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Nick Walker, UF Marshal #1
Asteroid Outpost
Nick Walker, ex Star Marine and fresh out of the United Federation Marshal Academy arrives on Ceres, part of the asteroid belt, with a laser pistol, a .44 Magnum, and a head filled with zero tolerance. He’s immediately plunged into a mystery of murder, sabotage, and fraud on a gigantic scale.
Nick is on his first assignment, confident he can tame the galaxy, bust the bad guys, and bring relief to the downtrodden. Reality check is just around the corner.
The Asteroid Belt is no place to raise a family—the Belt is the final refuge for fugitives, deadbeats, and creeps in general. Ceres, in particular, is a true den of iniquity, and law enforcement is a full time job.
To Nick, the law is the law, everything is black and white, and never the twain shall meet…
…or shall they? Nick is quickly confronted with the hard reality that sometimes good and evil can coexist, and not everyone is so easily classified. It’s a hard life on the final frontier, and even an idealistic young lawman might learn a few lessons.
The trick is staying alive long enough to learn them.
A science fiction adventure crime drama filled with action and suspense.
“ Read this one and you won't put it down it's addictive. ” -Alrusse
Rated “R”
94,500 words, equivalent to 354 pages in a mass market paperback book.
Nick is on his first assignment, confident he can tame the galaxy, bust the bad guys, and bring relief to the downtrodden. Reality check is just around the corner.
The Asteroid Belt is no place to raise a family—the Belt is the final refuge for fugitives, deadbeats, and creeps in general. Ceres, in particular, is a true den of iniquity, and law enforcement is a full time job.
To Nick, the law is the law, everything is black and white, and never the twain shall meet…
…or shall they? Nick is quickly confronted with the hard reality that sometimes good and evil can coexist, and not everyone is so easily classified. It’s a hard life on the final frontier, and even an idealistic young lawman might learn a few lessons.
The trick is staying alive long enough to learn them.
A science fiction adventure crime drama filled with action and suspense.
“ Read this one and you won't put it down it's addictive. ” -Alrusse
Rated “R”
94,500 words, equivalent to 354 pages in a mass market paperback book.
- GenresScience Fiction
334 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 20, 2012
24 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 20, 2015
This is a hard book for me to rate. It's been a while since I read it, but I still haven't changed my mind about what I thought I should rate it (I thought I'd be in between and I still feel that way). I will say that it was really quite satisfying for an impulse buy.
There is something that just works about space westerns. Even if Fox did cancel Firefly because they were crazy, I knew that show was magic in the first five minutes. I mean, isn't space the final frontier? Well, Bowers captures all the wildness, the corruption and the lawlessness of space. And he puts a newbie Marshal (who was once a war hero) in a situation where his determination to see justice done might just get him killed.
Overall, this was a well-written book. I do feel that Bowers captured a really gritty feel and showed how deeply corrupt things were on Ceres and in the mining asteroid belts. It did remind me of how things were in the Real Old West. While Nick is definitely a White Hat, he has no issues with getting his hands bloody.
Readers who are sensitive to topics of sexual violence will definitely want to be careful with this book. There were aspects that made me absolutely livid, because that is a really sensitive topic with me. Sometimes I even had a anti-male rage going on, but Nick was just as hot about what was happening, so it does prove that not all men are like that. Yeah, what the Farringtons were doing to women in this book (and allowing to be done) was seriously dark. It made it hard to keep reading at times. I listened to this on my Kindle Text-to-Speech and it was a very visceral thing to hear about the abuses that were taking place at the Farrington Lockup. I'm not a violent person, generally, but this book made me feel murderous.
Overall, Nick was a very likable character that I respected. I totally felt his strong need for justice. I'm wired that way as well. However, I was conflicted about Nick's love life. I felt like his aversion to commitment was more of a throwaway to fit into the concept of him as a roaming marshal. It made me feel he was a bit skeevy, to be honest. At least he showed integrity in many other ways (and I can't fault that he was honest with the women he was involved with). I think it's deeply icky for character to bed hop, so I definitely could have done without that.
I feel that the secondary characters could have been a bit more developed. Misery was barely three-dimensional. Monica moreso. I loved that they were both black women. :) I did like David quite a bit. He seemed like one of the more fleshed out secondary characters, strangely enough.
