Colony Four Mars by Gerald M. Kilby

Colony Four Mars by Gerald M. Kilby

Ten years has passed since the last novel and life on Mars has become much more complicated as a great many people have become colonists. It’s obvious that what might be called the bureaucracy of civilization has not kept paced with the growth in population and both government and corporate agencies are struggling to influence the planet while pretending they aren’t.

 

The heart of this story is a murder mystery which only Jann wants to believe involves a murder. I thought this was the weakest element of the story. Once again, Jann is the only person who seems to be able to imagine that there are evil, conniving, power-hungry people out there and the stakes are obviously high. On the one hand is the continued independence of Mars and on the second hand is a corporation that is about to lose all of its special privileges and doesn’t want to. So naturally, no one on the council is willing to consider that letting one of the power-players conduct a completely independent investigation into an employee’s death that occurred when their rover unaccountably broke down might be at best a conflict of interest. Then they start suggesting without producing any evidence that the corporation is responsible for the mishap because of poor maintenance, but somehow it’s that corporation’s demand for evidence and suggestion that the accusation is meritless and possibly a coverup that is called out for being insulting, provocative, and without merit. It just didn’t make any sense.

 

The best part of the book is the new main character, Mia, who, with the help of the droid, Gizmo, has to find out the truth. It’s a good little mystery, I just wish that better reasons could have been invented to explain why everyone else on the planet is an idiot.