POLARIS

The long-awaited sequel to A Talent for War has arrived. Mr. McDevitt brings back Alex Benedict, the antiquities dealer that discovers the secret of Christopher Sim in A Talent for War, and this time its a new "old" mystery that has he and his assistant in over their heads and dodging assassination attempts left and right.

Mr. Benedict develops an interest in the disappearance of the passengers and crew of the Polaris, a Survey ship that was observing the collision of a white dwarf and a neutron star. The last message sent by the captain, a beautiful and willful woman, was "Translation imminent", meaning they were about to enter N-space using the old, pre-Christopher Sim, Armstrong FTL drives. They never showed up, and the ship sent to find out why finds the Polaris intact and empty of all human cargo, but no clues as to what happened to them.

Skip ahead 60 years, and there are what amount to Cons that address every conceivable theory, and some not-so-conceivable, of what happened. Survey has had the personal belongings in storage since the Polaris was hauled in. Now Survey, in a badly needed fund-raising move, is selling off the items to the highest bidder. Enter Alex Benedict. But somebody doesn't want those personal items to be out and will go to fatal lengths to make sure that what happened to the passenger and crew of the Polaris stays a mystery.

As usual, Mr. McDevitt is a flawless wordsmith and spins a good yarn. But unlike his previous stories, I saw this one coming a mile off. Maybe that's because I've read it before - in A Talent for War.  Its a good mystery and well told, but its not original, nor even particularly mysterious. The plot does put you in the same shoes as the narrator, giving you the same clues that she gets. But, I gotta say, this one was obvious. I had it nailed by the time the second bad guy was introduced to the story. The science is good, the characterizations impeccable as always. The story has just been done- by Mr. McDevitt - before. I know that publishers pressure their authors to go with what sells, and since what sells puts groceries on the table, most authors oblige. But much like the "Hutch" stories, I have a feeling that we're going to get a little weary of Alex Benedict before he's through being printed. By the way, there's another Alex Benedict story due out in November. Think I'll wait for the paperback on that one....