Alex Benedict

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Echo (An Alex Benedict Novel) by Jack McDevitt

Posted by tjhapney on January 22, 2014
Posted in: Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

EchoDescription/Book Blurb:

Sunset Tuttle spent a lifetime looking for alien species. Twenty-five years after Tuttle’s death, Alex Benedict discovers a stone tablet inscribed with cryptic symbols, now in the possession of Tuttle’s one- time lover Rachel Bannister. Benedict is determined to decipher its secret-one Bannister doesn’t want revealed. Could it be that Tuttle’s obsessive quest was successful?

Review 5 of 5 Stars

I really enjoyed this book from start to finish and find that I very much like the Alex Benedict novels as a whole.  It was a true mystery/thriller science fiction story and I loved it.  I’m a big fan of mystery/thrillers and to have it all bound up in a science fiction story is almost more than I can ask for if it comes to getting everything you want out of a reading experience.  Echo was very much my type of book.  It was smart, suspenseful, had that gritty quality that allows you to suspend your disbelief and really get into a story.  Both Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath are fantastic companions to take on your adventure.  They are smart, resourceful people who like getting at the answers.  I hate to say too much and give away the ending which really makes the whole journey worth it.  The intrigue and mystery will lead you upon an interesting path that takes you to an unexpected conclusion.

Reading this book has set me on a path of adventures with Alex Benedict and I hope you enjoy this book as well as others in the series as much as I did this one.  I fully recommend it.

Firebird (An Alex Benedict Novel) by Jack McDevitt

Posted by tjhapney on December 17, 2013
Posted in: Mysteries and Thrillers, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

FirebirdDescription/Book Blurb:  Forty-one years ago, the renowned physicist Dr. Christopher Robin vanished. Before his disappearance, his fringe science theories about the existence of endless alternate universes had earned him both admirers and enemies.

Now his widow has died and Alex Benedict has been asked to handle the auction of the physicist’s artifacts—leading the public to once again speculate on the mystery surrounding Robin’s disappearance. Did he finally find the door between parallel universes that he had long sought?

Intrigued, Benedict and Chase Kolpath embark on their own investigation as they follow the missing man’s trail into the unknown to uncover the truth—a truth people are willing to kill to protect…

Review 5 of 5 Stars

Firebird was a really good mystery/thriller science fiction time travel story.  This is a smart story that doesn’t depend on jaunting through time to give you a great time travel story.  In fact, aside from one poor soul who accidentally ends up there, the focus of the story is not about the actual experience of traveling through time but how to save those who are stuck traveling in time and the science of how those people became stuck in time.  Those who read my reviews know I have a soft spot for time travel pieces, but I believe this one is smart enough and slick enough to interest regular science fiction readers as well and perhaps even those who don’t generally enjoy time travel stories.  This is a story about the science of how the universe is made up and some of the possibilities that might be encountered by a society that travels freely through the stars.  I don’t know if these things are possible or will be in the future, but it certainly is interesting to think and dream about such interesting and frightening possibilities.

It’s probably pretty obvious at this point that I’m on a Jack McDevitt kick as I just discovered his books recently and have been enjoying the chance to discover a new writer’s voice, characters and stories.  I really enjoyed this book and have to say that of the books I’ve read from Jack McDevitt that my favorites are fast becoming the Alex Benedict books.  For an antiquarian this character sure finds himself at the middle of a lot of things, but that’s where a good sense of curiosity takes you.