I do think Bowers is working out his issues with religion in his fiction. He seems very cynical about organized religion, but I don't get that he's anti-God or anti-people of faith, but just not a big fan of some of the behaviors that occur in the religious community. I can respect that a writer uses their fiction to work out their issues, as long as they don't obviously get out their soapbox, and he didn't do that. So we're cool. I agree that the minister was pretty ridiculous to take his beautiful, young virginal daughters into a mining community with the worst of the worst and not expect something like that to happen. It's not that I don't believe in God's protection (I definitely do), but he didn't even rely on that, but just this arrogant belief that he had been called there to minister to the Lost (and he could save all the souls). So, yes, I was feeling Nick when he read the minister the riot act.
We read this for the Action/Adventure Aficionados group and I felt the action was definitely high caliber. Nick isn't afraid to dive into the fray, and the suspense was killer. I mean these folks were evil, and there are few things more disturbing to me than corrupt law enforcement.
I can't quite convince myself that this is a four star book. It's hovering, so I'd have to go with 3.5 stars. One of my pet peeves is abrupt endings and when tension dissipates too quickly, and I thought that was an issue. And honestly, I think a lot worse things should have happened to the bad guys, based on how horrific their behavior was.
I will probably continue this series, but I am not feeling Nick's bed-hopping, and I hope that isn't a pervasive trend in this series.
I think fans of Firefly and the movie Serenity and also of the show Ripper Street (not Western but about the law in London in a very rough area full of corruption) would like this book. But be warned, it's not for the faint of heart!
There is something that just works about space westerns. Even if Fox did cancel Firefly because they were crazy, I knew that show was magic in the first five minutes. I mean, isn't space the final frontier? Well, Bowers captures all the wildness, the corruption and the lawlessness of space. And he puts a newbie Marshal (who was once a war hero) in a situation where his determination to see justice done might just get him killed.
Overall, this was a well-written book. I do feel that Bowers captured a really gritty feel and showed how deeply corrupt things were on Ceres and in the mining asteroid belts. It did remind me of how things were in the Real Old West. While Nick is definitely a White Hat, he has no issues with getting his hands bloody.
Readers who are sensitive to topics of sexual violence will definitely want to be careful with this book. There were aspects that made me absolutely livid, because that is a really sensitive topic with me. Sometimes I even had a anti-male rage going on, but Nick was just as hot about what was happening, so it does prove that not all men are like that. Yeah, what the Farringtons were doing to women in this book (and allowing to be done) was seriously dark. It made it hard to keep reading at times. I listened to this on my Kindle Text-to-Speech and it was a very visceral thing to hear about the abuses that were taking place at the Farrington Lockup. I'm not a violent person, generally, but this book made me feel murderous.
Overall, Nick was a very likable character that I respected. I totally felt his strong need for justice. I'm wired that way as well. However, I was conflicted about Nick's love life. I felt like his aversion to commitment was more of a throwaway to fit into the concept of him as a roaming marshal. It made me feel he was a bit skeevy, to be honest. At least he showed integrity in many other ways (and I can't fault that he was honest with the women he was involved with). I think it's deeply icky for character to bed hop, so I definitely could have done without that.
I feel that the secondary characters could have been a bit more developed. Misery was barely three-dimensional. Monica moreso. I loved that they were both black women. :) I did like David quite a bit. He seemed like one of the more fleshed out secondary characters, strangely enough.
I do think Bowers is working out his issues with religion in his fiction. He seems very cynical about organized religion, but I don't get that he's anti-God or anti-people of faith, but just not a big fan of some of the behaviors that occur in the religious community. I can respect that a writer uses their fiction to work out their issues, as long as they don't obviously get out their soapbox, and he didn't do that. So we're cool. I agree that the minister was pretty ridiculous to take his beautiful, young virginal daughters into a mining community with the worst of the worst and not expect something like that to happen. It's not that I don't believe in God's protection (I definitely do), but he didn't even rely on that, but just this arrogant belief that he had been called there to minister to the Lost (and he could save all the souls). So, yes, I was feeling Nick when he read the minister the riot act.
We read this for the Action/Adventure Aficionados group and I felt the action was definitely high caliber. Nick isn't afraid to dive into the fray, and the suspense was killer. I mean these folks were evil, and there are few things more disturbing to me than corrupt law enforcement.
I can't quite convince myself that this is a four star book. It's hovering, so I'd have to go with 3.5 stars. One of my pet peeves is abrupt endings and when tension dissipates too quickly, and I thought that was an issue. And honestly, I think a lot worse things should have happened to the bad guys, based on how horrific their behavior was.
