The Spare Man

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published July 19, 2022 by Tor Books.

ISBN:
978-1-250-23700-2
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4 stars (5 reviews)

Tesla Crane, a brilliant inventor and an heiress, is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner, cruising between the Moon and Mars. She’s traveling incognito and is reveling in her anonymity. Then someone is murdered and the festering chowderheads who run security have the audacity to arrest her spouse. Armed with banter, martinis and her small service dog, Tesla is determined to solve the crime so that the newlyweds can get back to canoodling—and keep the real killer from striking again.

4 editions

"The Spare Man" an unexpectedly fun read

No rating

"The Spare Man" started like a light murder mystery with a science fiction backdrop and somewhat unlikely characters, but slowly builds to a really interesting conundrum that I found surprisingly engaging.

The plot is engaging and the reason for the title is a brilliantly novel twist that I found delightful.

The main characters Tesla Crane and her husband Shal are not especially relatable characters. Typically, the the investigator is an outsider who provides a way for the reader to peek into the extravagant world of the wealthy. So casting one of these privileged, wealthy, celebrities as the protagonist and investigator does make the reading a little less pleasant as we have to deal with annoying elitist opinions and lapdogs... though the former are probably just to show her sheltered life, and the latter becomes a plot point. As the story evolves, this becomes less annoying and Tesla has access that …

A page turner

4 stars

The premise - a murder mystery set on a space cruise ship - sounded intriguing and like a nice vacation read. It proved to be a real page turner which I rushed through in 3 days. It's written in a very entertaining way, with plenty of interesting, mysterious or quirky characters. I also liked how well various pronouns and the custom of stating them were weaved into the narrative. The cocktails to set the theme for each chapter were a fun idea, too. The conclusion was a bit off and I think wouldn't hold up to scrutiny but on the other hand, it wasn't predictable.

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rated it

4 stars