Review by Chris Manning -- Sunspots by Gary Martin

Chris Manning · Post by **Chris Manning** » 19 Sep 2016, 21:20

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Sunspots" by Gary Martin.]

3 out of 4 stars

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No matter how far civilization advances, no matter how many wondrous technologies we invent to make life easier, there will always be some poor sap who gets stuck taking out the garbage. In Gary Martin’s Sunspots, that poor sap is John Farrow and that garbage is the literal kind. John, as the protagonist, is shift-manager of Sunspots 2, a cargo ship that’s on a routine mission to dump Earth’s waste into the Sun for incineration. In other words, John is a garbage man.

Of course, his job’s not all that bad. Slacker that he is, John is quite content to sit around all day, read a ton of books, and do as little as possible while the crew capably manage themselves. Unfortunately, after waking up to discover that half the crew has mysteriously disappeared and someone has sabotaged the ship, John must lead the remaining crew (an unruly bunch) as they attempt to locate their missing crewmates, find the saboteur, and make it home alive.

Sunspots offers a unique and refreshing take on the sci-fi mystery novel. Rather than try to dazzle the reader with state-of-the art technology, bizarre alien worlds, or alternate universes, Martin sets the majority of his novel within the small confines of a cargo ship—one that’s falling apart. “Everything in the engine room clanks and grinds and buzzes at alarming levels,” John observes. “Nothing gets replaced if it can be bodged back together, and everything has been bodged back together so many times, I’m surprised anything works.” Martin’s portrayal of the less glamorous side of interstellar travel adds a touch of realism to the novel, which, in the beginning at least, plays out like a day in the life of a blue-collar worker (albeit one working on board a spaceship).

What’s more, by setting the novel on a small cargo ship (with the exception of a few flashbacks) and by keeping the number of characters to a minimum, Martin focuses the reader’s attention on the mystery at the heart of the novel. Speaking of the mystery, it’s quite intriguing—as Martin introduces one odd twist after another, as the stakes grow ever higher, a sense of urgency pushes the reader along until all is finally revealed.

Ultimately, though, it’s Martin’s irreverent and offbeat humor that makes Sunspots such an engaging read. John is so clueless, so unheroic, that it seems even he can’t believe he’s on board a space scow leading a ragtag crew. Told from John’s first-person perspective, his cynical outlook, self-deprecation, and total incompetence (both personally and professionally) make him one of the more memorable anti-heroes I’ve come across in a while. It was as though I was reading a Chuck Palahniuk novel set in outer space—which brings me to the profanity. Like a Chuck Palahniuk novel, there’s quite a lot of it in Sunspots. It didn’t bother me (although, at times, it did feel excessive), but, if you are adverse to profanity in any way, then this book is not for you.

I do have a couple of real gripes, one of which is the excessive amount of typos and grammatical errors throughout the novel. I can forgive a few, but, after a while, finding one after another is distracting. This is easy to fix, and I hope Martin does because this novel, as well-written as it is, deserves better.

My other gripe was the ending (specifically, the solution to the mystery). After effectively ratcheting up the tension throughout the novel, Martin delivers an ending that feels forced and contrived. If I’m reading a good, juicy mystery, then the ending (the reveal) should be as good—if not better—than the mystery leading up to it. In the ending to Sunspots, the more bizarre aspects of the mystery are too easily explained away, and the solution sounds implausible and, therefore, unsatisfying, which is unfortunate because Sunspots really had me hooked up to that point.

Despite these issues, I enjoyed reading Sunspots, and give it 3 out of 4 stars. Anyone who’s already a fan of quirky sci-fi (Futurama, Red Dwarf, Doctor Who, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) will feel right at home reading it. Entertaining, suspenseful, and, often, hilarious, Sunspots is a sci-fi mystery you’ll be hard pressed to put down.

******
Sunspots
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