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Author and physics professor Huddleston melds science fact and speculative sci-fi in this smartly rendered young-adult first-contact thriller. After a sudden blackout of the NASA Solar X satellite, followed by communication failures of other research probes monitoring the sun and conditions in outer space from a particular orbital point, scientists rush to analyze the final data to determine the cause. What they discover is more challenging—and literally chilling—than any problem ever faced by humanity in recorded history.
Seventeen-year-old Kevin Mycroft, son of a NASA scientist, develops his own plans when he discovers that NASA is withholding specific info from the public about the mysterious solar anomaly to avoid widespread panic. Likewise, Kevin's friend Lexis Finto, the daughter of a plasma physicist and a colleague of his father, is also intrigued by the unusual phenomena. She joins Kevin in the early quest to make sense of what their parents are and aren't revealing. Later, both teens and their siblings and friends are involved in bigger ways as conditions on Earth deteriorate with difficult and deadly consequences.
While the basic themes and tropes of this dystopian tale aren't unique, Huddleston makes the clever extraterrestrial manipulation of sunlight on Earth fresh and believable through imaginative, detailed plotting and focused use of scientific realities. Good character development, tight, competent writing and plotting, and Huddleston's firm grasp of the subject—plus some outstanding research—make this a better read than many novels in the genre. Although this story ends on a cliffhanger, it definitely doesn't need the cinematic feature to hold the reader's attention.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review