The Fifth Man [Paperback]

Olson and Ingermanson's Fifth Man is a sequel to their brilliant Oxygen . The same crew, more or less marooned on Mars, returns, but not much happens by way of Mars exploration except for the discovery of ice. The crew's frantic journey to capture enough ice to manufacture escape fuel makes for some fine scenes, but the authors pump up suspense with the gimmick of a "fifth man" who might be a stowaway, an alien, or a figment. A convoluted sabotage plot back at NASA grows rather tiresome, too. Even so, this is a skilled writing team, and they've done their research. The sequel doesn't equal the original, but it's good stuff. John Mort
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John Olson, co-author of the award-winning Oxygen, has a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin. He was the named most promising writer at a recent Mt. Hermon Writer's Conference and lives in California.

Randall Ingermanson, co-author of the award-winning Oxygen, has a Ph. D. in theoretical physics from the University of California and has written novels and as well as nonfiction. He lives in California.