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Polaris (Alex Benedict #2)

3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 · rating details · 1,923 ratings · 137 reviews

The luxury space yacht Polaris carried an elite group of the wealthy and curious thousands of light-years from Earth to witness a spectacular stellar phenomenon. It never returned. The search party sent to investigate found the Polaris empty and adrift in space, the fate of its pilot and passengers a mystery.

Sixty years later, prominent antiquities dealer Alex Benedict i...more

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published January 2005 by Ace Hardcover (first published November 2nd 2004)

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Jan 22, 2008 Gina rated it 3 of 5 stars

3 stars seems like a lot for this book... its more along the caliber of Dan Brown. the guy writer writes in the perspective of a female character, but doesnt quite come across. Entertaining though. I remember liking the seeker better. why am i reading this? it was on the library bookshelf.

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Mar 04, 2013 Doug Armstrong rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Miguel Hernandez Fransisco

Recommended to Doug by: Juan Gomez

The main characters are like a really, really dense version of Sherlock and Holmes, you'll figure out the gist of what happened to the Polaris' crew about 150 pages before they do. You'll also get really angry when they do things straight out of an Austin Powers movie ("A.I. systems never go down, but we'll just get in this vehicle whose A.I. system is mysteriously offline after someone has already tried to kill us once.", "We just disabled our arch enemy, but instead of restrain them we'll go o...more

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Feb 14, 2011 Phaedrus rated it 5 of 5 stars

Three ships went out to witness the white dwarf collide with Delta Karpis. The Sentinel and the Rensilaer were scientific vessels, there to collect data and to record the event. The third ship, the Polaris, was filled with VIPs, there to make it a media event. After the collision, which was as fantastic as promised, all three ships were to jump back to Indigo Station. The Sentinel and the Rensilaer appeared on schedule, and the Polaris sent the message "Departure imminent", but the Polaris never...more

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Mar 13, 2010 Mormonhermitmom rated it 3 of 5 stars

I prefer science fiction movies to science fiction novels, but I kind of liked this one. Polaris came out a few years ago. This story has plenty of futuristic spaceships, technology, and faraway worlds, but the plot is essentially a mystery.

The Polaris is a space yacht carrying well known scientists and social activists to witness an aging star get pulverized by a neutron star. Other ships are in the system observing, taking readings and doing the actual scientific work. When the star has become...more I prefer science fiction movies to science fiction novels, but I kind of liked this one. Polaris came out a few years ago. This story has plenty of futuristic spaceships, technology, and faraway worlds, but the plot is essentially a mystery.

The Polaris is a space yacht carrying well known scientists and social activists to witness an aging star get pulverized by a neutron star. Other ships are in the system observing, taking readings and doing the actual scientific work. When the star has become a nebula, the ships prepare to jump back to an outstation. All the ships call in announcing their departure, but Polaris never makes it to the station. A ship is sent to find the Polaris and find out what the problem is. The Polaris is found drifting off course, the passengers missing, and the artificial intelligence onboard shut down with no record of what happened.

Sixty years later, Alex, an antiquities dealer, and his pilot, Chase, acquire some of the artifacts that were found on the Polaris. A bombing of a Polaris museum exhibit starts an odd chain of events. The customers to whom Alex sold the Polaris artifacts are approached by either a man or a woman, who are not who they say they are. Alex's home is broken into, but only some of the minor collectibles are stolen and they are later found, apparently abandoned. Alex becomes obsessively curious about who these people are and why they seem to be connected to Polaris. His efforts to find them becomes dangerous. His vehicles are sabotaged, his ship nearly maroons him and Chase out in the middle of nowhere, and the police are unable to do anything to protect them.

Eventually, Alex and Chase have to solve the original mystery of how the Polaris passengers disappeared to answer why someone seems to want Alex and Chase dead.

