Line of Descent

When a mysterious kidnapping sparks turmoil on a generation ship, humanity’s bid for the stars faces disaster.

From the author of Esperance, an inventive, twisty thriller set aboard a hurtling spacecraft—perfect for fans of Blake Crouch, Rob Hart, and Andy Weir.

Turn back now.

Archimedes has been en route to Tau Ceti for more than a century, a fifth-generation bubble of humanity.  Discipline is tight, so when a junior officer claims they’ve been abducted from outside one of the ship’s bars and released 24 hours later with no memory of what happened, officer Faisal Vasconcelos suspects drunkenness rather than crime.

The seemingly routine investigation soon plunges Faisal into a dark mix of politics, terrorism and murder.  With senior commanders battling for control of the ship, factions agitating to turn the vessel around, and a dead body drowned in an artificial womb, Faisal’s alleged kidnapping case turns into something that could blow the ship apart. Literally.

With inventive worldbuilding, breakneck pacing, and an interrogation of timely topics from reproductive rights to surveillance states, this sci-fi thriller is not just a gripping space opera: it is chillingly relevant to the present day.