What can I say but classic Jack McDevitt. If you enjoy this author you will enjoy this story. The story was more about a space survival and rescue story told with a mystery of an alien civilization. ( )

Continuing the story of Hutch and the search for an understanding of the Omega Clouds

Though not quite as good as its predecessor, Engines of God, Deepsix continues the exploits of Superluminal pilot Priscilla “Hutch” Hutchins as she is diverted to the planet Deepsix, which is weeks away from being swallowed whole by a gas giant on a collision course. With a Gore Vidal-like passenger in Gregory MacCallister unwillingly in tow, Hutch must meet with a science team to help them solve the recently discovered mystery of Deepsix’s dead advanced civilization before the clues are lost forever.

Twenty years earlier, a science party was mostly slaughtered by hostile life on the planet, and the only available scientist nearby to lead this new expedition is the disgraced commander of the first, lost expedition. To make matters worse for the party, oil and water collide as the commander holds a grudge against MacCallister for lambasting him publicly after the loss of the first crew.

The adventure really heats up though when a tidal earthquake caused by the impending destruction of the planet tears the ground asunder and the party’s lander is lost. With time running out and helpless sightseers in the system to witness the planet’s demise, the team must trek across a dying planet to find a lost lander from the first expedition and hope that it will provide them a way off in time.

But, this book is not all adventure, as we get a dose of McDevitt’s intellectual science fiction as we also have opportunity to learn a little more about the Monument-Makers and Omega Clouds introduced in the first book set in this universe. ( )

This is another Priscilla Hutchins novel. She had previously discovered the existence of the Monument Makers and a probably location for their homeworld.

This is more of a rescue mission book, as an orginal Deepsix mission gets into trouble with dangerous alien lifeforms, and then again, when Hutchins is involved another pull out is needed.

The planet is of interest because of signs of past life that had not been noticed before.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/02/deepsix-jack-mcdevitt.html ( )

http://yet.org/2006/05/deepsix.html ( )

Deepsix follows Hutch as she is thrown onto a dying planet. Like McDevitt's previous novels this book is wholly engrossing. The mix of xenoarcheology, lost civilizations, human conflicts makes this an exciting read. My only problems are that it’s annoying how things always go wrong in a cliché way. You always feel like things will get better for at least the main character, which kills a lot of the suspense the reader should feel. McDevitt's ingenuity with science fiction and fact has created a series of books that I can’t help but reading. ( )