Austin Boyd, The Return

The Return

Navpress, June 2007, $14.99, 496 pp.

ISBN: 157683946X

It has been six years since Admiral John Wells has been on a manned mission to Mars but this time he is in charge and lands on the red planet. He and his crew find evidence of the "aliens" that appeared on Mars (which led to the first Mars landing) and Earth. In his hands are proof that so called aliens were mechanical devices made on Earth. The proof from the first mission was destroyed in a space accident.

John and his crew are shocked to learn that there is a small colony on Mars that NASA has no idea about. There are women and a young man in this colony with all the necessities and a few luxuries who belong to and believe in John Raines' "Father Race religion" based on the alien appearances. John thought his wife and children were killed six years ago when someone destroyed the helicopter they were in; they are being held in Father Raines compound in Slovenia desperate to get a message out. Man and wife separated by space and both prisoners in different ways have friends trying to find a way to extract John's family as well as 321 innocent clones, which were part of Raines' master plan for the human race. They have a deadline because Raines plans to move forward on the new race in a matter of days.

There are two separate parallel plotlines that don't intersect at any point even though the heroine of one is wife to the hero of the other. This is not a fault as reader get two stories for the price of one. John is a typical NASA astronaut, brave, innovative, and courageous enough to make the difficult decisions. His wife has never given up hope of rescue and even aided in letting the right people know where she was located. Austin Boyd is a creative storyteller that will keep readers mesmerized with his innovative storyline.

Harriet Klausner