This was a decent book. What little violence there was wouldn't gross anyone out. No sex scenes, very minimal swearing, and it took a while for me to figure out what might be going on. I did figure it out before the end of the book, but the solution wasn't obvious at first. I don't think most teen girls would care for it, even though the story is told through the eyes of Chase, a female starpilot. Teen boys may not like it because there may not be enough action for them. If you are a mystery reader who doesn't mind a sci-fi setting, this may be all right for you.(less)

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Feb 13, 2010 Neil Fein rated it 3 of 5 stars

The third book in a loose series featuring Mr. McDevitt's character Alex Benedict, Polaris is told from the viewpoint of Chase Kolpath, Alex's pilot and assistant. Chase doesn't quite Rainbow, Alex's two-person operation that sells archaeological finds, but she is certainly a well-known face to their wealthy clients, and very skilled at cutting through bureaucracy.

The setup behind this vaguely noir/mystery book involves the mysterious ship Polaris whose passengers and crew vanished mysteriously...more

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Dec 11, 2009 Dev Null rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, space-opera

I really quite enjoyed this one too, but some of the basic facts that the plot rests upon don't bear too much examination.

McDevitt tells us in this one that there are about a thousand FTL ships in the entire human culture. He also tells us that the population of Earth is up to about 12 billion, and that there is at least one other over-industrialised and over-populated world amongst the known worlds. And we get the impression at least that there are quite a few of these settled worlds. Which, ev...more I really quite enjoyed this one too, but some of the basic facts that the plot rests upon don't bear too much examination.

McDevitt tells us in this one that there are about a thousand FTL ships in the entire human culture. He also tells us that the population of Earth is up to about 12 billion, and that there is at least one other over-industrialised and over-populated world amongst the known worlds. And we get the impression at least that there are quite a few of these settled worlds. Which, even with conservative estimates for populations, makes owning an FTL ship about the equivalent to their being a grand total of 300 internal combustion engines on earth today, and you owning a private car. Its by no means impossible. Its even justifiable, given that the main characters were instrumental to the (re)discovery of the FTL drive that they're using. But what is impossible is that noone really remarks on it, and most folks don't seem to recognise our heroes. If you were rich and eccentric enough to own one of the 300 internal combustion engines on earth for a private car that mostly sat around idle, I assure you that _everyone_ would know who you were. All of which would just be a trivially miscalculated detail if it weren't for the fact that the entire plot of the book relies on this scarcity of FTL (in a way which I wont explain, to avoid spoilers.)

Then there's the fact that they keep going on about how there is almost no crime in the world, yet crimes happen to the main characters almost daily, apparently. If there were a dozen robberies a year in New York, and 3 of them happened to the same guy, and then he got robbed _again_ a couple of years later, I'm thinking someone would sit up and take a bit of notice. Its nice that McDevitt believes that we have a future in which crime becomes more-or-less unthinkable, but human nature obviously hasn't changed _that_ much or it wouldn't keep happening to the main characters, which makes you wonder why it doesn't happen more often to other people too...

All of which is really nitpicking; as I said at the beginning, I really enjoyed this. Again, the historical tale is really the more interesting, along with the questions it makes you ask.(less)

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May 18, 2009 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sciencefictionfantasy

Set in the far future, the spaceship Polaris takes a group of rich passengers thousands of light years away to watch the destruction of a sun by another star. The ship never returns. The nearest rescue ship reaches it six days later to find the ship undamaged, but drifting...and deserted. The destruction of the sun wiped out any planets or moons that could have sheltered the ship's passengers.

Nearly sixty years later, the ship has become a legend. The fate of the crew has been the subject of boo...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Nicholas rated it 3 of 5 stars

Polaris is a fantastic mystery set thousands of years in the future. Following the archeological explorations of Alex Benedict the story takes into a legendary ghost ship story that has been around since man first set sale. It is a good mystery that gives good spins and while the answer isn't earth shattering it is entertaining.

McDevitt shows his strength in world building, or universe building with his sci-fi stories. The story feels deep because McDevitt has obviously worked out a history to t...more

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Apr 05, 2011 Paul Baker rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

Minor Spoiler Alert!

Polaris is second of Jack McDevitt's series of novels about Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath - and it is probably the best of the group.

