Inherit the Stars

This was Hogan's first novel, published when he was 35, and he had yet to learn that readers expect novels to be about people. This novel is about solving a scientific mystery; there are people in it, but they do nothing at all except work together to solve the mystery. There is no love, hostility, sex, crime, or anything like that. Just (mostly male) scientists working on a scientific problem.

It's not a bad book, the mystery and its solution are quite interesting, but it was rather naïve of the author to publish a work of fiction with none of the normal ingredients of fiction.

The mystery is that a corpse is found on the Moon. The corpse seems to be completely human, but he has been lying there for 50,000 years, wearing a spacesuit. If he came from Earth, how is it that no traces of his civilization have been found on Earth? If he came from elsewhere, how could he be human? The mystery is eventually solved, plausibly enough, although the solution is not simple.

Hogan's interest in science is consistent, but his later novels have more human interest than this one.

This was a very interesting book. While not a barn-burner, and it doesn't pretend to be action-packed, it was an interesting hard-science mystery, with new developments right up through the end of the book. It does make me interested in continuing on to The Gentle Giants of Ganymede. Comparable to 2001 or Rendezvous with Rama or Eon, so it is in good company and well worth the read.

Astronauts on the moon discover the body of a dead astronaut, but his space suit is different and none of their people are missing. Investigation shows the frozen and mummified corpse to be 50,000 years old. What follows is a cold case investigation as scientists from many fields try to unravel the story of the dead man, who they name Charlie.

Character development and plot are secondary to the investigatory process here, and much of the book is taken up with discussions and conjecture as people suggest various theories and possibilities. Over time more is revealed as they learn to understand printed manuals from Charlie's backpack. They identify a calendar, mathematical formulae, diary notes. But who he is and how he came to be on the moon remains a mystery.

Other explorations change their understanding of the moon's surface structure, and another discovery on one of the moons of Jupiter opens up a whole new area of investigation.

It becomes a bit like an Agatha Christie revelation towards the end as the lead scientist puts together all the clues. The only possibility that holds everything together blows his mind as the history of the solar system and the whole of human evolution is called into question.