Extremes: Retrieval Artist, Book 2 (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

Extremes (2003) is the second novel in the Retrieval Artist series, following The Disappeared. In the previous volume, Miles Flint and his partner, Noelle DeRicci, are detectives in the Moon Police. They survive and solve three cases involving the Disappeared, people who have been helped to vanish from official view after being convicted of crimes on alien worlds.

Such Disappeared are considered criminals under interstellar treaties signed by the Terran authorities and all Terran police are directed to assist any aliens or bounty hunters who are tracking down such fugitives. These were Miles's first cases as a detective and the obvious injustices in all three instances are more than he can ignore. When he receives a large sum of money, Miles resigns from the force and buys the business of a friend who is a retrieval artist.

After learning as much about the business as he can from Paloma, the former owner, Miles awaits his first case. He is approached by a junior attorney with the firm of Wagner, Stuart, and Xandor, Ltd, to discover the whereabouts of a Disappeared. Miles is suspicious of the offer, especially when the woman mentions that Paloma had worked with them in the past. Fearing that he might be used as a Tracker, Miles refuses the case and then visits a research cafe near the University campus to investigate WSX. Shortly thereafter, Ignatius Wagner, the younger son of WSX's senior partner, shows up to persuade him to take the case.

Meanwhile, Noelle and her new partner, Leif van der Ketting, are directed to the site of the Armstrong Marathon, where the body of a woman has been found on the course. The body appears to be Jane Zweig, the co-owner of an extreme tours company. Zweig's partner, Brady Coburn, has discovered the body curled up in the shade of a very large boulder. When Noelle views the body, she finds several discrepancies that leads her to believe the death was not an accident.

Miriam Oliviari is a Tracker who has come to the Armstrong Marathon looking for Frieda Tey, a medical researcher who has been accused of exposing a group of subjects to a rapidly mutating virus and then cold bloodily observing their struggles and deaths. Miriam has joined the marathon staff as a contract medic in order to collect DNA samples from various suspects. She knows of an incident on the course, but is not concerned since it was reported as a male runner.

These three cases rapidly converge into a single disaster. Noelle gets to show her administrative talents, Miriam displays her leadership abilities, and Miles performs a hot pursuit in space. This rapidly moving story is an excellent sequel to The Disappeared, but sets such a high standard that it may prove a hard act to follow.

Highly recommended to Rusch fans and anyone else who enjoys fast moving suspense stories with twist after twist.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I picked this up on a whim and was surprised at how well it blends a near future setting with the police procedural mystery style. A good novel for fans of both genres.

Rauch plays fair with the science and the mystery. Since the reader is privy to information from three different investigators, he or she may well solve plot points ahead of the heroes, but not so far ahead as make the story slow or unsatisfying.

Certainly worth a read in these dog-days of summer.

I picked up this volume during the "speed shopping" portion of a visit to the bookstore with my son (3 1/2). I didn't expect much from it, so it was a pleasant surprise to get a decently crafted police procedural/detective story coupled with SF. This is a neglected form of science fiction and a good addition is a great blessing.

The book is a bit weak in some areas. The ending is a bit muddled. There are some gaps in this book's exposition that might be explained by the previous volume (which, thank heavens, is not at all necessary to enjoy this one). The writer is a bit more familiar with the mystery genre than with SF. The SF bits aren't very crisp and feel borrowed. The setting on the moon was handled more deftly, for example, in Niven's Patchwork Girl.

But there is a lot here to like. The characters aren't nitwits. The puzzle is pretty good. There's nothing sloppy about the book and the writing is genuinely gripping in many places. I recommend it and will go back and get the previous volume when I get the chance.