Mission: Earth Book

I really, really enjoyed this audiobook (available for free at www.podiobooks.com). It was short but gripping, and the author really developed tension in the story that kept me coming back eagerly to see what would happen next.

So... why only the 3-star rating? I guess mainly because I couldn't accept the extent of the hostile reaction this doctor received for his crime - helping a dying man. Supposedly there were regulations (by the all-powerful medical lobby) dictating when and where a doctor could treat somebody.

But that strained my belief. I really can't see anybody training for years to be a doctor and then not use his skills to save a life? Imagine the callousness and lack of care for a fellow human to watch them die and not intervene, all to satisfy protocol. I can accept some inhumanity in certain professions, but never to such widespread degree within medicine. To me, perhaps wrongly (but my opinion nonetheless), many doctors dedicate their life to making the human condition better.

So... it was just so jarring to see his fellow colleagues in medicine turn our protagonist into an immediate pariah, hunted and despised. While all his actions are for the good of mankind, even his wife deserts him and delivers him into judgement.

And that's another flaw - his ex-wife was a bit hard to decipher. I guess that was Del Rey's intent, and should have added to the intrigue. But it just got confusing - is she bad or not? And if she's not, then how to explain all the nefarious actions she took against him? And if she is bad, then why assist? Perhaps in the end the author gave enough reason for the ex-wife's actions. But I wasn't completely at ease with it.

Overall, a recommended read - quick and gripping. A nice addition to the various "Mars" novels I've been reading the past few months.

3 to 3.5 stars.