This stupendous novel is such a wonderful satisfying creation. It just lasts and lasts. Depending on your memory it can remain with you for years.

And I am here to say that I think "The Devil's Eye" is great science fiction and an outstanding novel. And I'll never forget it.

It's a mystery with a purpose, if you will. McDevitt's antiquities dealers Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath are on the trail of a horror writer who had a memory wipe and disappeared into a new life. And no one can figure out why. Vicki Greene is a byword among horror fans and she is popular throughout the Confederacy. Alex receives an unexpected message from Ms. Greene, whom neither Alex nor Chase has met. Why would a horror author they don't know send this message to a pair of high-profile antiquities dealers that searches out the amazing, no matter how improbable its existence might be

Greene's strange message ends with the terribly cryptic words: "God help me, they're all dead."

Well, dang---there's something you can't ignore! Who's all dead? Who killed them?

Of course Alex and Chase are bewildered at why Alex has gotten this message, since in previous novels they track down rare arcane objects and not usually people. Nevertheless, they are determined to find out what has happened to Vicki Greene. And what, for all intents and purposes, her final words mean.

Alex and Chase backtrack Vicki Greene's last months as she traveled about doing conventions, research and interviews. Her journey ends at Salud Afar, a planet so far out---the galactic rim is just a smear of light on the horizon. And there is only one star really visible - the lovely blue Callistra. McDevitt proceeds to set up a compelling engrossing mystery, with HUGE wide-ranging ramifications. For me the premise was so beyond OMG. I am sure there may be other novels written about this particular idea. But because Alex and Chase are not Galactic Heroes with a scrappy space ship at their disposal (okay they have Chase's ship the Belle Marie but she really is no Millennium Falcon) this novel for me was even more compelling. Even though they are against all odds in a big way, the story is so worth the reading.

What Alex and Chase have in abundance is intrinsic moral bottom, intelligence and responsibility. They do the right thing not because it will give them glory, or they might die in the process in a blaze, but because, even though they are just antiquities dealers with a personal space yacht they will take on the biggest challenge ever because it has to be done. And they do it with dogged focus and without whining or joking. They have discovered what the issue is and because they unravel the mystery they must fix it - there is no choice to walk away or pass it on to someone else.

And damn it, they do it!! And McDevitt does not make it easy or throw in some kind of dieu ex machina either. The plot is fascinating and I couldn't put the book down.

God… Ignore the paperback you were going to buy because it's the next in a series.

This should be your next purchase and remain a keeper.

Heck, buy ALL of McDevitt's novels. You won't regret it ~~ Sue Martin