This is a series of novels that need not be read in order, as there is no real development from one to the next. However, the reader might benefit from reading A Talent for War first as it is the opening book in the series and sets up some of the past influences. It is also the only novel of the group that is told from the point of view of Ale...more

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Sep 23, 2012 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

As I have said elsewhere, McDevitt's Alex Benedict novels always involve a central mystery or two. This one is something of a locked spaceship mystery, instead of a locked room mystery. A ghost ship, like the real life Mary Celeste is found 60 years before the main action of the story takes place. Alex Benedict sets out to find out what happened and someone tries to stop him. There are narrow escapes and clever solutions to problems. I have been reading all the books in the series. This one is f...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Ben Babcock rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-read, mystery, own, science-fiction, space-opera

I grabbed Polaris on a whim at the used bookstore. It looked like an interesting mystery set in the future—a future where humanity has spread to other planets, where entire civilizations have risen and fallen over a few millennia. With all this history between Alex Benedict and life back here on Earth, there are bound to be so many cool mysteries to explore. But when Alex and his partner, Chase Kolpath, begin investigating the sixty-year-old disappearance of the entire crew of the Polaris, peopl...more

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Jun 10, 2011 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mystery set in space. Not really as sci-fi as I was expecting but that's okay. It dragged a bit in the middle and there was that gimmick where they knew someone was trying to kill them but they'd still board the ship with the suspiciously acting AI anyway. There were so many characters/suspects to keep track of and many of them had aliases. I wish the author had included a cast of characters with this one. The story and details he added to fill out the mystery were interesting. I'd read another...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Anrie Hoogendoorn rated it 3 of 5 stars

A ship mysteriously losing its crew and passengers, with no sign of struggle... one could be forgiven for thinking of the previous Alex Benedict book, A Talent for War. Unfortunately, this isn't the only plot detail McDevitt recycles for Polaris. Benedict's home being broken into, skimmers being sabotaged, lots of conversations with the personalities of deceased people, conventions where none of the members seem to take the subject matter seriously, rather opting for an excuse to have a few drin...more

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Aug 13, 2009 Jeff rated it 3 of 5 stars

I've had Polaris sitting on my shelf for almost two years now, and only recently picked it up. It's a curious unfolding mystery, following two archeological prospectors as they try to unravel the seventy-year-old disappearance of six celebrities on a doomed cruise. They got their hands on some knickknacks from that historic flight, and now someone's trying to kill them.

A weak prologue didn't help Polaris, but once it gets rolling the locked-room mystery is a page-turner. Sadly, the conclusion fe...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Sci-fi and mystery fans

Shelves: science-fiction

While I enjoyed this second installment in the Alex Benedict series, as it was a page-turning futuristic mystery, there were a few things that irked me:

- This book was narrated by Alex's side-kick, Chase Kolpath (unlike the first book, which was narrated by Alex himself). I was looking forward to this different perspective when I started reading, but found the narrative voice to be so similar, I was actually confused at points as I thought Alex was still narrating.

- The only differentiation I no...more

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Dec 16, 2008 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

The second in the Alex Benedict series and told from the point of view of a secondary character, Chase, from the first novel. Benedict becomes a sort of remote and pale Holmes through the mystery. Chase takes on some of the caretaking role of a Watson, coupled with MacGyver like skill in helping them escape multiple assassination attempts.

The premises and science are all interesting. The plot is good, but somehow the ending fizzled. I more or less got the clue from the footstomper clues earlier...more

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Sep 20, 2012 Arthur Hall rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book, science-fiction, space, listened-to, mystery

The story line of Polaris seemed a bit uneven compared to the first in the series ( A Talent for War ), though some of this may have been due to the change in narrators. The narrative in the first book is told from the perspective of Alex Benedict, the series' namesake, and is narrated by Greg Abbey, who does a wonderful job. With Polaris being told from the perspective of the female lead, Chase Kolpath, the producers chose (wisely) to change narrators, going with Jennifer Van Dyck. Ms. Van Dyc...more The story line of Polaris seemed a bit uneven compared to the first in the series ( A Talent for War ), though some of this may have been due to the change in narrators. The narrative in the first book is told from the perspective of Alex Benedict, the series' namesake, and is narrated by Greg Abbey, who does a wonderful job. With Polaris being told from the perspective of the female lead, Chase Kolpath, the producers chose (wisely) to change narrators, going with Jennifer Van Dyck. Ms. Van Dyck also does a wonderful job, overall, but I found a couple of little things tended to distract me from the story.

