Review by Booklist Review
Over four light-years away from Earth, Jose Carrilles is piloting the Mosaic when an unexplained engine shutdown threatens his mission to find the best chance for a new start for humanity. He executes a risky maneuver to allow the mission to continue. Meanwhile, Corin Timony, a decorated espionage officer trying to rebuild her career, is back at the New Destiny station and receives the distress signal--and the surprising all clear, after which she is promptly told to forget both messages. Additional system failures pique Jose's curiosity and his inquiries raise the ire of senior officers, while back on New Destiny, Corin is told that the death of her ex-fiancé, Adan, may not have been an accident. As the former friends investigate separately, they each discover hidden agendas and shifting alliances far more complicated than either of them can imagine, with the future of humanity at stake. This future-espionage tale is a rollicking space adventure full of action, politics, and intergalactic diplomacy on board and back at the station, and will be fun for fans of sf and thrillers.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Segura (Secret Identity) and Hart (The Paradox Hotel) interweave their styles seamlessly in this stellar blend of space opera and spy thriller, set after Earth has become almost uninhabitable. With humanity concentrated on the lunar colony of New Destiny, hopes for a sustainable future rest with the spacecraft Mosaic, which has traveled over four light-years from Earth to ascertain whether the planet Esparar can serve as a new home. Mosaic's pilot, Jose Carriles, must scramble to avert disaster when, without the vessel's alarms going off, its engines begin powering down, threatening the failure of essential protective shields. Meanwhile, disgraced spy Corin Timony is at her headquarters when an alert comes in from Mosaic, followed a moment later by a message calling it a false alarm. The authors alternate between Carriles's attempts to keep the crew alive and the mission on track, and Timony's search for answers about why the alert, which readers know was legit, was canceled. The universe feels remarkably well-developed and the tension is palpable. James S.A. Corey fans will want to check this out. (Oct.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Plans to colonize a far-flung planet go catastrophically awry. Earth is over capacity, as are its outposts on the moon, Mars, and Titan. Humanity's best hope for the future is Esparar, a distant world discovered decades ago and chosen from dozens of candidates for its apparent habitability. Humankind's maiden voyage to Esparar--a joint U.S.-China mission aboard a ship called the Mosaic--is "blasting through a gravity manifold at close to light speed" when the engines die, taking with them shields and life support. The Mosaic's pilot, Lieutenant Commander Jose Carriles, manages to save the day with a risky feat of derring-do, but later realizes that the expected alarms didn't sound and the ship's wire logs have been erased. Suspicious of sabotage, he starts digging. Meanwhile, back at the New Destiny lunar settlement, former field agent turned desk jockey Corin Timony is monitoring communications for the Bazaar, an international espionage conglomerate, when a distress call from the Mosaic comes through. Moments later, a second relay arrives: "DISREGARD PREVIOUS MESSAGE." Corin alerts her boss to the broadcasts, expecting him to share her concern; instead, he orders her to forget the evening's events and take the week off to clear her head. Corin can't quite bring herself to do either; drinking and drug use may have resulted in her demotion to "glorified secretary," but she remains a spy at heart. Co-authors Hart and Segura give Corin and her storyline regrettably short shrift, substituting cliche and melodrama for character development. Still, the stakes steadily escalate, the action-packed plot consistently entertains, and a ping-ponging third-person narrative kindles suspense and keeps the pages turning. Explorations of humanity's hubris and myopia lend depth. Gritty, bombastic space pulp served with a side of Roddenberry-esque optimism. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
