ty Drago
01/02/2004 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: TOR. 431 page hardback. Price: $25.95 (US), $35.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-30544-5. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.tor.com
This book wouldn't have been out of date 30 years ago. After a Martian colony is almost destroyed by terrorist action, its saviour, Lieutenant Mike Brogue, is quickly relocated to sort out a problem rather than be a political poodle for a year.
It's a big problem, too. A Peacekeeper squad investigating the deaths of people on a research station on Phobos, one of Mars'moons, has its leader killed by a beast living in the surrounding bays of dust.
Brogue has to sort this problem out as well as the reluctance of the private research group in giving him all the information he needs to solve the problem.
Blended into this mix, are political fractions who don't like the Mars born humans and other racial problems.
In many ways, this is an old fashioned detective space opera. It's made slightly worse in that Brogue does the equivalent of turning the lights out so the villains can run to find out who they are.
This is a bit odd cos I worked out successfully who the ringleader was before getting to this stage. The few red herrings weren't big enough distraction from working out what was really going on.
This isn't to say this isn't an interesting read but it's not exactly demanding in this day and age. As a first time novelist, Ty Drago is undoubtedly finding his feet with this book and is likely to become even more adventurous in books to come.
GF Willmetts |
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