Exit Strategy [Mass Market Paperback]

 

 

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I can finally say that I bought one of the Inconstant Moon books off of Amazon. It turned out this way because I was unable to find it on sale in bookstores due to being out-of-print. Thankfully, Amazon was there.

[Spoiler Alert]

Exit Strategy takes place a whopping 10 years after the events of Fall Girl. The setting is pretty much the same: Villaneuva, the main colony on the moon is still going strong and is still being administered by the Allied Lunar Combine (ALC), a coalition of five large corporations. And of course, Armstrong Base, the home of Project Halo (search for extra-terrestrials), is still in operation by the federal government on Earth.

A far cry from the first book, Erik Morrison, the main protagonist, is now a legend on the moon, having been credited for the Pioneer 10 space probe discovery and heading the Ad Astra project ' the construction of a large spaceship to travel deep into space to find out who or what sent the old probe back to Earth.
Erik & his trusted security director, Hector Kowalski, are still working at ALC Over-Management, overseeing the final completion of Ad Astra. Erik also has a hot new Hispanic assistant working for him called Inex Santiago. (The novel mentions that the two have dinned a few times but never took it any further). Enola Hasbro, the main focus in the second book, returns as Wendy Scheer's personal assistant. Unofficially, she is known as the Proxy, because she acts as Wendy's liaison between Armstrong & Villaneuva, because Wendy has been banished from stepping foot in the colony due to her past espionage activities for the federal government.

The story begins with the introduction of a new character, Ms. Trine Hartung, an environmental systems engineer who works on the Ad Astra ship. While inspecting the outer hull of the large vessel, she comes into contact with Hector who is also inspecting the ship.

Thereafter, Erik's world takes a devastating turn when one of his ex-wives, Sylva, informs him that his two sons, Rod & Todd, have been killed in a freak accident involving gliders back on Earth. (After reading those two names and reviewing Fall Girl, you can conclude that the late author was really a fan of The Simpsons). Feeling depressed and lost without his sons, Erik turns to drinking and retreats into himself, rarely showing up to work, not taking care of his residence, and letting his assistant represent him at public functions. Several of his closest co-workers encourage him to seek professional help but he insists on dealing with it himself. While this is happening, he also has to address Wendy's repeated requests to attend Ad Astra banquets in person, and the possible sabotaging of Ad Astra's AI systems.

Later, while on leave in Villaneuva, Trine starts running more & more into Hector. Either he's looking for a possible love interest (yeah, hard to believe) and/or future protégé (more plausible). The frequent meetings result in more privileges for Trine, such as, extended leave from Ship Site, a bigger room at the hostel she's staying, and invitations to banquets and events from Erik & Hector.

I don't want to spoil the entire novel, but the rest of it follows: Erik putting himself back together after the family tragedy; Hector dealing with Ad Astra's AI problems & schmoozing Trine; Trine figuring out what to do if she doesn't get picked to be on the crew of Ad Astra; Wendy trying to regain access to Villaneuva; and of course, the launching of the Ad Astra ship.

Whereas Fall Girl was leaning more on humour & action, Exit Strategy feels more like the first where there is more drama than action. The title alludes to the fact that with the Ad Astra project near completion, the skills & duties of the main characters will no longer be needed. Therefore, they need to find other venues to occupy their time after the ship's launch, whether retirement or other business ventures.

Since I grew accustomed to the first book, Human Resource, I didn't feel disappointed reading Exit Strategy. The novel is longer because the author wanted to bring the story full circle and tie up any loose ends. It would have been interesting to see what the crew of Ad Astra finds but instead, the epilogue takes us back to Earth. I guess that should have been obvious because the series is called Inconstant Moon. If Pierce Askegren was still alive today, he could have written another trilogy about the adventures of Ad Astra.

Overall, the Inconstant Moon Trilogy is a good, but not great series, and I think that's where its charm comes from. There are science fiction elements in all books but those are mostly present in the background. Erik Morrison is an interesting character but he's not one of my favourites. He could have at least pursued one of the attractive female characters (take a chance!) rather than hooking up with his ex-wife, but his reserved personality got in the way. Although, there is an allusion into the possibility that he may have hooked up with Wendy Scheer in the middle of the third novel.

The other main characters of the series, (Wendy Scheer, Enola Hasbro, Hector Kowalski), are good as well and it's fun to see how they interact with one another. As for the secondary characters, they're not bad as well and they too bring their interesting, and in some cases, annoying personalities to the overall story arc.
All in all, it's worth a read. I could write a longer review and thoroughly pick apart every detail but there's no fun in that. Better to let you read the novels and make your own judgements. But I do have to agree with the SF Site quote on the cover of Exit Strategy, Askegren really does give us a fascinating world.

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