Ms. Van Dyck chose to perform the various AIs (artificial intelligences) in a mechanical monotone, that I suppose was intended to mimic current-day computer generated voices. Mr. Abbey chose to perform these characters more fluidly--think C3P0 versus the Joshua from the movie War Games . Considering these stories take place 9600 years in our future, I preferred Abbey's characterization.

Additionally, I had a difficult time reconciling the difference in the Kolpath character between the books. In A Talent for War , Chase was described as "smokey-voiced" and mysterious, and indeed performed that way by Mr. Abbey. Chase came across as more assertive, adventurous, and very much an equal to the male character. However, in Polaris , we find Chase has become the more practical and cautious of the two, though not weak. This is not to say that this is the fault of the narration--I know this was purely the author's doing--but it still made it difficult for me to remain immersed in the story.

My final issue with the audio version of Polaris is one that also caused me difficulty remaining "immersed" in the story, and frankly, I find that I feel a bit silly even mentioning it. During the reading, especially in the more dramatic parts, Ms. Van Dyck would occasionally breath deeply through her nose. While this was not entirely unexpected, nor do I begrudge her the breath, the sound it made was loud enough, and just unique sounding enough, to be quite distracting. I really do feel silly, because I always cringe when I see reviews (especially bad reviews that are based solely on anything that is beyond the author's ability to control) that mention things like this. I have always felt that some of the reviews of Jim Butcher's early Dresden Files audio books to be troubling because the low ratings were based on the way the narrator "smacked his lips" or his "heavy breathing", but I have to admit that I found it distracting in this case.

I think that I might have found Polaris a little more enjoyable had I read the book rather than listened to the audio book. That said, I still found it to be an enjoyable read, and I intend to continue on with the series. I will, necessarily, continue with the audio versions, in part due to an issue with my eyesight (which I hope to have corrected, to some extent, soon), but mostly because I simply enjoy audio books. And while I'll continue to mention any performance related issues I have, I will do my best to rate the books based on the qualities of the stories--aspects that are within the control of the author. I did enjoy this story, and I'm confident that the series only gets better from here.(less)

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Dec 31, 2012 travelgirlut rated it 3 of 5 stars

Maybe 2.5 stars. The book starts out great. A ship out in space witnessing the death of a star, then all the passengers disappear. Then the story basically turns into a mystery set in the future. That's not necessarily a bad thing, if that's what you're looking for in a book, but the sci-fi element of this is definitely not the main genre going on here. There were a lot of repeated elements in this book from the first one. There's a whole lot of crashing into oceans and thieves breaking into hou...more

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Apr 02, 2011 Felicia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

Wellllll parts of this I liked. Interesting world building, I liked the concept of sci-fi mystery, but some things didn't do it for me. Not having read other books in the series, I had a hard time really rooting for the two main leads, and it's told from first person perspective, a woman, but she didn't SEEM like a woman talking. I figured out some of the plot way ahead of the heroes, so I started skimming a bit through the last half. I dunno, it was worth reading and I might pick up more by the...more

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May 10, 2013 Camlan S rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Polaris by Jack McDevitt

A deserted ship, with the fate of the passengers unknown is found drifting through space 60 years ago. Now, Jack McDevitt carries us through the adventures of a well pronounced collector, who is in search of the fate of the crew and passengers on the ship.

The book Polaris, written in 2005, takes space Mysteries to a whole new level. It shows that space, is definitely not what it seems. upon reading the title, and the back of the book, it seems like any other space myste...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Brooke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, science-fiction

A sequel to A Talent for War. It was just as fun as Talent, but that's probably because McDevitt seems to have a formula. These books have quite a few shared elements and plot devices. I think Talent did a better job with its world-building and creating a sense of the setting's history and culture, but the description of the Polaris' crew's disappearance and the universal obsession with wondering what happened was very well done.

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Mar 05, 2012 Magic Mary Austin rated it 4 of 5 stars

I avoid the mystery shelves and the science fiction shelves in my library. Most mysteries don't have enough action or suspense for me, and I could never get into any SciFi books I tried in the past. Too many characters with names I couldn't pronounce or remember I guess. So I was pleased to like this book and this author (which I would call a mystery that takes place in the far future).

