5 stars for Recovery Man (Retrieval Artist book 6) by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
The moment I finish reading book 5 Paloma, I move on happily to book 6 where I read and read and.. suddenly halt - my eyes literally zoom in and freeze on a particular sentence that makes my jaws drop and my eyebrows to shoot up to my hairline - for the author has dropped a bombshell so huge that I am momentarily stunned into silence and stillness.
To recap, the author introduces the art of retrieving via the Retrieval Artists since inception of the series. Somewhere along the way, Trackers who join the lucrative business of searching for the Disappeared are disclosed. In this latest instalment, the author adds a third category to this esoteric profession - Recovery Man – and brilliantly spins a splendid story that takes on a life of its own.
Retrieval Artist
Retrieval Artists are private detectives who specialise in finding the Disappeared, people who deliberately go missing, usually to avoid prosecution or death by any one of fifty different alien cultures. Most - if not all - Retrieval Artists will do everything they can to ensure the Disappeared can continue living their new lives in their new identities without being found by people who meant them harm. Usually Retrieval Artists worked for lawyers or insurance companies to find a Disappeared who is up for an inheritance or is the beneficiary of a policy; though occasionally, Retrieval Artists work for the families who want to notify the Disappeared that the search is off and they are welcomed to return home.
Tracker
Trackers use any means possible to bring a once-safe Disappeared back to face their legal charges or to serve their sentences with no regard for the consequences. They usually piggyback on the work of others – Retrieval Artists especially – to find the Disappeared and gain a finder’s fee for the effort. Usually Trackers find people for alien governments, though sometimes they worked for lawyers or human governments. A real Tracker, one who is registered with the Earth Alliance agency, is expensive; most governments only hire Trackers for the most grievous cases as they do not have enough resources to engage a Tracker for every Disappeared.
Recovery Man
Recovery Men work like Trackers, except without the regulations as they are not members of the Earth Alliance. Usually they recover artifacts such as heirlooms, rare and exotic creatures/plants/non-sentients; and in exceptional cases, people. A Recovery Man is at best, a con artist and at worst, a ruthless thief who will stop at nothing to get whatever he is after.
This time, the story takes us to a brand new place. Readers are transported from the usual backdrop of Armstrong Dome on Earth’s Moon to the city of Valhalla Basin on Callisto, one of the larger moons of Jupiter which is also the eighth closest (outermost) satellite to said planet. Besides the new story setting, the author also brings forth a new alien group, the Gyonnese – an extremely rule bound species – who come from a planet named Gyonne.
Once again, I am awed by the author who has a unique way of affecting and influencing readers through her work of fiction. Indeed, all her writings in this space opera book - orbital rides, off-Moon hotels, Moon space, solar system, contaminants, environmental suits, medical programs, escape pods, nanobot, enhancements, etc – make me look at the world with a different understanding and question the status quo.
Perhaps what takes my breath away most of all is the skill and ease in which the author moves her characters around and about. I am utterly bowled over by the workings of the author's mind. How is it possible that one can come up with such an intricate plot - one after another - and write so seamlessly well that the story characters not only float in a forward-moving fashion but have the capabilities and abilities to step back to the past?
Notably though, this time round the story concludes in a way that I do not expect it to. Looking back, I cannot agree more with the way the author wraps up Recovery Man. The intended ending is, after all, for the greater good - while leaving space to be expanded upon and loopholes to be exploited against in the next book - in the grand scheme of things.
Publisher: WMG Publishing
Publication date: 28 Nov 2011
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When she arrives home from school on Callisto, Talia Shindo finds two strange men in her house. They terrorize her, and kidnap her mother. The men leave Talia behind. She’s thirteen, brilliant, and determined to find her missing mother.
Retrieval Artist Miles Flint works a seemingly unrelated case, digging into files left him by his mentor. Only he finds a connection to the Shindo kidnapping, a connection that shatters everything he ever knew.
The two cases collide, changing Flint, changing Talia, and changing the universe around them—forever.
*Blurb from author's website*
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