Caliban's War

Caliban's War is the sequel to Leviathan Wakes. However there is enough backstory covered that you can read it stand alone. (Though why you would want to do that I don't know, as they are both crackin' good space opera.)
The story picks up a little over a year after the end of Leviathan Wakes. Jim Holden and the crew of the the Rocinante have spent that time chasing down pirates in the asteroid belt and beyond. But, something really strange and bad has started happening on Ganymede, and the Rocinante and crew are dispatched there to find out what is going on. Meanwhile, on Earth high level political maneuvering has started. The Ganymede disaster has precipitated a crisis, and a power struggle has started involving double-crossing and backstabbing of the highest order. On top of that the alien entity on Venus is stirring and it might have some connection with what's happening on Ganymede. Add in a distraught father and a clutch of children kidnapped by a gang of sociopaths with unknown motives and you have all the elements needed for a ripping good story. And that is what Caliban's War is.
One side note – the name of the book is somewhat of a mystery to me as there isn't a character named Caliban in the story. (Caliban of course is one of the primary characters in Shakespeare's The Tempest. Perhaps I should go back and re-read that to try to find what inspired the name.)
Highly recommended.