JANUARY 2020 - AudioFile
Narrator Adjoa Andoh gives voice to May Knox, captain of the HAWKING II spaceship, which was supposed to be bound for Europa. When May wakes up from a medically induced coma to find herself alone, she has no idea where she is and what happened to her crew or ship. May’s earthbound ex-husband, Dr. Stephen Knox, is the only person she can trust. She contacts him, and they try to piece together what happened and save May’s life. While her portrayal of Stephen is not strong and his Texas accent is poorly executed, Andoh’s depiction of May, full of energy and grit, fits the tone and pacing of this space thriller. C.J.S. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
03/25/2019
Vaughn’s uneven near-future debut centers on May Knox, pilot and commander of the Stephen Hawking II, who wakes up alone in her spacecraft with no memory of recent events and no idea how her history-making voyage to the Jovian moon Europa failed so completely. On Earth, her husband, Stephen, whose research fueled the mission, is stunned to discover she’s alive. Over time, May recalls they filed for divorce before she left. As the two struggle to close the physical and metaphorical distance between them, they cannot be certain whether the obstacles in their way are already too great. Readers drawn to the promise of a female-centric SF novel with a strong heroine and a sassy AI will be disappointed to find that as the story comes to a head, old conventions of male ego–driven storytelling surface, making this work less than groundbreaking. In the end, supposed protagonist May (who boldly declares to Stephen, “I don’t need a hero. I’m the hero”) is rendered as just another damsel in distress. As novels about female astronauts continue to bubble up, this one sinks. (July)
John Marrs
The mysterious SK Vaughn has taken a well-loved genre and given it a much needed shot in the arm. Fantastic idea, but delivered with such heart, incredible tension, and beautifully drawn out characters. It’s the best survival thriller I’ve read since The Martian.
John Marss
The mysterious SK Vaughn has taken a well-loved genre and given it a much needed shot in the arm. Fantastic idea, but delivered with such heart, incredible tension, and beautifully drawn out characters. It’s the best survival thriller I’ve read since The Martian.
JANUARY 2020 - AudioFile
Narrator Adjoa Andoh gives voice to May Knox, captain of the HAWKING II spaceship, which was supposed to be bound for Europa. When May wakes up from a medically induced coma to find herself alone, she has no idea where she is and what happened to her crew or ship. May’s earthbound ex-husband, Dr. Stephen Knox, is the only person she can trust. She contacts him, and they try to piece together what happened and save May’s life. While her portrayal of Stephen is not strong and his Texas accent is poorly executed, Andoh’s depiction of May, full of energy and grit, fits the tone and pacing of this space thriller. C.J.S. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine