Description
From the NYT bestselling co-author of Illuminae and Aurora Rising comes a high-stakes, high-chemistry sci-fi romp filled with witty banter and clever high jinks about a stowaway girl and the richest boy in the galaxy, racing the clock to outwit a gang of mercenaries.
Eight hours to stop an explosion . . .
Eight hours to fall in love.
It's 2067, and the Graves family has transformed Mars from a lifeless rock into a chaotic patchwork of settlements. You can buy a one-way ticket to a new life - if you're rich.
Enter Hunter Graves: handsome, ambitious, and with spectacularly bad timing. He shows up unannounced at the United Nations base just as an emergency evacuation sends everyone scurrying for safety. And he's left behind. Uh-oh.
Also stranded: Cleo, a sharp-tongued stowaway with no intention of dying today, and even less patience for overconfident trust fund boys. But the enemy of your enemy is the jerk who might just help you survive, so here we are.
Now, Hunter and Cleo have one shot to stop the explosion, escape alive, and deal with the inconvenient fact that they're falling for each other.
The clock is ticking.
Review
Hunter Graves is the rich son of the Graves family, who tamed the unfriendly world of Mars. He has also not spoken to his mother in five years and decides to turn up on Mars unannounced to visit.
Just as he arrives at the United Nations station, an emergency evacuation sends everyone away - but no one knows he is even there so he is stranded. However, he is not alone. Cleo, a hitchhiker, is also stranded. She is on the station as a stowaway, but she does know her way around at least.
When a bunch of mercenaries arrive, Hunter and Cleo realise that the evacuation was all a bluff to leave the station empty. With nothing in common but a burning desire to survive and get out alive, they need to figure out what the mercenaries really want. Can they put their own skills to good use together to save the station and themselves? And maybe try not to fall in love while they’re at it?!
This is Amie Kaufman at her best. It’s a fast paced sci-fi adventure that is full of action and a great story, with lots of smart one liners, as our two heroes try to work out whether to trust each other or not. Hunter and Cleo are great characters who are not only trying to save themselves and Mars, but work out who they are and who they really want to be. It’s perfect to read in one sitting and sci-fi and adventure lovers will thoroughly enjoy this one. Perfect for all those 14 and up.
