Recovery Man

A woman is kidnapped in a company town on Callisto. Her terrified 13-year-old cloned daughter is abandoned, and her mother’s employer thinks they own her. A group of aggrieved aliens also claim title to the girl. Meanwhile, in Luna’s Armstrong City, Miles Flint is going through the records of the retrieval company he inherited when he finds a connection to the Callisto case. Most of the story follows the victims. But there is a sequel, Recovery Man’s Bargain, that tells the story from the point of view of the kidnapper. If that brings Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon to mind, you are not far wrong.

This was another good installment of the series. I didn't realize when I'd read the summary, I didn't realize that this was going to delve so deeply into Miles' personal life (okay, I didn't realize Rhonda and her daughter were connected to him at all). Once I got into the story and realized it, I really enjoyed it. Granted Miles doesn't actually get to Calisto until the last quarter and he never has a scene with Rhonda (boy was I pining for one after all the revelations) but the call back to their history was so well done that I can't really complain. Points also go to Aleyd possibly rivalling Wagner, Stuart & Xendor for most cravenly opportunistic and cynical employer. Unlike the Disty in the last book, I didn't feel I got to know the show more Geyonesse very well. Still, I liked the look in and could see their grievance where their progeny were concerned.

No Noelle here and yes, I missed her but again, there was so much else going on that I can't ultimately call that a flaw in the book. Definitely recommended and I'm already on to the next one. I will miss this series when I've finished it. show less

Truly exceptional work. This builds on the earlier novels in the 'Retrieval Artist' series, with significant plot development, and the introduction of many exciting possibilities for further books.

Read in a single session, I could not put the book down until it was finished. Solid work from and underrated author.

5 Stars.

Going through Paloma's old case files, Miles finds a reference to his deceased daughter and Callisto, somewhere she'd never been. What had Paloma known?

An intriguing mystery with some side characters I'd like to see more of.

Recovery Man is the sixth novel in Rusch’s science fiction mystery series following Retrieval Artist Miles Flint. The premise of the series is as follows: human governments have signed treaties with alien governments mandating that humans be tried under alien laws for crimes committed on alien planets. But some of the punishments or “crimes” are completely, well, alien to humans, so a burgeoning industry of Disappearance Services hides human offenders from alien justice systems. Miles Flint, a former police officer, is a Retrieval Artist, someone who works for the families of the Disappeared, who will try to contact them without blowing their aliases.

While you could theoretically start with Recovery Man, I wouldn’t. It’s not show more the best book in the series, and the plotline is weaker than some of the others. Try the first book, The Disappeared.

On a company colony on Callisto, Rhonda Shindo is kidnapped by a Recovery Man, leaving her thirteen year old daughter Talia on her own, along with a big revelation regarding her past. Meanwhile, Miles Flint is searching through the old files on his mentor Paloma’s computer when he stumbles onto information with a critical tie to his own past.

Basically, Recovery Man is an exploration of Miles’s backstory. Yes, I know, I thought we would have a handle on everything after six books, but Recovery Man does mine new ground. Partly related to this, Noelle DeRicci, probably the second most significant character in the series, actually didn’t appear here. I missed her, but I don’t see how she would have fit in anyway.

While it didn’t have any trouble getting me to keep turning the pages, Recovery Man did end up feeling a bit lacking. In retrospect, Miles didn’t actually do a whole lot in his sections. Same goes for Talia after the initial excitement of her mother’s kidnapping. Really, Rhonda’s desperate escape attempts were the majority of the action in the novel.

There were also quirks of Rusch’s writing style that annoyed me at times. It seemed like she spent too much time stating the obvious, often for the purpose of dramatic ending lines to chapters. Are all of her books like this, or am I only just now noticing it?

Regardless, I’m still willing to read more since I like the stories and characters. Unfortunately one of my favorite things about the series – the aliens – didn’t have a huge role in this installment, but I can hold out hopes for future books.

Originally posted on The Illustrated Page. show less

Firstly - this is not a standalone book. If you read this without reading the predecessors, it won't make any sense.

I liked this more than the last book, but not as much as the first few. Rusch had a way of portraying aliens who really felt alien, not like humans in costume. And when her later books started focusing more on local politics/dynamics, they became less engaging. However the character of Miles does grow more interesting ever book. So while this book has very few aliens, it is more exciting because it brings us in contact with Mile's past in a totally unexpected way. I read it in one day and am curious to see what happens in the next book, so the series feels back on track for me.

This book really shakes up the series, going back to Miles's past and dealing with his ex wife and murdered child. I look forward to the changes this will make in his life.