I will probably continue this series, but I am not feeling Nick's bed-hopping, and I hope that isn't a pervasive trend in this series.
I think fans of Firefly and the movie Serenity and also of the show Ripper Street (not Western but about the law in London in a very rough area full of corruption) would like this book. But be warned, it's not for the faint of heart!
July 10, 2013
I am *not* the target audience for this book. It's about a brash gun-slinging marshall who arrives on an asteroid full of criminals, and immediately gets himself into trouble. It's very macho, with the guy sleeping with each female character mentioned more once (while they, meanwhile, are so slobberingly desperate that they'll do just about anything to have sex with him). There's rampant violence, little just process, and that's about it.
The actual writing itself is fair - straight to the point, and I think it would have a lot of appeal for this book's target readers. I just don't think that macho sci-fi crime-busting is a genre I can really get behind.
I should also point out that this book needs a TRIGGER WARNING for all of the rape (including sadistic rape and torture).
The actual writing itself is fair - straight to the point, and I think it would have a lot of appeal for this book's target readers. I just don't think that macho sci-fi crime-busting is a genre I can really get behind.
I should also point out that this book needs a TRIGGER WARNING for all of the rape (including sadistic rape and torture).
January 11, 2013
Review of Asteroid Outpost
A brand new Federal Marshal lands at his assigned outpost and within hours makes the front page gossip world when he outwits (and physically damages) the neighborhood tavern bully. Over the next three days he'll kill a couple more people, rescue two kidnapped girls and have sex with two high profile women ….without sleeping…much…and then he goes on to take over control of the most prominent business on the asteroid while arresting its most noted criminals.
What is the quote from Star Trek…"where no man has gone before"? That definitely holds true for Asteroid Outpost. Yet one is constantly reminded of those old west stories about gambling and robbing and helping women in distress (tough women, but women in need of help, none-the-less) and the good guys with their six shooters and stately steeds who always arrest the bad guys─ after they've beaten them up a bit and made the bad guy feel guilty (even if only a smidge guilty). All that is missing from the Old West in Asteroid Outpost is the white hat. But we know who he is even if he wears a black hat and carries a RU-Hawk .44 strapped to his hip.
The action in Asteroid Outpost begins on page one and continues until the final page with zingers and twists and even some comedy in the midst of a mystery imbedded with unspeakable evil. The suspense is thrilling; the characters are totally believable; and I found myself rooting for the good Marshal in every incident.
John Bowers describes his characters well and he knows how to keep the reader so connected to the story that it is as if you are a bystander witnessing every incident first hand.
This is the first of John Bowers's books that I have read. It most certainly will not be the last. He definitely has me half in love with Nick Walker and wanting to read a lot more of his adventures.
A brand new Federal Marshal lands at his assigned outpost and within hours makes the front page gossip world when he outwits (and physically damages) the neighborhood tavern bully. Over the next three days he'll kill a couple more people, rescue two kidnapped girls and have sex with two high profile women ….without sleeping…much…and then he goes on to take over control of the most prominent business on the asteroid while arresting its most noted criminals.
What is the quote from Star Trek…"where no man has gone before"? That definitely holds true for Asteroid Outpost. Yet one is constantly reminded of those old west stories about gambling and robbing and helping women in distress (tough women, but women in need of help, none-the-less) and the good guys with their six shooters and stately steeds who always arrest the bad guys─ after they've beaten them up a bit and made the bad guy feel guilty (even if only a smidge guilty). All that is missing from the Old West in Asteroid Outpost is the white hat. But we know who he is even if he wears a black hat and carries a RU-Hawk .44 strapped to his hip.
The action in Asteroid Outpost begins on page one and continues until the final page with zingers and twists and even some comedy in the midst of a mystery imbedded with unspeakable evil. The suspense is thrilling; the characters are totally believable; and I found myself rooting for the good Marshal in every incident.
John Bowers describes his characters well and he knows how to keep the reader so connected to the story that it is as if you are a bystander witnessing every incident first hand.
This is the first of John Bowers's books that I have read. It most certainly will not be the last. He definitely has me half in love with Nick Walker and wanting to read a lot more of his adventures.
June 5, 2013
Really enjoyed this read. Not the deepest story but it was a solid story. Pulp fiction style in a Sci-Fi setting = Saturday night Sci-Fi. No problem at all recommending this first story in the series.
