Review of Black Hull by Joseph A. Turkot

Black Hull

By: Joseph A. Turkot

Amazon Summery:

Mick Compton is a man with a past: he’s facing thirty years in prison for violence—and he’s lost his once highly coveted position with NASA’s FRINGE outfit. Now, facing a long stretch in prison, with two sons and an ex-wife he wants back, he’s faced with a horrible dilemma—do the time and miss out on his children’s youth, or run one black hull smuggling operation in a distant system, get a meaty reward, and pay off a connection with a standing offer to wipe his crime history from the UCA database.

All is going well until the ride home: Mick finds himself waking up prematurely, long before arriving in Earth orbit. He’s floating in dead space. Not only has he woken from cryo early, but he’s not aboard his black hull vessel any longer: he’s in an escape pod with only enough power for several more hours of life-support. 

Black Hull is the story of a man grappling with regret, clinging to a far-fetched hope that somehow, things can be made right again, despite man’s known laws of physics.

My Review:

An interesting sci-fi story of how one man comes to terms with his actions, how they have affected the people around him and how they impact his current choices.

I was drawn in from the beginning, both by the story as well as the characters.

The story is interesting.  Overall it is dark, especially towards the end.  But I think the author did an amazing job showing the capability for humanity in his characters. Not everyone gets a happy ending, but that’s true of real life too.  I also enjoyed how the author wove all the characters separate stories together.  The timeline of the story doesn’t follow point A to point B.  There are quite a few flash backs for all the characters that help fill in how they got to where they are.  But despite the jumping back and forth for various characters the story isn’t choppy or annoying like some I’ve read that have tried to use the same technique.

I also really got attached to some of the characters, especially XJ and GR.  I think they bring their own   innocence and humanity to the story, despite the fact that they are robots.  But all the characters, not just the robots, got my attention.  I liked finding out more about them as the story progressed.  I think they really added an extra depth to the book.

Overall it is an intriguing book.  Solid science fiction, with interesting characters, and an action filled story.  Definitely worth the read.