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Echo (Alex Benedict #5)

3.8 of 5 stars 3.80 · rating details · 962 ratings · 127 reviews

A new novel of the fantastic unknown by the national bestselling author of Time Travelers Never Die.

Eccentric Sunset Tuttle spent his life searching in vain for forms of alien life. Thirty years after his death, a stone tablet inscribed with cryptic, indecipherable symbols is found in the possession of Tuttle's onetime lover, and antiquities dealer Alex Benedict is anxio...more

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published November 2nd 2010 by Ace Hardcover (first published 2010)

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Sep 17, 2012 Julie Davis rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book was a surprising let down. It followed the usual pattern of Alex and Chase coming across an anomaly that leads to a mystery everyone denies. Alex won't give up, Chase begrudgingly goes along, and there are attempts to silence them permanently. Undaunted, they persevere and discover The Truth.

I don't mind a formula and McDevitt has, until this point, always surprised me with his inventive solutions. I must admit that the previous book was something of a space opera but I was willing to...more

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Feb 11, 2012 Rhonda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Couldn't put it down. Have been in a reading slump for quite awhile. Was Jonesing for a good Sci Fi book and this did the job. This is a SciFi book that I think any Mystery lover would enjoy. It's one of the Alex Benedict/Chase Kolpath character books. The next one in the series is Firebird and I just picked it up at the library. I just love this series. I had burned thru all of them that had been written I think year before last. Then I had a brain fart and couldn't remember who the author was...more

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Dec 18, 2011 Tim Hicks rated it 2 of 5 stars

It's a light read indeed, and IMHO far short of Nebula quality. Well short of past efforts in this series, too.

As others have noted, the ending sort of goes Pbllffft.

And, two big beefs: (view spoiler)...more

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Jun 02, 2011 Walt O'Hara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Well, I've often said about this writer: "it's true, they tend to blend together and resemble each other after a while, but a day with a bad Jack McDevitt novel is better than a day without ANY Jack McDevitt novel". This story, ECHO, is set in the "Alex Benedict Universe" which is the setting for what I consider McDevitt's finest novel to date, A TALENT FOR WAR. The Alex Benedict sequence is uniformly narrated by his assistant, Chase Kolpath, and perhaps he is allowing her to become more blase a...more

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Mar 27, 2011 Alan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jack McDevitt is one of my favorite authors. His ability to involve you in the book's characters and their problems is topnotch. His characters, male or female, are always interesting; interesting and good. While many believe that a good villain is the most interesting character, McDevitt remind us that good people can be intelligent and that being good takes a great deal of intelligence.
The former statement covers all the author's books that I have read. Echo is a similar experience. The main...more

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Dec 26, 2010 Book Calendar rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, archaeological-science-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 01, 2010 Jacqueline rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: just about anyone but start with A Talent for War

Shelves: sci-fi

This is another in my favorite Jack McDevitt series, the Alex Benedict series. This book starts off faster than some of JM's books. It sucked me right in and then, as usual, I was turning pages as fast as I could. The mystery was interesting but not as riveting as those in the first three books,A Talent For War, Polaris and Seeker but I liked it better than the fourth book, The Devil's Eye. I like Chase Kolpath. I don't necessarily care for the way that JM throws in random stuff about her love l...more

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Nov 07, 2012 David Ketelsen rated it 2 of 5 stars

It's hard to believe an entry in this series won a Nebula Award. This book, 5th in the series, certainly isn't written at that elevated level.

Echo revolves around a mystery of where a stone tablet originated from. It was found in the yard of a deceased space explorer whose purpose in life was to find intelligent alien life. Supposedly he never found any---but perhaps this tablet is proof that he did. In any case that's what Case and Alex try to find out.

I found the first two hundred pages very s...more It's hard to believe an entry in this series won a Nebula Award. This book, 5th in the series, certainly isn't written at that elevated level.

Echo revolves around a mystery of where a stone tablet originated from. It was found in the yard of a deceased space explorer whose purpose in life was to find intelligent alien life. Supposedly he never found any---but perhaps this tablet is proof that he did. In any case that's what Case and Alex try to find out.

