The Ark (Children of a Dead Earth) - Softcover

Tomlinson, Patrick S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0857664840 ISBN 13: 9780857664846

Publisher: Angry Robot, 2015

Synopsis

Introducing a thrilling deep-space science fiction mystery series in the tradition of James S.A. Corey’s The Expanse

When a geneticist goes missing aboard a generation ship, it’s up to sports star Bryan Benson to solve the mystery before landfall.

Humankind has escaped a dying Earth and set out to find a new home among the stars aboard an immense generation spaceship, affectionately named the Ark. Bryan Benson is the Ark’s greatest living sports hero, enjoying retirement working as a detective in Avalon, his home module. The hours are good, the work is easy, and the perks can’t be beat.

But when a crew member goes missing, Benson is thrust into the center of an ever-expanding web of deception, secrets, and violence that overturns everything he knows about living on the Ark and threatens everyone aboard. As the last remnants of humanity hurtle towards their salvation, Benson finds himself in a desperate race to unravel the conspiracy before a madman turns mankind’s home into its tomb.

About this title

About the Author

Patrick S. Tomlinson is the son of an ex-hippie psychologist and an ex-cowboy electrician. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with a menagerie of houseplants in varying levels of health, a Ford Mustang, and a Triumph motorcycle bought specifically to embarrass and infuriate Harley riders.
When not writing sci-fi and fantasy novels and short stories, Patrick is busy developing his other passion for performing stand-up comedy.

You can find Patrick online at his website:www.patrickstomlinson.com, on Twitter@stealthygeek and on Facebook.

Reviews

When a conspiracy threatens the last shreds of humanity, salvation comes in the form of a sports star turned detective. Tomlinson's debut novel follows the exploits of Bryan Benson, the much-beloved detective of Avalon, one of two habitat modules on the Ark spaceship that's carrying humans away from a doomed Earth. As the Ark's bourgeois crew prepares to finally land on an alien planet, a geneticist is reported missing. When Benson tugs at the thread of the mystery, his entire reality unravels around him, and he delves into the underbelly of the Ark to find the truth among stolen paintings, partisan politics, and a cult leader who threatens to destroy everything Benson loves. Tomlinson's pacing is beyond reproach, as he deftly crafts an ever more elaborate web of intrigue within the self-contained setting. The book's few, small hiccups crop up mainly when Tomlinson attempts to work in a piece of 20th-century pop culture that's simply out of sync with his timeline, or when his word choice becomes repetitive. Tomlinson's female characters are refreshingly nuanced, and his use of Chekov's (sometimes literal) gun is sound enough to gloss over the rough patches in this impressive first novel. Agent: Russell Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency. (Nov.)\n

Edition details

• Publisher: Angry Robot
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0857664840
• ISBN 13: 9780857664846
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Gibbons Lee
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400