A brisk thriller that asks intriguing questions.
In Duffy’s SF series-starter, a former boxer is recruited by a mysterious organization that sends operatives back in time to repair the future.
In 2020, Londoner Joe Cartigan is a down-on-his-luck boxer with a failing gym and deep regrets when a mysterious, anonymous text (“Locker 347. Waterloo Station. 23:00”) leads him to a small case containing a very nice watch that’s “probably worth more than his gym.” The next day, a woman named Kira arrives for a boxing lesson, but she already has impressive combat skills; she explains that the watch is actually a time-travel device called an Atomograph, which belongs to a secret organization with a job offer. All Joe has to do is follow some orders, go back in time, and make changes to the past that the organization deems necessary. It all seems like a gift, at first: a meaningful career, cool gadgets, the opportunity to use his skills for good, and even a romantic relationship with Kira. But as the missions get harder and more morally complex, Joe starts to wonder if his bosses are lying to him. Is the promise of changing the future worth the price? This book is the first entry in a series, so not all of Joe’s questions are answered, but his career as an agent appealingly unfurls like a video game: Kira, working dispatch, provides exposition; the fight scenes keep the blood pumping, complete with witty one-liners (“You took your time,” notes one of Joe’s targets when they meet). As in many other time-travel tales, the novel explores the ethical dilemma of killing one person to save another, and Joe faces increasingly dizzying versions of this problem. Overall, Duffy’s book is lean, and time certainly flies—which sometimes means that there isn’t time for very much emotional investigation. Kira, in particular, is a cipher: Is she trustworthy? There isn’t quite enough in the novel to evaluate this point. Similarly, the potential of Joe’s past regrets isn’t fully explored—at least not yet. Still, fans of time-travel tales and fight scenes will find this a satisfying read.
A brisk thriller that asks intriguing questions.Pub Date: June 30, 2026
ISBN: 9781036957438
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Sportsweek
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Buckle up—fans of page-turning SF may find themselves binge-reading this novel in one butt-numbing marathon session.
Like a truck with no brakes speeding down a steep mountain road, Islington’s latest is an adrenaline-fueled SF thrill ride that follows a biomechanically enhanced assassin as he tries to understand his mysterious origins.
The chaotic opening scene gives readers a clear indication of what they’re in for: Contract killer Azure, attempting to complete a mission, is involved in a life-or-death battle with a multieyed biomachine called an Argos. “The thing’s bipedal but has six gorilla-like arms that end in half-metre-long claws,” he complains. After Azure barely dispatches the monster and kills his target, his AI assistant, Atti, informs him of his next job: protecting an elderly—and incredibly rich—woman living in a sprawling underground bunker in the middle of nowhere. “Old Woman,” as Azure calls her, isn’t forthcoming with personal details; all Azure can suss out is that she may be the target of a powerful organized crime syndicate—the same organization that employs him! Is Azure’s ultimate goal to save her or kill her? Although the worldbuilding could’ve been more comprehensive, Islington’s editing choices are brilliant—he strips away the insignificant narrative content to create a streamlined, action-packed adventure with seemingly one goal: to keep the reader furiously turning pages. The various mysteries—Azure’s murky beginnings, the tragic death of his best friend years earlier, Old Woman’s true identity, etc.—maintain the momentum and intensity. The takeaway here is the narrative potential of the characters as well as the plethora of subjects that could be explored more deeply, like immortality for the rich, cloning, and the potential to create bioengineered nightmares for “security.” Islington leaves the conclusion tantalizingly ambiguous. This novel could be the jumping-off point for a memorable series.
Buckle up—fans of page-turning SF may find themselves binge-reading this novel in one butt-numbing marathon session.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9781668239247
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Saga/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
One small step, no giant leaps.
Weir (The Martian, 2014) returns with another off-world tale, this time set on a lunar colony several decades in the future.
Jasmine “Jazz” Bashara is a 20-something deliveryperson, or “porter,” whose welder father brought her up on Artemis, a small multidomed city on Earth’s moon. She has dreams of becoming a member of the Extravehicular Activity Guild so she’ll be able to get better work, such as leading tours on the moon’s surface, and pay off a substantial personal debt. For now, though, she has a thriving side business procuring low-end black-market items to people in the colony. One of her best customers is Trond Landvik, a wealthy businessman who, one day, offers her a lucrative deal to sabotage some of Sanchez Aluminum’s automated lunar-mining equipment. Jazz agrees and comes up with a complicated scheme that involves an extended outing on the lunar surface. Things don’t go as planned, though, and afterward, she finds Landvik murdered. Soon, Jazz is in the middle of a conspiracy involving a Brazilian crime syndicate and revolutionary technology. Only by teaming up with friends and family, including electronics scientist Martin Svoboda, EVA expert Dale Shapiro, and her father, will she be able to finish the job she started. Readers expecting The Martian’s smart math-and-science problem-solving will only find a smattering here, as when Jazz figures out how to ignite an acetylene torch during a moonwalk. Strip away the sci-fi trappings, though, and this is a by-the-numbers caper novel with predictable beats and little suspense. The worldbuilding is mostly bland and unimaginative (Artemis apartments are cramped; everyone uses smartphonelike “Gizmos”), although intriguing elements—such as the fact that space travel is controlled by Kenya instead of the United States or Russia—do show up occasionally. In the acknowledgements, Weir thanks six women, including his publisher and U.K. editor, “for helping me tackle the challenge of writing a female narrator”—as if women were an alien species. Even so, Jazz is given such forced lines as “I giggled like a little girl. Hey, I’m a girl, so I’m allowed.”
One small step, no giant leaps.Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-553-44812-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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