Dana Arbeit

I was going through some old notes and saw that I had written down the title and author for this book. The note was over 20 years old! I checked on Amazon and bought a copy. I read it in only two days mainly stopping because my old eyes would get tired. This is a great book. It is very well written with believable characters dealing with difficult situations. It is a shame the author seems to have only written this one book. She shows real talent. If you love good science fiction with characters that don't have to do really stupid things to make the plot work, then you will like this book. It is set in space with FTL travel common and the human race searching for new sources of valuable resources. The setting is a ship with a prospecting/exploring mission. They are employees of a corporation not military. The main character, Kate, is the sole survivor of one such expedition who has to go back where the worst experience of her life occurred. There are plots within plots and a small crew of really well written characters have to deal with quite a lot. It was an easy read that would make a great basis for a movie or miniseries. The characters are likable and admirable. The villains are realistic and practical. The "monster" turns out to be less of a problem than the people. Long out of print, it is available if you look and it is worth finding. I hope it can be revived enough to be reprinted.