BROTHER 5

An American man stumbles on a case involving missing homeless people who may be in a different galaxy in this SF debut.

Timothy has become apathetic since losing his mother and father. But he finds a pleasant “distraction” in Lucy, a homeless woman who regularly passes the travel agency that his parents owned. When he doesn’t see Lucy for over a week, he checks a nearby shelter. There, he meets Jed, who says, as “a detective of sorts,” he finds people. The two soon discover that quite a few homeless individuals are missing. But when they face a group of assailants, Timothy is in for a shock, as neither Jed’s gun nor his small dog, Diablo, originated on Earth. Aiding an injured Jed takes Timothy on the Zephyr Transfer to another solar system. Timothy visits different planets, where he learns that humans are a commodity traded among this galaxy’s “creatures” as slaves. This surely explains the missing homeless, although the number of Earth inhabitants that someone has taken is staggeringly high. Timothy and Jed, whom attackers continue to target, decide to stop the culprit responsible for kidnapping and transporting humans. Although this brisk tale is a series opener, Years deftly builds the story’s worlds. The other solar system, for example, has five diverse planets, from a heavily secured one to another that’s essentially lawless. Similarly, the method of intergalactic travel is intriguing, as it’s largely dependent on “temperamental” space weather. While both lead characters are believably flawed, Jed is more delightfully mysterious than Timothy. Less convincing is Timothy’s romance, as he finds love almost instantly. And while the author creates not one, but two memorable villains, the inevitable final act confrontation is somewhat anticlimactic. Still, there are plenty of narrative avenues left for the sequel to explore.

A diverting, expansive galactic tale with great potential for subsequent volumes.