Before Mars by Emma Newman

Published by Ace on April 17, 2018

Before Mars is the third book in Emma Newman’s Planetfall series, but it can easily be read as a standalone. The series adopts the common science fiction background of governments that have merged with large corporations (gov-corps), a logical extension of our current reality. Citizen-employees are assigned jobs and living quarters by a gov-corp. On a positive note, the gov-corps have dialed back some of the religious right’s influence on government, because (as the gov-corps see it) narrow-mindedness does nothing to advance profits. On the other hand, such human rights as people have are guaranteed only by their employment contracts.

Anna Kubrin is a geologist but she is also an artist. One of the gov-corps, GaborCorp, has exclusive rights to Mars, where it films a popular television show. Gabor thinks Martian landscapes will be a good investment, so it sends Anna to Mars.

Anna doesn’t much mind going, although it means leaving behind her husband and daughter. Anna’s husband was never right for her, so she isn’t likely to miss him. Anna is ashamed to admit to herself that babies are frightening, small children are boring, and she is too selfish to be a fully involved mother. So she might miss her daughter a bit, but she knows that when she returns to Earth, she’ll give her daughter a hug before moving on to something more intellectually stimulating. I’m glad my mother wasn’t like Anna, but I appreciate her honesty. And I appreciate Newman’s development of a complex character who might not be particularly likable, but whose introspection and self-criticism allow the reader to understand her and perhaps to sympathize with her situation.

Some of the other scientists (slash television stars) on Mars are less sympathetic than Anna. In particular, Arnolfi, the GaborCorp neurophysiologist and psychiatrist who assesses her, believes she is suffering from a form of psychosis that is triggered by the immersions (virtual realities) in which people live as they make the long journey to Mars. When Anna arrives and unpacks, she finds a note that tells her not to trust Arnolfi, but the reader feels that distrust instinctively.

Anna recognizes the painted note as her own style, but she doesn’t recall painting it. Then she notices that some of the art supplies she packed didn’t make it to Mars, and that the wedding ring she packed is missing the engraving it once had. Later she finds a footprint in a part of Mars where nobody has ever walked (or so the AI tells her). Perhaps her brain implant is messing with her. As Anna and science fiction fans know, a brain implant should never be trusted. Another other option is that she’s gone mad, which is part of her family history and therefore Anna’s greatest fear. About a third of the way through the novel, as Anna is playing an immersion, she discovers that she is not alone in thinking that something is very wrong on GaborCorp’s Mars.

Before Mars is a science fiction mystery that asks the reader to join Anna in getting to the bottom of an apparent conspiracy, perhaps orchestrated by the AI, to keep Anna in the dark about certain events that are happening, or previously happened, on Mars. The plot is carefully structured, internally consistent, and intelligent. The ending ties together all the clues in a way that is credible and poignant. Before Mars offers a careful balance of plot and characterization. I don’t know if Anna will return in a future Planetfall installment, but I would like to know what happens to her next — and caring about what will happen to a character is a good sign that the novel in which she appears made an emotional impact.

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