Summer’s End

When you pick up a book published by Baen, you generally know that it is going to be a very hard science fiction tale, with a lot of action and description of various high-tech gear, and that is true of this novel written by a new author in the Baen publishing world.

John Van Stry plays it by the book in this tale, with a young man who must escape a dicey situation, a grizzle and veteran crew he teams up with, and action across the solar system as Dave Walker—the main lead—must dodge messy situations that he wants no part of and find a way to stay alive in a cut-throat futuristic world.

Walker is running from a stepfather who now finds that he is a liability and doing everything he can to take out Walker permanently or else Walker could be a threat to his chance for high political office. Walker heads out as quick as he can on the first corporate job, one in which the equipment is failing and pennies are pinched to trade goods across the solar system.

Fairly enjoyable if not quite memorable.