April 22, 2013
Good job. A fast read and good story.
April 22, 2013
Really enjoyed it. Almost unputdownable. Space/Western. Recommended!
September 25, 2013
The Lone Space Ranger.
This story is pretty much what the cover art indicates: a cowboy story sort of in space. Yes, I know: Star Wars and Star Trek are largely western stories transplanted into space. But this doesn't clear their admittedly low bar.
So, if you like the juxtaposition of a lone law man bringing six-gun justice to the frontier on Ceres, you may like this. Otherwise, don't bother. The science fiction is superficial and weak. Bowers mentions, but promptly ignores the size of Ceres and of the asteroid belt.
Also, despite a setting at least a century into the future, the story revolves round many current topical stereotypes: sexism, racism, religious, ethnic, etc. Gratuitous violence and sexism abounds. Both good guys and bad are simplistic stereotypes.
Having said all that, the storytelling was clear and fast-paced. The text was generally clear of the typos and punctuations anomalies found in so many current ebooks.
I can't believe I read the whole thing. Two stars was a gift.
This story is pretty much what the cover art indicates: a cowboy story sort of in space. Yes, I know: Star Wars and Star Trek are largely western stories transplanted into space. But this doesn't clear their admittedly low bar.
So, if you like the juxtaposition of a lone law man bringing six-gun justice to the frontier on Ceres, you may like this. Otherwise, don't bother. The science fiction is superficial and weak. Bowers mentions, but promptly ignores the size of Ceres and of the asteroid belt.
Also, despite a setting at least a century into the future, the story revolves round many current topical stereotypes: sexism, racism, religious, ethnic, etc. Gratuitous violence and sexism abounds. Both good guys and bad are simplistic stereotypes.
Having said all that, the storytelling was clear and fast-paced. The text was generally clear of the typos and punctuations anomalies found in so many current ebooks.
I can't believe I read the whole thing. Two stars was a gift.
April 29, 2015
The thing I like about this book is it doesn't try to be anything other than what it is. If you liked the bar scene in the original Star Wars (minus aliens) and Han Solo wise cracks with a bit of Princess Leia's bikini thrown in - this book is for you. But what it lacks is any kind of depth like Star Wars without the force. Despite this, littered around were a few little social commentaries which were not too in your face.
Other things I liked were some interesting technical detail about the mining colony that gave a worn true feeling to it. I have worked in mining before and liked the author's ideas. The blue collar humor was just about the level of what it's like in real life. Everyone in the asteroid outpost had a dodgy back story which makes the characters more three dimensional.
I found the book quite more-ish even though it is just a simple new-deputy-in-town type yarn. .
Other things I liked were some interesting technical detail about the mining colony that gave a worn true feeling to it. I have worked in mining before and liked the author's ideas. The blue collar humor was just about the level of what it's like in real life. Everyone in the asteroid outpost had a dodgy back story which makes the characters more three dimensional.
I found the book quite more-ish even though it is just a simple new-deputy-in-town type yarn. .
July 10, 2013
Nick's first assignment out of the Marshal's Academy. What could go wrong for this ex-Star Marine? Well, just about everything.
Our hero has to deal with bad guys, allies, the legal system, and the problem of not knowing which is which.
This is the strangest "space western" I've ever read -- and the most entertaining. It's all believable once you get past Nick's propensity to carry an antique slug-throwing weapon inside a pressure dome (not the brightest move anyone without a death wish could make).
Twists and turns abound in this action adventure. I loved the story and hated putting it down at the end of the day (I'm not a speed reader).
A great "first book" (chronologically) for the series (even though it was written after 2 others were published).
Our hero has to deal with bad guys, allies, the legal system, and the problem of not knowing which is which.
This is the strangest "space western" I've ever read -- and the most entertaining. It's all believable once you get past Nick's propensity to carry an antique slug-throwing weapon inside a pressure dome (not the brightest move anyone without a death wish could make).
Twists and turns abound in this action adventure. I loved the story and hated putting it down at the end of the day (I'm not a speed reader).
A great "first book" (chronologically) for the series (even though it was written after 2 others were published).
March 5, 2015
The first book in John Bowers series about Nick Walker UF Marshal. Walker is an ex space marine hero, who has become a UF Marshal. Fresh out of training and on his first assignment, Walker steps of the space docks into a world of trouble. Determined to do the right thing, Walker takes on Farrington Industries, a corrupt water mining and security company. This is a good first book and I will be reading more.
