Across the Void – S.K. Vaughn
Across the Void seems a little calculated, the author trying to play all the bases and have something for everyone; it’s a space exploration science-fiction adventure, it’s a lone person disaster-survival adventure, it’s a romance and a conspiracy thriller. Coming from a writer who is a Hollywood screenwriter working under a pseudonym, as you might expect any real SF ideas end up taking a backseat in favour of providing constant thrills and entertainment, but – for a while at least – what an entertainment it is! Firstly however, there’s a gripping science-fiction element here. Former RAF pilot Commander Maryam Knox comes around in a medical unit on-board the NASA research vessel Hawking II, on their way back after an expedition to collect and test samples from Jupiter’s Europa moon to find that she’s the only surviving crew member. Communications are lost, systems are failing, the ship is in uncharted space and could be going further away from Earth, drifting at high velocity. She can...