The first novel in the series that all started with a short story titled 'The Retrieval Artist' first appearing in Analog Magazine. The Disappeared deals with the history of how and why Miles Flint becomes the Retrieval Artist.

On the Moon colony of Armstrong's Dome, Miles Flint is a cop with a newly minted and much coveted, Detectives' shield. When he and his senior partner Noelle DeRicci are called to the Port to deal with an abandoned ship with bodies on it, nothing in his experience can prepare him for the sheer horror of what the Disty death squad (one of several alien races) has left behind. Nor can he imagine the chaos that will erupt in the next couple of days. Before they have even completed the initial investigation on the abandoned death ship, they are recalled to the port, this time the Port police have intercepted a Wygnin ship (another alien race) with two human children aboard and have returned them to the Port Docks for the detectives to sort out.

The Wygnin claim to have warrants' for both human children as part of criminal reparations for crimes committed by their parents, but the names do not match the children and but what kind of justice system allows the crimes of the parent to be paid for by their children? While Flint and DeRicci are trying to sort out this new mess and find away to deny the Wygnin the children they are once again called to the Port docks, this time there is a terrified woman claiming to have survived a Rev (another alien race) attack.

Further investigation proves that none of the cases are straight forward and dealing with alien customs and laws is proving to be a veritable mine field esp when the punishments assigned for crimes committed by the accused seem ridiculously cruel and grossly excessive by human laws and human laws seem to be completely unconcerned with the rights of their citizens if trade between alien worlds is threatened.

Will Flint be able to reconcile his sense of right and wrong with what he is being asked to do? Or will he find a calling, and job he can live with?

An excellent story setting the stage for an excellent series. Kristine Kathryn Rusch is a much respected SF author and very deservedly so with several highly successful scifi series. Enjoy!

Every once in awhile I'll pick up a book while browsing through the shelves at the local bookstore based solely upon the cover. It helps an awful lot to nudge me toward buying the thing when the name of the author rings a bell in my head, too.

This is what happened with THE DISAPPEARD. I saw the wonderful cover art (by Greg Bridges) depicting the harsh surface of the moon with what appeared to be some type of station or habitat built for humans framed by the Earth as a backdrop and thought, "Yeah, now this looks interesting." Then my eyes drifted downward to the name of the author and I knew that I would be walking out of that store with THE DISAPPEARED in my possession. I know Kristine Kathryn Rusch from her work in the Star Trek Series of books (Yeah, big Star Trek fan over here), my one favorite being KLINGON (which she co-wrote with her husband Dean Wesley Smith), and just had to find out what her Non-Trek fiction might be like.

The cover of this paperback contains the words "Hugo Award-Winning Author" just over her name (always a major PLUS with SF fans) and a blurb by the very talented Orson Scott Card. With all of that on the table I knew that I couldn't go wrong.

Let me tell you just how happy I was to find out that this assumption was correct. THE DISAPPEARED is a great story; compelling, heart-wrenching, extremely satisfying and, above all, successful at making the reader absolutely want for more. It follows the exploits of two detectives stationed on the Moon as they move from one brand new case to another, all of which involve a different alien race. And these are not your normal crazed, saliva-dripping, insect looking aliens, mind you, but well thought out and presented…dare I say, believable, alien races. Not very easy to do these days, folks, this I know. Each race is intriguing in their own way, possessing of some very unique characteristics: many of which are downright scary, both physically and mentally, and this makes for a brisk turning of the pages.

But, perhaps the best part of this story (for me, anyway) was the way that the socio-political structure was presented throughout. You see, we humans have had to sign a pact with these alien races to abide by each others laws and formalities, especially when humans commit crimes against each race. Fair you say? Sure, on the outside, such a system seems quite fair. Until you realize that what one alien race may consider a terrible crime may, to a human being, be something so trivial that the thought of punishing someone for performing that particular act is laughable. This is what the humans of THE DISAPPEARED have to contend with when interacting with a multitude of alien races on a daily basis. And the punishments seem just as alien as the aliens do-for instance, the race called the Wygnin will claim the first born child of any human who commits a crime against them so that this child can be brought to their space and be raised as a Wygnin. I'll not mention here how that process basically destroys all that the child may have been prior to being claimed by the Wygnin...oops, sorry about that one. Yes, folks, you see-in crimes against the Wygnin, humans commit the crimes and then contend with the fact that a child will have to pay the penalty for that crime. It drives many people to contact a Disappearance Service, an organization that will change their identity and send them off to a new life where the particular aliens who are hunting them with a vengeance will have a very difficult time trying to find them. Of course, there's a hefty fee involved in providing such an extremely illegal type of service. But, when faced with desperation, people will find a way…

Ok, that's all you're going to get out of me. Interested yet? You should be, this one is worth purchasing. The two main characters make the price of the book well worth it. Detectives Miles Flint and Noelle DiRicci, two people who couldn't be more different, are thrust together as partners-Miles being the young up-and-comer, DiRicci being the dishonored frowned-upon vet. Their interaction and their handling of the cases is great fiction, the ease with which you believe that these people are real is the true mark of a talented author. The politics of the universe they live in is set up elaborately and painstakingly, and you find yourself shaking your head with that universal disgust we all feel at some times as you mutter with distaste, "Politics..."

A great read, I'm looking for more of Kristine Kathryn Rusch's Non-Trek work now that I've read THE DISAPPEARED. There is a brief mention on one of the inside pages of this paperback of another of her novels, ALIEN INFLUENCES. You can rest assured that I'll be looking through the "R" Shelf for Rusch in the SF Section the very next time I'm at the bookstore. You should be, too.