March 29, 2015
After reading this book I can easily say that sci-fi meets wild west is my new favorite genre. It brought back a few memories of the series "Firefly" which I loved. Nick is an awesome Hero who kicks some major butt while fighting for good and justice in an unforgiving environment. I can envision many more stories with him in future, and am looking forward to reading them all!
April 9, 2014
A space western. Great easy writing. Missing women, and horrible bad guys. A new sheriff is in town ... can't wait to read more!
March 12, 2015
good read! hope more of these to come
July 28, 2018
Exciting Adventure
Reminiscent of a good old western but in outer space. Give yourself a break and enjoy this space western! Good fun.
Reminiscent of a good old western but in outer space. Give yourself a break and enjoy this space western! Good fun.
April 4, 2022
2.5 stars, maybe? There wasn't much nuance or subtlety in the writing, the world-building felt like an afterthought, and the characters were pretty one-dimensional. The story itself wasn't super innovative or compelling, either. The only reason that I'm marking this as "okay" is because it was pretty fast-paced and I finished it.
April 1, 2015
The old west comes to the asteroid belt.
Okay, Marshal Walker is actually an ex-Star Marine who’s gone into enforcing the law. Apparently U. F. Marshals (United Federation) travel from assignment to assignment, much like many federal agents do today. It’s just that their area of authority is a LOT bigger.
Walker is fresh out of the Academy and full of youthful vigor and enthusiasm. He’s gonna enforce the law and right all wrongs. No problem. Right?
Wrong. Lots of problems and that what makes this a great story. He’s got a lot of growing up to do and this little hell hole is just the place to grow up fast — or die trying.
Nick totes a gee-whiz futuristic gun (like we’ve come to expect in science fiction stories), but also a .44 magnum replica. Not a good thing to be firing off inside a pressure space with nothing but vacuum outside. Fortunately, he doesn’t blow out anything major, resulting in mass asphyxiation. Still, I suspect it’s something he should have left in his duffel bag until he gets stationed on a planet.
The plot had enough twists and surprises to keep me guessing and fighting the urge to read “just one more chapter” even though my recreational reading time was over (usually just before I hit the hay).
Okay, Marshal Walker is actually an ex-Star Marine who’s gone into enforcing the law. Apparently U. F. Marshals (United Federation) travel from assignment to assignment, much like many federal agents do today. It’s just that their area of authority is a LOT bigger.
Walker is fresh out of the Academy and full of youthful vigor and enthusiasm. He’s gonna enforce the law and right all wrongs. No problem. Right?
Wrong. Lots of problems and that what makes this a great story. He’s got a lot of growing up to do and this little hell hole is just the place to grow up fast — or die trying.
Nick totes a gee-whiz futuristic gun (like we’ve come to expect in science fiction stories), but also a .44 magnum replica. Not a good thing to be firing off inside a pressure space with nothing but vacuum outside. Fortunately, he doesn’t blow out anything major, resulting in mass asphyxiation. Still, I suspect it’s something he should have left in his duffel bag until he gets stationed on a planet.
The plot had enough twists and surprises to keep me guessing and fighting the urge to read “just one more chapter” even though my recreational reading time was over (usually just before I hit the hay).
March 23, 2015
This is a mediocre western / detective novel set in space. If I wanted more 'cowboys in space' I would re-watch episodes of "Firefly". I did like the characters, in a sort of rough and tumble way; they were fun if overly fanciful.
It did feel corny, with "solarglass", "starcrete", then there was a complete lack of surveillance cameras and a sheriff with non-frangible ammo inside a habitat. I recently read a book where breaching vacuum was a capital offense... that makes more sense to me than this story did. An okay filler-read, but I don't think I need more of this series.
It did feel corny, with "solarglass", "starcrete", then there was a complete lack of surveillance cameras and a sheriff with non-frangible ammo inside a habitat. I recently read a book where breaching vacuum was a capital offense... that makes more sense to me than this story did. An okay filler-read, but I don't think I need more of this series.
July 1, 2015
High entertainment!
Intense and fast paced. Nick kicks butt and is taking names all through the book! A great space romp to start a series!
Intense and fast paced. Nick kicks butt and is taking names all through the book! A great space romp to start a series!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews