Jack McDevitt - The Long Sunset (Academy #8)

I have read a few of McDevitt's Academy books, Engines of God being the book to note. Overall he creates a believable framework of characters and politics in The Long Sunset. We see our hero Priscilla Hutchins, or Hutch, adapting to life on an earth where mankind is becoming afraid of what horrors interstellar travel may unleash (Sound  like the USA today?). A small group are drawn to investigate an unusual broadcast deeper in the Milky Way.

This leads to an enjoyable read as our protagonists rush to investigate. While I enjoyed the book and found the prose easy to read, couldn't help thinking that the plot meanders a bit and the big surprises always remain something of an enigma. With a well established character, Hutch, McDevitt does not put much into the plot. Instead he gives us something of a wonderful story of discovery.

However, what we discover are really just aliens, who are human beings in costume. The aliens are just too human and McDevitt's worlds are just like earth.

Overall an enjoyable read.