Normally I try not to read reviews before I get to read the book so that I am not prejudiced, for or against, by the reviews. Now I wish I had read the reviews as it would have saved me some time and money. I am a big McDevitt fan, but quite frankly this story left me "high and dry". The characters are well developed and even interesting, but the plot itself is so lame and the premise behind it is so preachy I found it often annoying. There is very little science in this "science" fiction novel. Indeed, it could easily have been written as a western or a 1930's film noir script. There is far more Sherlock Holmes, than Hawking or Einstein in the story. I hope McDevitt's future novels are more interesting than this one was, but then again it wouldn't take much.