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The Disappeared  By  cover art

The Disappeared

By: Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Narrated by: Jay Snyder
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Publisher's summary

Retrieval Artists help the lost find their way back home, whether they like it or not. Specialized private detectives, they investigate the most unusual crimes in the galaxy. But Miles Flint isn't a Retrieval Artist. He's just a cop, trying to do his job.

In a stolen space yacht, three people have been found eviscerated, the grisly signature of an alien vengeance killing. Moments later, the border patrol halts another ship launched out of the moon's orbit. Its passengers are two human children, kidnapped by the most ruthless aliens in the universe. Both ships are linked to a woman on the run: a Disappeared relocated to the inhospitable landscape of Mars. A reluctant outlaw with a bounty on her head and a detective on her case, she's about to teach all of them a lesson: it's dangerous to gamble with your life in a universe that rigs the game.

Listen to more in the Retrieval Artist series.
©2002 White Mist Mountain, Inc. (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A masterful writer is at work." (Orson Scott Card)
"Top 10 Greatest Science Fiction Detective Novels of all Time." (io9.com)
"If you love puzzle mysteries, crime novels, well-invented sci-fi worlds or stories about characters you can believe in and care about, you owe it to yourself to give Rusch's Retrieval Artist novels a try." (Orson Scott Card)

What listeners say about The Disappeared

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Interesting premise, sloppy execution

There are some interesting ideas here, but I found it hard to get past the presentation. The language was both stiff and in several places grammatically suspect -- a bad combination. There was considerable redundancy, particularly in the thoughts and feelings of the characters, which demonstrated no growth, just recurrence, over the course of the novel. Plot was weak. Get Frank Herbert's Whipping Star instead.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

boring and tedious

dont understand what people liked about this. the premise is totally far fetched and the alien races are not explained properly. the whole novel is about an argument over paperwork! struggled to finish. wont be listening to any more in the series. good narration though.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Put me to sleep - literally

This had to be one of the most plodding and simplistic books I've listened to in quite some time. As another poster asked, "And I paid for this?" nails my feelings on the head. I was listening to it the other day and realized I had fallen asleep!

I felt the characterizations were one-dimensional and poorly developed. The author telegraphed every thing that occurred in book and just fell flat. I will not be ordering any more in the series.

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5 people found this helpful