First published 1989
Harry Evans sits in debriefing rooms, the only man to return from humanity's first mission to Venus. The expedition that launched with such promise has become a catastrophe. His crewmates are gone. The mission lies in ruins. Officials press him for answers, but Evans cannot or will not explain what happened during those months in space and on the surface of Venus. The questions multiply with each session. What went wrong out there? How did Evans survive when no one else did? Why can't he provide a coherent account of the disaster? Evans struggles with fragmented memories and mounting pressure from investigators who demand the truth. The weight of being the sole survivor crushes down on him as he grapples with events that may have shattered his grip on reality itself.
Genres: science-fiction, literary-fiction, adventure, psychological-thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Venus
Period: 20th-century
153 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Carroll & Graf
Content warnings: death, mental-illness