Published: Feb. 06, 2011
Words: 96,823 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781452420523

Short description

New York Times bestselling author Orson Scott Card calls the Retrieval Artist series “some of the best science fiction ever written.” Io9 says Miles Flint is one of “the top ten greatest science fiction detectives of all time.” The Disappeared is Flint’s very first adventure, the story that turns him from a police detective in the Armstrong Dome on the Moon into a Retrieval Artist.

Extended description

New York Times bestselling author Orson Scott Card calls the Retrieval Artist series “some of the best science fiction ever written.” Io9 says Miles Flint is one of “the top ten greatest science fiction detectives of all time.” The Disappeared is Flint’s very first adventure, the story that turns him from a police detective in the Armstrong Dome on the Moon into a Retrieval Artist.

In a universe where humans and aliens have formed a loose government called the Earth Alliance, treaties guarantee that humans are subject to alien laws when on alien soil. But alien laws often make no sense, and the punishments vary from loss of life to loss of a first-born child.

Now three cases have collided: a stolen spaceyacht filled with dead bodies, two kidnapped human children, and a human woman on the run, trying to Disappear to avoid alien prosecution. Flint must enforce the law—giving the children to aliens, solving the murders, and arresting the woman for trying to save her o.. (Read more) New York Times bestselling author Orson Scott Card calls the Retrieval Artist series “some of the best science fiction ever written.” Io9 says Miles Flint is one of “the top ten greatest science fiction detectives of all time.” The Disappeared is Flint’s very first adventure, the story that turns him from a police detective in the Armstrong Dome on the Moon into a Retrieval Artist.

In a universe where humans and aliens have formed a loose government called the Earth Alliance, treaties guarantee that humans are subject to alien laws when on alien soil. But alien laws often make no sense, and the punishments vary from loss of life to loss of a first-born child.

Now three cases have collided: a stolen spaceyacht filled with dead bodies, two kidnapped human children, and a human woman on the run, trying to Disappear to avoid alien prosecution. Flint must enforce the law—giving the children to aliens, solving the murders, and arresting the woman for trying to save her own life. But how is a man supposed to enforce laws that are unjust? How can he sacrifice innocents to a system he’s not sure he believes in? How can Miles Flint do the right thing in a universe where the right thing is very, very wrong?

“Rusch does a superb job of making the Retrieval Artist books work as fully satisfying standalone mysteries and as installments in a gripping saga full of love, loss, grief, hope, adventure, and discovery. It is also some of the best science fiction ever written.”
—New York Times bestselling author
Orson Scott Card

International bestselling writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch has won two Hugo awards, a World Fantasy Award, and three Asimov’s Readers Choice Awards. IO9 called her six (so far) bestselling, award-winning Retrieval Artist novels one of the top ten science fiction detective series ever.
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Tags

mystery, space opera, science fiction, moon, kristine kathryn rusch, wmg publishing, hardboiled mystery, retrieval artist, miles flint, domed city, sf detective

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Reviews

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Review by: Dai Alanye on June 14, 2012 :
Rusch has a fine imagination and is a wonderful world-builder. The Disappeared is, I believe, the initial Retrieval Artist novel, and should make SF fans eager for the following books in the series.

Some minor typos, one or two instances of questionable logic, and ends in a somewhat Deus ex machina style, but overall well worth reading.
(reviewed long after purchase)

Review by: Bumblefish on April 11, 2012 :
Years ago i first stumbled across this book by accident. Even years after reading i sometimes thought about it. Not many books manage that.
I'm glad, i now found it as ebook.
(reviewed long after purchase)

Review by: Nancy Beck on Dec. 06, 2011 :
What a fantastic story! I've been trying to read more SF lately, and this filled the bill...and then some! Miles Flint is a detective working on the Moon when a space yacht is found - with 3 dead people inside. Another space yacht, piloted by a young woman, comes into the Port, calling out a Mayday as she attempts to not crash the yacht. A strange coincidence? Or do these two events share something? And what's with all the aliens showing up, demanding human kids as payment for past wrongs perpetrated by the adult humans?

**POSSIBLE SPOILER**
What first drew me in was the opening couple of pages, where we first meet that young woman; it broke my heart that she had to leave her fiancee behind...

In summary, this is a nice mix of SF and mystery. You'll keep guessing until the very end as to what Miles will do.
(reviewed long after purchase)

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