Polaris

Polaris, by Jack McDevitt, follows antiquities dealer Alex Benedict and his assistant Chase Kolpath as they try to make an epic deal for artifacts from the ship Polaris, which had a tragic history. Sent out with a ship full of wealthy influential people, it was later found in space completely empty. Before long, Benedict and Kolpath find themselves in over their heads. A terrorist destroys most of the remaining artifacts from the ship, and our two heroes find themselves on the run as an unknown group of people seek out the artifacts they now possess.

McDevitt writes this book in first person, from Chase Kolpath's point of view. That was kind of weird. I haven't read a first-person fiction book for quite a while. I felt that technique really took away from the book's intensity. When the main character tells the story you know he or she is going to come out of this just fine. A few chapters deviate from this narrative, but only briefly.

I appreciated McDevitt's use of scientific ideas and philosophical debate. Unfortunately, that made up only 1/4 of the book. The rest was the adventure, which wasn't all that compelling. This was supposed to be a light and fun beach read. It was light but not as fun as I hoped.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars