The Explorer (The Anomaly Quartet, Book 1)

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

A tense, claustrophobic and gripping science fiction thriller from the author of The Testimony.
When journalist Cormac Easton is selected to document the first manned mission into deep space, he dreams of securing his place in history as one of humanitys great explorers.

But in space, nothing goes according to plan.

The crew wake from hypersleep to discover their captain dead in his allegedly fail-proof safety pod. They mourn, and Cormac sends a beautifully written eulogy back to Earth. The word from ground control is unequivocal: no matter what happens, the mission must continue.

But as the body count begins to rise, Cormac finds himself alone and spiralling towards his own inevitable death unless he can do something to stop it.

Reviews

It's like an episode of Star Trek written by JM Coetzee Guardian

The Explorer has the dreamlike detachment of an Ishiguro novel Financial Times

Beautifully written, creepy as hell. The Explorer is as clever in its unravelling as it is breathlessly claustrophobic Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls

As you marvel at this twist-laden deep-space exploration thriller, its hard not to draw comparisons with Duncan Jones film Moon Shortlist

A fascinating character study that could only exist in a science-fictional world io9.com

'The SF novel everyone should read' Foyles

Author Bio

James Smythe is the winner of the Wales Fiction Book of the Year 2013, and was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2014. He is the author of The Testimony, The Machine and No Harm Can Come To A Good Man, as well as The Anomaly Quartet, which currently includes the novels The Explorer and The Echo. James lives in London and teaches creative writing. He can be found on Twitter @jpsmythe