SOJALS rating:

Good (3/5)

I first read this in April 2000.

By 2032, there is a well-established colony on Mars. Dr Alwyn Stafford has been on Mars for years. He's retired but still puttering around performing his own private investigations of the planet's surface, searching for native Martian life.

Now Stafford is missing, presumed dead. However, there's evidence to suggest that he knew what he was doing and no-one really believes it could be suicide. His best friends and closest associates embark on a desperate attempt to find him, or at least to find what became of him.

As his friends investigate they uncover worrying and surprising secrets that may lead to Stafford's goal being realised.

This was good. It's an interesting plot, moves quickly once it gets going and has some good ideas. The technology described toward the end of the book is imaginative and impressive.

For me, the only problem with this book is that I could remember almost nothing of it on completion, other than that I enjoyed reading it very much. So why is that then?