I found the first two hundred pages very slow going. It did pick up after that but due to numerous plot shortcuts I found the book's payoff to be annoying and poorly executed. I can't recommend this book---but it's got a number of 5-star reviews so who knows, you might like it.

(view spoiler)(less)

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Jul 22, 2012 B. rated it 3 of 5 stars

I don't understand why this isn't the Chase Kolpath series, rather than the Alex Benedict series, since while Alex is the guy in charge, it's Chase that the books are about. In any case, while just as friendly and readable as McDevitt's other books, Echo isn't the best of the series. Perhaps, as with the Priscilla Hutchins series, McDevitt has simply run out of steam towards the end.

Echo is a good mystery story in the tradition of the Benedict series, but it suffers from a couple of defects. Fir...more

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Mar 03, 2012 Anrie Hoogendoorn rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. A step-by-step way to write a Jack McDevitt/Alex Benedict book:

1. Introduce a mysterious artifact/person (the mystery should be more vague with each succeeding book).
2. Have Alex's/Chase's residence burgled or otherwise infiltrated in an attempt to prevent the mystery from being solved.
3. Have Chase remark that Alex isn't that easily persuaded (then have Chase suggested two or three times during the novel that they should stop investigating the mystery).
4. Throw in some references to Chase's boy...more A step-by-step way to write a Jack McDevitt/Alex Benedict book:

1. Introduce a mysterious artifact/person (the mystery should be more vague with each succeeding book).
2. Have Alex's/Chase's residence burgled or otherwise infiltrated in an attempt to prevent the mystery from being solved.
3. Have Chase remark that Alex isn't that easily persuaded (then have Chase suggested two or three times during the novel that they should stop investigating the mystery).
4. Throw in some references to Chase's boyfriend of the month, who she feels really strongly about, then never mention them again.
5. Have the vast majority of the male characters mention in some way or other how beautiful Chase is.
6. Now would be a good time for an attempt on either Alex or Chase's life. Bonus points if either of them ends up in a river/the ocean. Extra bonus points if it was caused by a sabotaged craft.
7. Remember to remind the reader numerous times that Chase loves partying.
8. Have Alex figure some stuff out before Chase, but not tell her straight away. This creates TENSION.
9. As they're en route to the mystery destination (or as they arrive there), add another attempt on their life.
10. Bonus points if your mystery reveal contains a scene from "Death from the Skies", by Phil Plait.
11. Remember to get some basic science wrong.

More specific criticism:
Rachel Bannister was so guilt-ridden by what she'd allowed to happen, that she commited suicide. You'd think that she and Tuttle would've thought to search the entire planet before deciding that the whole of the civilisation had been wiped out. Given how easily Alex and Chase did it (and the equipment Bannister and Tuttle had at their disposal), this is a big flaw.

Also, the fact that the scout simply didn't do his job right before deciding that the planet was devoid of life (he only did a scan for radio signals), seems ludicrous. We're to believe that although eating meat from actual animals are considered primitive and that animals aren't killed unless necessary, this guy was happy to send a whole planet full of live creatures to their doom, simply because they weren't capable of producing radio signals?!

Furthermore, various character accuse Alex and Chase of being looters/grave robbers, yet it has been stated a number of times that the vast majority of Rainbow Enterprises business resolves around mediating between sellers and buyers, and authenticating objects.

I doubt anyone will ever read McDevitt for the words - his prose is sufficient, but no more. The strength of the novels lie in the stories themselves. The plots are usually good and exciting, even though the last two books have been weaker than the preceding ones.

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Nov 27, 2010 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 01, 2011 Kae Cheatham rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: spec-fiction, mystery

Jack McDevitt is a master at presenting humanity of the future in terms we can identify with today. ECHO is a fine example of this. In the far future, when people are flung throughout several galaxies, ECHO shows how humanity still yearns to answer a basic question: Are we alone? Are other sentient, conversant people somewhere primed for contact?

In ECHO, antiquarian Alex Benedict (this is the fifth book in the series) is curious about an artifact he see advertised for sale. It has unknown glyphs...more Jack McDevitt is a master at presenting humanity of the future in terms we can identify with today. ECHO is a fine example of this. In the far future, when people are flung throughout several galaxies, ECHO shows how humanity still yearns to answer a basic question: Are we alone? Are other sentient, conversant people somewhere primed for contact?

