Seeker (Alex Benedict #3) by Jack McDevitt

Alex Benedict and his executive assistant, Chase Kolpath -- ambitious antiquities dealers from Jack McDevitt's A Talent for War (1989) and, more recently, Polaris -- are back in Seeker, a story in which the two antiquarians search for a legendary lost colony that is both a science fiction thriller and a remarkably complex mystery.

More than 9,000 years after an interstellar transport named Seeker left an overcrowded and politically repressive Earth with the dream of founding a new society on an unspecified planet, Benedict and Kolpath stumble across a ceramic cup that was once on the now-legendary lost starship. But tracking down how the ancient artifact got from the ship into the hands of a maltreated woman and her thuggish boyfriend turns out to be more than Benedict and Kolpath bargained for -- as their search leads them across multiple star systems and straight into an anonymous assassin's crosshairs. But as the killer closes in, the two courageous antiquarians uncover the jaw-dropping truth about the lost starship and the legendary colony

Equally reminiscent of Frederik Pohl's Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Heechee saga (Gateway, Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, et al.) and a classic Ellery Queen mystery, McDevitt's Seeker will appeal to readers of hard-core science fiction, as well as adventurous mystery fans looking for an out-of-this-world story. And just like Polaris, Seeker is characterized by a bombshell of an ending that will leave readers absolutely awestruck.

A truly excellent installment in the Alex Benedict series. Once again, the book is in the first person, with, again, Chase as the narrator. But unlike the previous volume, I felt her portrayal this time was spot on. I don’t know if she matured or if McDevitt’s writing did. In either case, Chase is the perfect character to move the story forward.

And move it does. The reader is taken on a fast paced ride, as one discovery leads to another. And while the series is named for Benedict, Chase is being given a bigger role; just as big, if not bigger, than Benedict’s.

I don’t know of a lot of hard science fiction writers out there, but of those I do know, McDevitt is at the top of the list. And this book has only solidified his position. Part science fiction, part mystery, part archaeological search, the book keeps the reader guessing until the end. No surprise that it won the Nebula award for best novel of 2006.

There are several more books in the series, with a new one just out. I can’t wait to start the next one.





Mount TBR 2023 Book Links

( Mount TBR 2023 Book Links 1-20 )

21. The Magpie Lord (Charm of Magpies 1) by K.J. Charles
22. 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed: Revised and Updated by Eric H. Cline
23. Wanderers (Wanderers #1) by Chuck Wendig
24. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
25. A Dog's History of the World: Canines and the Domestication of Humans by Laura Hobgood-Oster
26. Bethany's Sin by Robert McCammon
27. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
28. The Tea Party by Charles L. Grant
29. Seeker (Alex Benedict #3) by Jack McDevitt







MAY- In It To Win It
“Read a book that involves a game or contest of some sort.” ie. Virtual reality, video games, war games, psychological mess-with-your-mind games, characters who participate in a contest, or a story in which the character takes on a personal challenge.

Seeker by Jack McDevitt