Polaris by Jack McDevitt

First published in 2004

Jack McDevitt is a skilled but uneven storyteller. His best work is found in his series of novels featuring Priscilla Hutchins. While the Hutchins series tends to be classic space opera that has characters charging around the galaxy and encountering aliens (or the artifacts left behind by long-dead alien races), the novels in the Alex Benedict series read more like mysteries. Benedict makes his living acquiring and selling antiquities. With his pilot, Chase Kolpath, Benedict zips around the galaxy solving puzzles that are related to recent acquisitions. Actually, Chase does most of the running. Benedict's strength is his reasoning ability; physical exertion is something he prefers to avoid. Chase's strength is her ability to improvise ways to keep Benedict from getting killed.

Polaris starts with the disappearance of the captain and passengers from a ship called Polaris that positioned itself to watch a star explode. Decades after the empty ship is recovered, Alex finds some artifacts that belonged to the missing travelers. After a number of attempts are made on the lives of Alex and Chase, it becomes clear that the artifacts may hold a clue to the disappearances -- a clue that someone does not want Alex to find.

Polaris moves at a good pace and the mystery is intriguing, although the solution is a bit too obvious. Characters are carefully developed but they are not as compelling as the characters in the Hutchins series. Alex is sort of aloof and not particularly likable, although Chase supplies a winning personality for readers who want to root for someone. My complaint about this series is that it does not give the sense that it is set in the far future. It could, in fact, be set in the present, but for the addition of convenient space travel and flying cars. Still, the novel is fun. It isn't the best in the series (Seeker might be) but it always held my attention.

RECOMMENDED