In ECHO, antiquarian Alex Benedict (this is the fifth book in the series) is curious about an artifact he see advertised for sale. It has unknown glyphs on it and is very large. Benedict learns the object once belonged to the late Sunset Tuttle--a man renown for his SETI-type searches. The object goes missing, and all Benedict has are visual facsimiles. When he sets out to investigate what happened to the object, events become both puzzling and dangerous.

This pursuit is not handled solely by Benedict. Although he initially recognizes a mystery that begins the adventure and always deduces the solution, the Benedict novels are written as first-person accounts by Chase Kolpath. Chase is the administrative assistant for Benedict's antiquities company. She is also Benedict's pilot, both on world and off; when action heats up, Chase is at the center of conflict resolution.

Each adventure (book) is a memoir, recording Chase’s perspective of events. She sets the story down for people of her era, although she often puts in asides: "The station’s name, as you probably know, is Tsarendipol..." (page 104). On page 288, after a particularly dangerous misadventure, she shrugs off Benedict's apology and writes, "...when I started putting this memoir together, I'd intended to leave this sequence out...Alex advised me to tell the whole story."

This styling of the book allows a casual comfort when the future technology and circumstances are related. Nothing is overly explained and it’s easy to accept everything presented, such as jackets that, when you put them on, automatically adjust heating for different temperatures (I wish I had one of those!). The language and writing are strong.

As a mystery, the unfolding story of what happened to the object and why has abundant tension, a few red herrings and plenty of action. ECHO is a 2011 Nebula nominee, and I wouldn't be surprised if Jack McDevitt takes top honors.
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Mar 11, 2011 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars

Audiobook. Ok, I'm going to go ahead and confess to myself that I really, really like Jack McDevitt's work. I don't think he's a brilliant writer or particularly original. All of his stories seem to have pretty much the same basic structure and tone. But I find that structure and tone--the combination of a good mystery, likable characters, and a SF setting--very appealing. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I almost always listen to his books, and so can give them something less tha...more

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Jun 04, 2012 Patrick Hayes rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is my first "Alex Benedict" novel and I will definately be looking for more. Even though this is number 5 in this series, I didn't feel lost at all reading this book. The premise is a antique seller/finder (Alex) is called by a local woman to pick up a rock/post she's had in front of her house for years. To Alex, the writing may be alien--which would be the first proof of alien life in the galaxy. However, when Alex's movers go to get it, the item has already been taken by someone else. The...more

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Apr 12, 2011 Patrick Gibson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

Even though his recent books are sort of boring, give me a minute to tell you why I still like this author: First of all he is a closet archaeologist and there is an element of digging and discovering in all of his stories I find refreshing and intriguing. He has a childlike innocence when it comes to ancient ruins (sort of like the first time I entered Chaco Canyon) and some of his best writing is his rhapsodizing description of thousand year old remains (other-planetary, of course). He has als...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Julie rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: cozy mystery lovers

Shelves: 2012, audio, author_male, book-club_scifi, pub_post-1945, scifi, type_fiction, series, mystery_cozy

Thank goodness a couple members of my sci-fi book club (for which I read this book) are also avid mystery readers. Without them, I probably would have given this book a single star. They were able to explain to me that this book is an example of a “cozy” mystery. According to them, “cozies” typically feature an amateur sleuth, little violence or sex, and focus more on clue-gathering than on suspense. All of which goes a good way toward explaining the slow pace which was one of the things I found...more

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Apr 06, 2011 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars

The newest Alex Benedict/Chase Kolpath novel. Really, how much does McDevitt really have left in this series, considering the previous accomplishments of these two? It's getting kind of hard to top.

So what McDevitt does here is try to shift the accomplishment from being a notable one to the Earthbound 21st century reader to a notable one for the readers in this future civilization (which is who the narrator is writing for anyway) and make the 21st century reader care just as much.

