Review: Polaris

Polaris

Jack McDevitt

Polaris is the second of Jack McDevitt’s “Alex Benedict” novels. In the first, A Talent for War, the we met Alex, an antiquities dealer in the far future, who enjoys his creature comforts and his wealth, but who simply cannot resist a mystery. That novel was told from Alex’s point of view, and during his investigations, he met Chase Kolpath, a starship pilot. Chase becomes the narrator for Polaris.

Once again, Alex and Chase are involved in finding relics from the past, and while they pursue this goal, they become aware of a mystery that is decades old. The captain and passengers of the Polaris, a passenger cruiser, disappeared without explanation, leaving behind the Polaris, stranded in space. This mystery resulted in a number of related artifacts which have significant value. Rich people like owning parts of history, especially mysterious history. Alex and Chase come into possession of several of these artifacts, and soon are the targets of burglary, misdirection and attempts on their lives.

McDevitt did the right thing by switching to Chase as the point of view, because she’s far more likeable than Alex Benedict, and when Alex makes leaps of logic in following the clues, McDevitt can reveal them as he wants, rather than having the strange storytelling from A Talent for War where Alex, the narrator, figures something out, but McDevitt, the author, doesn’t want to share it yet.

Ultimately, Polaris is a mystery, but it’s also a good piece of speculative fiction, dealing with the moral ramifications of scientific advances. I enjoyed the “Priscilla Hutchins” novels a bit more, but Polaris is still a fine read, by an author who knows how to tell a story and make his readers think.