Book 14
DEEP by A.L. Bates
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'm a sucker for science fiction and for troubled men and Deep has both. Sean is the doctor of a deep ocean mining ship on a distant world, having left behind the man he once was back on Earth. They say if a person stays three years in the deep, they're there for life. Sean is completing his third year and he feels at home on the Ariel. The only real problem is he's attracted to the gruff captain, Joel Riley who is straight.
To complicate things further, during a rescue mission, Sean is forced to face his past head on in the form of a former companion in bad behavior and lover back on Earth. This man knows all his secrets and some of them could put the crew of the Ariel in a lot of trouble should it get out. These are people Sean has come to think of as family. Worse, he has gotten the attention of Joel but Sean fears if the man knew the truth about his former life - a truth he knows his former friend will have no trouble using against him to further his own cause - Joel will hate him.
The drama unfolds from there but since I want to keep it non-spoilery, that's all I'm going to say about that. I really like Sean and Joel (not to mention the supporting cast, especially Mia and Selena). I like the deep sea space mining worldbuilding as well. It's a world I wouldn't mind dropping back in on down the road.
The only thing that bothered me a bit was Sean hiding his sexuality because he was convinced the crew would hate him (his past I can see him hiding that). That's just a matter of my personal taste. I'm more of a Roddenberry happy future type of sci-fi woman. I would hope that by the time we're mining planets in space, we won't care about who's sleeping with who (though to be fair Sean seems to be the only one worrying about it). But like I said, that's just a matter of my tastes and Sean's fears are a part of him as he worries about a ton of stuff.
And in full disclosure, I did receive a copy in exchange for an honest review. It did not sway my review one way or the other.
View all my reviews