I won't say thi...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Larou added it · review of another edition

Like all novels in Jack McDevitt’s Alex Benedict series (of which Echo is the fifth), this is basically an archeological mystery novel dressed up as Science Fiction. The core of the mystery that drives the plot might seem genuinely SFnal, but it really is a McGuffin and could easily be replaced by the search for a lost civilization, the lost continent of Atlantis, or anything else with a sufficient air of the elusive and the numinous (even the search for the Lost Ark), and the methods used to pu...more Like all novels in Jack McDevitt’s Alex Benedict series (of which Echo is the fifth), this is basically an archeological mystery novel dressed up as Science Fiction. The core of the mystery that drives the plot might seem genuinely SFnal, but it really is a McGuffin and could easily be replaced by the search for a lost civilization, the lost continent of Atlantis, or anything else with a sufficient air of the elusive and the numinous (even the search for the Lost Ark), and the methods used to pursue that search will be very familiar to every reader of mystery fiction – and even if occasionally it is the avatar of a dead person that is questioned rather than a living being does not really affect the basic approach.

More importantly, even though the story takes places in the far future many thousands of years from now it never really feels that way, because everyone thinks, acts and speaks just like we do today. McDevitt’s future seems to rest on the premise that humanity is essentially the same everywhere and at every time, a premise anyone with even a passing knowledge of cultural history will find exceedingly improbable. Seeing how the comparatively paltry advances in knowledge and technology over the last two hundred years have influenced our way of thinking, it seems safe to assume that humankind spreading among the stars, artificial intelligence and faster-than-light travel would not make some impact on humanity’s mentality, but McDevitt does not even attempt to imagine this, and instead opts for just transplanting our cozy contemporary way of thinking a few thousands years into the future.

Still, and even though I consider this a major shortcoming (not to mention intellectual laziness), if one accepts its limitations and does not expect more depth than it delivers, the Alex Benedict series has a certain quaint, old-fashioned charm about it that I at least find hard to resist, and in spite of a lot of eyebrow-raising and occasional eye-rolling I rather enjoyed the previous installments. As I did Echo which is basically more of the same. It is very much business as usual for Alex Benedict and his pilot Chase Kolpath (who even in her fourth outing as a narrator I have problems to think of as female – one gets the feeling that McDevitt does try hard to bring her across as a woman, but it never rings quite true. I suppose characterisation is just not his strong point): There is a central mystery (this time involving the possible discovery of a second alien race) the pursuit of which has them traveling through various star systems and escape various assassination attempts to finally arrive a place forgotten by everyone where everything is resolved, and as always in a way that is rather a bit disappointing (for characters and readers both). I quite liked how the people searching for new aliens were terribly blasé about the ones they already know, like children who got bored with their old toy and now want a new, shinier one. I am not sure that this is intentional on McDevitt’s part (at times it almost feels as if he had simply forgotten that there already is an alien race in the universe or the series or – more likely – like he had that plot idea about the search for an alien race he wanted to do and then squeezed that into the Alex Benedict universe even though it did not quite fit), but if it is, it is nicely observed.

It is all quite formulaic, but in this case this is not necessarily a bad thing – McDevitt delivers what his readers have come to expect from him, and while Echo will not likely shake anyone’s world it provides the reader who can squint enough to overlook its faults a few hours of solid entertainment.(less)

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Sep 07, 2011 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had no idea when I grabbed this book that it was #5 in a series. Fortunately, McDevitt is a skillful enough author that my lack of prior exposure to Alex Benedict did not prevent me from enjoying the book. Fundamentally, this is a detective story in science fiction clothing; being in the same genre as Caves of Steel and The Demolished Man should not be taken as criticism. I won't spoil any of the story.

I started and finished this book on an international flight - it's a quick, light read, and...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Alan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: abandoned

The opening hook for this book was too light for me. I was listening to the audiobook, which are usually easy to continue even when the open does catch me right away. This book just didn't keep me listening after the first three chapters so I stopped.

