Wormhole (SF) - Keith Brooke and Eric Brown *****

This is a cracker of a book (I did read it over Christmas), combining excellent science fiction with a very cold, cold case murder mystery. Medical doctor Rima Cagnac is suspected of murdering her husband 80 years previously. Soon after the crime, she left on a sublight ship heading to another star in suspended animation - the first manned trip to another star system. Thanks to a distinct MacGuffin, this ship (which has just arrived at Mu Arae) carries the necessary technology to establish a wormhole connection to Earth - technology that has finally become workable after the subsequent 80 years. Cold case detective DI Gordon Kemp is sent through the wormhole to arrest Cagnac, while his boss, DI Danni Bellini looks into the matter back in London.

Keith Brooke and Eric Brown keep the plot bubbling nicely, with impressive twists and turns that ensure things are rarely how they first seemed. Kemp's worn-out character is nicely developed, as are some of those he meets on Mu Arae. It's a really satisfying book with a suitably tense ending.

For me, the Earth-based parts of the story are the best - in fact, arguably the whole thing could have been done without the Mu Arae sections, allowing more opportunity to fill out the Earth of 2189. Don't get me wrong, the Mu Arae bits are good, with an effective attempt at thinking beyond the typical Star Trek style alien lifeforms - but it felt distinctly more far fetched, and there would have been other ways to have a living suspect for a crime committed 80 years before. However, the two parts of the book do both work together, so this isn't a significant problem.

As a fan of both SF and British detective stories, this was an ideal title for me - and is effective from both viewpoints. One of the most enjoyable novels I've read in a while.

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Review by Brian Clegg - See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here

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