Adrift – Rob Boffard – espresso coco

Published by Orbit Books, June 2018
Source: review copy

In the far reaches of space, a group of tourists board a small vessel for what will be the trip of a lifetime – in more ways than one…
They are embarking on a tour around Sigma Station – a remote mining facility and luxury hotel with stunning views of the Horsehead Nebula.
During the course of the trip, a mysterious ship with devastating advanced technology attacks the Station. Their pilot’s quick evasive action means that the tour group escape with their lives – but as the dust settles, they realize they may be the only survivors…
Adrift in outer space, out of contact with civilization, and on a vastly under-equipped ship, these passengers are out of their depth. Their chances of getting home are close to none, and with the threat of another attack looming they must act soon – or risk perishing in the endless void of space.

Hot on the heels of his epic Outer Earth trilogy, Rob Boffard has delivered his new book, Adrift. A standalone this time, Adrift follows the (mis)fortunes of a group of tourists aboard the Red Panda, a small tour ship from Sigma Station, out by the Horsehead Nebula. Things, as you might expect, go awry fairly quickly as a mysterious ship appears and attacks the station, leaving the Red Panda adrift and alone in outer space.

Regular readers will be well aware by now that I rate Rob Boffard’s Outer Earth trilogy very highly indeed. They’re full-on, balls-to-the-wall action with every dial firmly cranked up to 11, with a cast of characters you come to care for over the course of the three books.

Adrift does have some (ok, lots of) absolutely stunning action set-pieces (and if there’s one thing Rob does well, it’s super-tense will-they-won’t-they action). It also has some great characters – I loved Volkova the hard drinking pilot who’ll do anything to protect her beloved ship, Lorinda who has more to her than meets the eye, and Corey the smart kid who manages to stay this side of annoying! The claustrophobic setting of the tiny, slightly rubbish tour ship which forces the characters to rub up against each other and let the sparks fly is nicely done too.

There are the occasional lulls in the action where the pace drops a bit, but you do need time to catch your breath before the tension is ratcheted up again. The plot is clever – first one thing, then another, with rugs being pulled out left right and centre before the dramatic and entirely satisfying finale.

Highly recommended.

You can find Rob on Twitter @RobBoffard, his website, and last but definitely not least, on his YouTube channel doing epic book raps, one minute book reviews and other fun stuff. Huge thanks to Nazia and the Orbit Books crew for the advance copy of the book (I’d already ordered my copy as soon as I knew it was coming out though!)