Jordan McKell thinks he's pretty unlucky, but most of us would gladly trade places with him. He's a freelance star-freighter captain who plies the hyperspace folds between worlds, trading exotic goods and meeting bizarre aliens. His latest job, to pilot the Icarus and its sealed cargo to earth, seems simple enough, but it rapidly turns into a crisis of interstellar proportions. The man who hired him goes missing, governments and the underworld alike put a price on the Icarus and on McKell's head, and one of his crew is murdered. He'll need to call upon his wits, his courage, and even a few tricks if he wants to survive. Space opera veteran Timothy Zahn, a Hugo award winner and author of the bestselling Star Wars Thrawn trilogy, brings us a tale that's as convoluted and complex as a hyperdrive motor. Although there's plenty of action both in space and on the ground, The Icarus Hunt is primarily a murder mystery. Chapter by chapter, even page by page, the list of suspects and their motivations grows and evolves, constantly shifting as McKell relentlessly cuts through webs of deception and subterfuge. But the murder is only the opening move in a game that could alter the power structure of hundreds of solar systems. Zahn always provides an entertaining ride through the galaxy, and readers will find him very much in his element with this book. --J.B. Peck
