Adrift

A race against the clock spices this science fiction thriller with a palatable blend of intrigue and adventure. The Red Panda, a tour ship serving the Sigma XV space station, is on a jaunt with 10 passengers when a mysterious armed ship blows the station to smithereens and destroys the wormhole jump gate that rescuers would use to reach it. The passengers, led by insecure tour guide Hannah Elliott and spunky 10-year-old Corey Livingstone, realize they have to pull together to figure out who the attackers are and how to elude and outwit them. Boffard sets his tale in a 22nd century recently scarred by a devastating interplanetary war, using the uncertainties left by the eventual truce to introduce surprising plot twists that will leave readers doubting their assumptions about the characters and their motives. Although his passengers are amateurs up against a superior adversary, he gives them an appealing scrappiness that makes their survival seem less unlikely than it should. This action-packed adventure is made for summer vacation reading. (June)