Infinity Beach by Jack McDevitt

I really have been in the mood for some strong science fiction lately, and I hoped to fill that void with Haldeman’s Marsbound. I enjoyed the novel, but I wanted more. I had been sitting on some McDevitt novels for a few years now, seeing them on my bookshelves but not reading them, and decided to take the plunge. Rather than reading The Engines of God or A Talent for War and starting a series, I went with one of his standalones, Infinity Beach.


Dr. Kimberly Brandywine lives on the planet Greenway many hundreds of years in the future. In her role as a fundraiser for SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), she has to convince people that, after hundreds of years spent fruitlessly searching for intelligent life, there is still hope for finding some out there. However, it isn’t until she starts to unravel the mystery of her sister’s disappearance after the final manned SETI mission that she discovers that there might be more possibilities, and more at stake, than she ever dreamed.

McDevitt creates a novel that is just about as entertaining and excellent as it can be. All of our characters, from Kim, to the host of secondary characters, are all fully fleshed out and fully humanized. The setting is perfect, from the new world of Greenway to the times spent stuck in the ship in interstellar space. The plot tears along, weaving the complex mystery at the heart of the tale with strong science fiction concepts, even hints of horror, and deep suspense.

This is science fiction at its best. Do not miss this novel.

10/10