The third Greg Mandel story, and once again we are treated to a well crafted and intelligent plot. Julia Evans’ husband, an old friend of Mandel, has gone missing. The only evidence that he is still alive is a strange flower of unearthly construction, delivered by a mysterious woman. Mandel goes back to work one last time, chasing his friend’s trail all over the world and beyond into orbit and eventually to a hollow asteroid colony where there just may be the possibility of First Contact. The trail is also being followed by ruthless mercenaries who will stop at nothing to find where the flower originated.

This is the biggest of the Mandel books, roughly 200 pages longer than A Quantum Murder and it does have a hint of padding in places because of this. I would say that if you read the series in order you should stick with this one, as you will be well rewarded. A lot of action in this one too, and some memorable supporting characters. As I said, just a hint of unnecessary padding here and there, but just about as good as the earlier books overall.