Thursday, June 28, 2012

Polaris: Jack McDevitt

Title: Polaris
Author: Jack McDevitt
Rating: Good
Polaris is the second novel in the Alex Benedict series by Jack McDevitt. I briefly reviewed the first - A Talent For War - some time back.

Set in the far future, Polaris describes Alex Benedict's efforts to understand how and why the crew of the ship Polaris disappeared.  Benedict is a dealer in antiquities, not a detective, so his take on things can be different from that of someone "in the business".

The story is actually told from the perspective of his assistant and pilot, Chase Kolpath, and that is perhaps the weakest link in the novel.  Telling it from the perspective of someone other than Benedict lets important realizations (and some events) happen off stage, so we only find out about them later.  It may be a reasonable way to maintain the story and keep the reader guessing, but it feels a bit forced at times.  Not horribly bad, though... just a bit off.

I enjoyed the novel for what it is - a detective story in an unusual environment - and found it pretty good reading.  Enough to cause me to start the next in the series now.