ISS STARGRABER

An enormous space station is under threat in Pollet’s SF thriller.

John Desmond, a former U.S. Navy fighter pilot in the year 2150, loses his beloved wife, Isabella, in a car accident. After three years of feeling lost, John decides to move to the space station Stargraber, a planet-sized hub for the world’s brightest and wealthiest: a launch point for space colonization and a means to find new solar and radiation-based energy sources. After a suspicious explosion on the station, John begins to suspect that someone’s looking to sabotage it. Sharing his suspicions is Victoria Palmers, owner of a mining concession in New Mexico, who’s been tapped to help evaluate Stargraber’s Martian mining equipment. She overhears another concession owner talking about a conspiracy to take Stargraber down, and she knows she has to act. Luckily, Victoria already has an appointment on the station the next day to talk about Martian mining. Her guide, when she arrives, is none other than John. They soon team up to figure out who around them is an ally or a traitor without drawing attention—and put a stop to the plan before it’s too late. Pollet offers some clever one-liners and observations (about motorcycles: “man started on all fours and ended up on two wheels”), as well as some action and moments of tension that some readers will appreciate. The massive space station setting is an intriguing idea with a lot of potential, but the book does little with the concept, instead focusing on a choppy thriller plot. Lengthy descriptions sometimes appear in awkward places and have a deflating effect. Victoria is a competent and intelligent hero, but male characters mainly focus on her attractiveness; meanwhile, characters deemed overweight are perceived as devious, foolish, and suspect.

A promising but awkwardly executed speculative thriller.