Interstellar antiquities dealer Alex Benedict and his assistant Chase Kolpath travel to the most remote of human worlds and uncover a secret connected to a decades-old political upheaval-a secret that somebody desperately wants hidden.From Publishers WeeklyMcDevitt fills the fourth far-future Alex Benedict adventure (after 2005's Nebula-winningSeeker) with historical details and thrilling stunts as well as sharp political allegory. When famous horror writer Vicki Greene leaves antiquities dealer Alex a desperate message and then voluntarily has her memory erased, he and his pilot companion, Chase Kolpath, follow clues literally to the end of the galaxy, where Vicky had been researching her next novel. Official threats and a kidnapping reveal a planet-threatening catastrophe, covered up for years by hapless bureaucrats. As panic ensues and evacuation looks hopeless, the space opera turns into commentary on government reaction to emergencies and the values of openness. McDevitt balances the two sides of his story well, never losing sight of either the fast-paced action or the message behind it.(Nov.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Review“No one writing today is better than McDevitt at combining galaxy-spanning adventure with the genuine novel of ideas.”—Washington Post Book World“Jack McDevitt is a master at describing otherworldly grandeur.”—Denver Post“Why read Jack McDevitt? The question should be: Who among us is such a slow pony that s/he isn’t reading McDevitt?”—Harlan Ellison“You should definitely read Jack McDevitt.”—Gregory Benford