Desperation, Loneliness, and Murder (science fiction book REVIEW of Earthrise)

Generalizations to be made about humankind abound... but for right now, let’s go with something on the lines of, “after humans have completely effed up one place, it’s a sure thing they’ll soon seek out the next place to take over (and immediately set about effing it up in similar fashion)”. 

I mean, it’s pretty much one of our signature moves. 

 

It isn’t much of a stretch, then, to envision a not-that-far-off future in which we’ve plundered all of Earth’s once-bountiful resources, along with overpopulating our planet to the point of having to seek out new digs to inhabit... namely, the Moon.

 

But what comes after that... once the Moon—with its considerably smaller size and limited resources—has likewise been pillaged and overrun by greedy bipedal interlopers?

 

The next, most-obvious (meaning, least-inhospitable of all remotely-viable options) candidate, of course. The Red Planet. Mars.

 

The thing is, we humans are never content with just brutal pioneering. No, we come armed to the teeth with an arsenal of all our very worst behaviors and attitudes... including—in Jeff D Buchanan’s thought-provoking tale, Earthrise—the propensity to commit murder.

 

 

A suitably-red Vodka Grapefruit Gimlet

As bad as life on Earth has become, the very last thing police Detective Enerson Drinkwine wants is to be sent on a long-distance assignment to single-handedly solve Mars’ Very First Murder Ever(!!)—and on the downlow, no less, because no one dares tarnish the finally-nearly-ready-for-settlement planet’s claim to “no crime” fame—but nevertheless, that’s where he finds himself.

[One could reasonably ask how/why the past-his-prime Drinkwine was chosen, but that answer is simple enough: Drinkwine, some two-plus decades earlier, solved the Moon’s first murder, so the powers-that-be assume that’s his “thing”, now.]

 

Once the novelty of the still-exceedingly-unfriendly Martian landscape begins to wear off, Drinkwine comprehends that the blistering heatwaves, ferocious sandstorms, and serious lack of water are far from the only impediments to solving this murder. How so? Because of the influence wielded by the cadre of ridiculously-powerful, mind-bogglingly-wealthy investors, industrialists, and politicians—each wanting nothing so much as to sweep the untidiness of a random workman’s murder under the proverbial rug, in pursuit of their own, overarching goals of unfettered greed and still more power.

 

What none of them counted on, though, was the dogged determination of a man like Drinkwine.

_____________________________________________

 

Earthrise is one of those books that surprised me with its impact. Buchanan uses his words to very good—and sometimes, exquisitely beautiful—effect, as he details one man’s simultaneous journeys into the unknowns of a foreign land and a newly-uncertain future.

 

Drinkwine follows in the footsteps of many other fictional detectives... another take on the work-weary, jaded cop who’s solved hundreds of cases over the course of his career, and—regardless of how little he wanted to take on the latest assignment—is equally determined to solve it. 

 

What sets Drinkwine apart, for me, is the palpable air of melancholy which envelops him; I found myself wanting, so much, for this man to find his moment of grace and peace (and, obviously, success, with regard to the case). Buchanan offers extremely tender portrayals of heartbreak, grief, and loneliness... and the lengths one can go to, whilst trying to cope with them.

 

Seeing as how Earthrise is a science fiction story, it’s fitting to discuss Mars, for a moment. The author skillfully depicts the vast barrenness and deathly desolation of the place; I could feel the oppressive heat ramping up, the sharp sting of the furiously-blowing sand, and the discordant din and filth at the mines and construction sites where the uneducated (but maybe, somehow-still-hopeful) laborers toil... in sharp contrast with the sanitized, lavish excesses of those places meant for the elite. 

 

My TL;DR summary? Earthrise is a tale as much about the loneliness of a man, as about the solving of a crime... with considerable thought given to the nature of life, love, dreams, and desperation, throughout. 

 

If you’re in the mood for lyrical prose that meanders gracefully through the harshest of environments, and occasionally makes you really stop to think and feel, Earthrise is the book you need to read.

~GlamKitty