The Devil’s Eye by Jack McDevitt

Science Fiction Mystery

The Devil’s Eye by Jack McDevitt is the 4th novel in the Alex Benedict series. The Devil’s Eye was published by ACE in 2008. Although there are some references to events in previous novels the story can stand on it’s own.

Alex Benedict is an interstellar antiquities dealer and his assistant and pilot is Chase Kolpath. They are returning from a well-deserved vacation when Alex checks the messages left while he was away. Alex finds a strange holographic message from Vicki Green, a well-know horror writer. The message says “Mr. Benedict, I know this will strike you as odd, but I don’t know who else can help me. Since you’re not here, I’m asking your AI to forward this message. I’m in over my head, Mr. Benedict.” She was staring at him. Her turn to be terrified. “God help me they’re all dead.” In addition to the message Vicki has wired a large sum of money to his bank account.

When he tries to contact Vickie he finds she has volunteered for a mind wipe and new personality and has no memory of why she sent the message or the money.

This is a mystery Alex cannot pass up. He feels that Vicki trusted him to do something and he wants to find out what. When Alex checks he finds that Vickie spent the last year on Salud Afar a remote human planet at the edge of the galaxy. Alex and Chase travel to Salud Afar and at first find nothing out of the ordinary. They do however think that they are being watched. Even though nothing they find makes sense to them some of the locals think that they have discovered the same secret Vickie found. Life for Alex and Chase becomes very interesting as they dodge the people who want to stop their investigation.

The Devil's Eye is a good addition to the Alex Benedict series. If you have never read any of the books this is a good starter. Like the other books in the series The Devil’s Eye is well written and has a good story that keeps you guessing for most of the book.

The other books in the Alex Benedict series are:

A Talent for War
Polaris
Seeker