Saturday, January 15, 2011

Echo by Jack McDevitt


Science Fiction

Echo is the fifth Alex Benedict novel.  The series is set in the distant future where for thousands of years humans have spread through the Orion Arm of the Milky Way and have found only one other alien race.  Alex Benedict deals in rare and unusual antiques.  His pilot Chase Kolpath assists him in his work.   In previous books they have made unusual discoveries in very dangerous situation.

Echo continues their quest to find and understand an unusual artifact.  Chase answers an ad for a free stone tablet with unusual symbols.  When she arrives someone else has taken the tablet.  Alex is intrigued by the symbols and starts a search for information on the tablet’s origin and meaning. What follows is a tense, gripping story filled with unexpected danger for Alex and Chase.  The search for the tablet and its origin also becomes a test of their relationship and the ability to work together. 

 Jack McDevitt is a master storyteller and has produced a story that I could not put down.  The pacing in Echo is excellent allowing the tension to build in just the right places.   You can read Echo as a stand-alone but don’t miss the rest of this series.

In a previous post I said that in spite of what someone wrote you could write a story with both a male and female main character and not have it lead to romance.  I cited David Drake and his Lt. Leary series.  Jack McDevitt has done the same with this series.  While Alex and Chase both have romantic interests there is no romance between the two of them.

ACE released Echo by Jack McDevitt in 2010.

I checked out Echo from the Rogers Public Library.

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