I was interested right away in the two lead characters and the premise that they hunt for and recover antiquiti...more

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Apr 16, 2012 Julie Davis rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Sci-fi and mystery lovers

Recommended to Julie by: Orson Scott Card

Having really enjoyed McDevitt's Engines of God and read Orson Scott Card's review of the Alex Benedict/Chase Kolpath mystery/archeological-treasure-hunt series I turned to the library to see what was around. I was happy to see that they had number 2 in the series and so that's where I'm beginning.

As with Engines of God, this book presents one mystery/cliffhanger after another and then goes about investigating in a very straight forward way. Which is fine with me since McDevitt's storytelling is...more

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Sep 12, 2011 Laurie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I know, I tend to do this though. I get on an author jag and I just read everything the person has written. I am now reading Chindi and have finished with Seeker and Time Travelers Never Die as well.

This is a mystery in a sci-fi setting. I like a good mystery and this one is decent. I agree with some of the other reviews in that McDevitt writes from the female perspective with a decidedly male slant. Not that that is a bad thing, it just never quite convinces.

I enjoyed the premise, it's basical...more

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Mar 26, 2012 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars

The second book in the Alex Benedict series, more than a decade after the first one. Polaris is written from the perspective of Chase, Alex' partner. This adds a nice new element to the story, since it means we don't know everything Alex knows.

While this is sci fi, there is a lot of legwork on terra firma. It feels realistic. The sci fi element is just part of the world. This book was sufficiently entertaining to make me buy the whole series. But it isn't the best one in it.

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May 02, 2009 Chanpheng rated it 2 of 5 stars

I didn't enjoy this book as much as Seeker, another of the books in the series featuring Alex and Chase, antiquities dealers who get into all sorts of trouble. I did like the opening of the book, where the lost ship Polaris is present at an unique cosmic event - a pulsar going right through another star. Then the book transitions to a who-done-it, with much too much detail about the character's actions. This book is supposed to take place 9,000 years in our future - but everyone acts like the pe...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Dean Deters rated it 4 of 5 stars

A ship on a mission to watch a star die goes wrong when the crew of the ship disappears. The ship is found, but this becomes a mystery for the great Alex Benedict, and his assistant, Chase.

Some interesting science, as usual, accompanies this mystery, and the conclusion is a bit of a surprise. But not in a contrived way.

The characters are believable, and fun to watch, as they try to figure out, along with the reader, what the heck is going on.

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Feb 09, 2011 Thea rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book wasn't great, but it did keep me reading until the end. I thought I'd expand my reading horizons a bit and choose a science fiction novel, and this one caught my eye. It's a mystery of sorts, which kept me interested (I HAD to find out what happened to the passengers of the Polaris -- they mysteriously disappeared!), but other than that...eh. So-so. The male author writes from a female perspective, badly. The narrative is so straightforward that it's often jarring and sometimes funny w...more

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Jan 22, 2012 CatBookMom rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: cbm-library, free-bookswap, owned, sff-scifi, finished-2012

Another of McDevitt's thought-provoking mysteries. While some of his premises about the wholesomeness of the society he and Chase live in are a bit unrealistic - no crime? what about the many 'accidents' that happen to Alex, his property and his surroundings? - the story is interesting and you get involved in trying to think through the puzzle. 4 stars may be a little too much, but 3 are too few.

I've got book #3 lined up to read soon. I recommend to my thinking friends who enjoy some hard sci-fi...more

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Dec 30, 2010 Marie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book and I only picked it up on a whim when I had nothing else to read. With some of the reviewers saying that they felt the book dragged, I wonder what has happened to our attention spans these days. I could barely put the book down! I was drawn in by the creepy premise that people could just disappear from a spaceship. McDevitt could have gone the easy route with some deux ex machina solution to the mystery, but he didn't and actually involved an interesting human dilemma in the p...more

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About Jack McDevitt

Jack McDevitt is a former English teacher, naval officer, Philadelphia taxi driver, customs officer and motivational trainer. His work has been on the final ballot for the Nebula Awards for 12 of the past 13 years. His first novel, The Hercules Text, was published in the celebrated Ace Specials series and won the Philip K. Dick Special Award. In 1991, McDevitt won the first $10,000 UPC Internation...more

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Polaris (Alex Benedict #2)

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