Marty Steere’s Sea of Crises

The sons of famed astronaut, Bob Cartwright, have always questioned the circumstances surrounding their fathers death.  Leading the Apollo 18 mission, Cartwright noticed something out of the ordinary upon landing on the moon.  “That shouldn’t be here”, were Bob’s final words just prior to his connection with NASA being broken.  However, when it was discovered the astronauts were returning from their mission, everything was assumed to have gone smoothly.  Bobbing in the ocean, the rescue team reached the capsule only to discover the three men burned to a crisp.  It appeared the heat shield had failed upon re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere as the crew suffered a gruesome end.

Now, after years of unrest, Cartwright’s son Peter began his investigation.  Shortly after compiling research, things take a turn for the worse.  Peter has made a lot of people very nervous by digging up the past and along with his brothers, Matt and Nate, they’re about to come into contact with “The Organization”.

Marty has a style of prose that’s easily digestible.  Of course, that’s not a knock at the writing style or the author, if anything, that’s one of the big reasons why I’m such a fan of Stephen King.  Sea of Crises is the kind of book that can cause you to completely lose track of time.  When I initially sat down and dove in to the story, when I finally put it down for the evening, I had read the entire first half of the book.

Steere created a pretty bad-ass villain in that of Raen.  Given the nature of “The Organization” and the fact that they generally stop at nothing with tasked with a mission, the man chasing the Cartwright boys truly inhabits that stance.  There’s a few scenes in particular where he shines and leaves the reader anticipating his eventual face-off with the brothers.

A good chunk of Sea of Crises takes place on the surface of the moon through flashbacks.  Steere could easily fall back into a rhythm of throwing technical jargon and space travel filler, he keeps the style he’s established from the first of the book throughout.  The action moves swiftly and the story stays rooted in the realm possibility, which is great.

The only gripe I have with the novel was the romantic/love interest side plot that develops about two thirds of the way in.  I’m not sure how much it was needed but in the end, it doesn’t really take all that much away.  The core story is still strong enough to stand on it’s own.

Overall, Sea of Crises is a well written novel which develops an intriguing mystery that only gets better as the story moves along.

****
I received a free copy of the book from the author in exchange for a fair review.