The opening chapters follow the future archeologist/detectives as they interview people seeking an object. My problem was, the object posed no intriguing mystery and I felt no engagement with the characters, and no driving emotion from the main char...more

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Jul 15, 2011 Jim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Well, this was a very interesting new addition to the Alex Benedict series. It's a nice combination of mystery, action-adventure and science fiction. The mystery pulls the story forward, the action-adventure is woven throughout, and it's all encased in a science fiction universe that is very far in the future (at least seven thousand years), yet not extremely futuristic. Except when it needs to be, such as faster-than-light travel. I mean, c'mon, you've gotta have that if you're going to get any...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Scott rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

Another decent space mystery featuring the Holmes-Watson-esque team of antique dealer Alex Benedict and his assistant Chase Kolpath. I do have to admit that at this point the basic stories are becoming slightly formulaic, and I think I groaned inwardly when once again there was an attempt on their lives while they were in pursuit of this volume's mystery. Even the detective in the story asks them if they have any idea "who wants [them] dead this time." (At least this time it does not involve a s...more

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Mar 14, 2011 Helge Moulding rated it 2 of 5 stars

Chase and Alex, two people who sound like they might appear in some of McDevitt's earlier fiction, as well (yup, this is "Alex Benedict #5"), investigate the origins of a mysterious stone tablet found in the yard of "Sunset" Tuttle, an oddball explorer who died two decades earlier (and who did appear in some of McDevitt's earlier fiction). Then someone tries to kill them. Again and again.

The story was entertaining enough, but it seemed unfocused to me. Somehow I never managed to believe that Ch...more

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Jan 26, 2011 Jeff rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, mystery

This is extremely well written, but shows signs of being a really great short story or short novella that has been padded to novel length.

I really had the feeling that it was going to be one of those novels where in the end, nothing has happened.

BUT... that was not the case: in the last few chapters the pace picks way up and there is a lot of action.

Am I grumpy. Yes. Because of this novel? Not really, but it wasn't helping.

If you like alien artifacts, you will like this novel. If you like lost c...more

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Jul 29, 2012 Shamus Mcgillicuddy rated it 2 of 5 stars

I've enjoyed this series over the years but this sixth installment falls far short. McDevitt has a lot of weaknesses as a writer: characterization, dialog. But his strong plotting and world-building abilities have always made up for those deficiencies. Not so this time. I slogged through this one waiting for McDevitt to pull me in, but he never hooked me. The plot was a dud. The ending was a sketchy disappointment. And the author is getting lazy with this world. He's been writing Benedict novel...more

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Nov 01, 2010 Liviu rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010_release_read, genre-sf, read_2010

Finally the "dated-ness" caught up with this series in this installment where the weight of taking place 8000 years in the future in a society similar to our own (plus some fifties staples like AG, FTL...) crushes the book badly; fast and engaging may the author' style be - and it shows especially in the last 150 pages - but this book cannot manage the least amount of suspension of disbelief for a long time.

If there is more in the series, I will try them but I hope this one will retire Alex and...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Roger rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, sci-fi

My first audio book. After reading three books by McDevitt, I have come to the conclusion that I probably won't be reading any more. I probably wouldn't have read this one but I wanted to try an audio book and this was the only one I could find that looked interesting to me on a quick trip to the library.

Plot development in McDevitt's books are often slow and meandering. Dialogue is usually strong and believable, but almost all of his characters have an annoying habit of saying "okay". That's a...more

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Mar 31, 2011 Brandon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Good story once it got started. I enjoyed the second half of the book better. A lot of things were resolved in the epilogue, that would have been nice to include in the story.
I've never read this author before, and the use of italics was excessive, so much so that I almost stopped reading the book after a few chapters. The book was on track to get 2 stars, but the second half just barely put it over. Leave out the italics and it would have been a solid 3.
Probably won't read this author again j...more

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Feb 25, 2011 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle, sciencefiction

This novel is up for the 2010 Nebula award.

Fifth in the series, though the first I've read. I found it entertaining, if a bit odd pace.

Almost Ellery Queen/ Sherlock mystery atmosphere here but set in the far future when various offshoot of humanity have been lost in long forgotten colonies but no intelligent aliens have been found. McDevitt manages to offhand a number of the future's changes, but keeps the story relevant to the mystery and on the characters reactions to it.

Makes me want to read...more

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Jan 25, 2013 Craig rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another good entry in the Alex Benedict/Chase Kolpath sequence. In this one they are pursuing an artifact but get side-tracked all over the place and in the end the initial puzzle remains unresolved; a plot twist like this usually makes me irate, but it works in this case. McDevitt spends a fair amount of time in the middle of the book examining the nature of friendship and loyalty and guilt and the relationship of the two main characters, with some subtle reminders that we're getting the whole...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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Echo (Alex Benedict #5)

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