Dark Deeds

In Brooks’s fantastic third space adventure (after Dark Sky), the stakes have exponentially increased for Capt. Ichabod Drift and the crew of the Keiko. Russian casino owner and space mobster Sergei Orlov is severely displeased that Drift’s crew failed to complete their last job for him. This is brought home forcefully to Drift when he is captured and held for several days in a shipping container. When Drift is freed, he finds that his business partner, Tamara Rourke, has also been captured, and the pair are made, as they say, an offer they cannot refuse: Drift must return to New Samara with a pile of cash in two months, or Rourke will die painfully and Orlov will post a bounty on Drift’s head. Each of Brooks’s Keiko novels feel like a great caper movie, but at this point things have become so desperate that Drift actually considers doing legitimate work to raise the funds he needs. The bonds among the crew continue to be a high point of the writing, as are Brooks’s terrific action sequences, particularly those highlighting Rourke’s fighting skills. (Nov.)