The Disappeared: A Retrieval Artist Novel [Paperback]

Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2, 2002 | Series: Retrieval Artist (Book 3)

In a world where humans and aliens co-exist, where murder is sanctioned, and where no one can find safe haven, one group of private detectives is willing to help the "Disappeared" find their way home. Meet the Retrieval Artists.

"One of the most sure-footed authors in science fiction." (Science Fiction Weekly)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Newly promoted detective Miles Flint and his partner, Noelle DeRicci, a veteran on the force, have three cases of intergalactic justice on their hands. One woman, a successful attorney on the run; two children kidnapped by ruthless aliens; and three dead victims of an apparent alien vengeance killing have all turned up in Armstrong Dome on the moon. As Flint delves into the cases, he discovers that all involved intergalactic justice disputes and use of the services of Disappearance Inc. to avoid other-world authorities years earlier. Flint and DeRicci are on their own to solve the crimes and mediate the intergalactic jurisdictional disputes, for their superiors are afraid of causing an intergalactic incident. If the two cops can't put it all together, this could be just the beginning of something big. Rusch has created an entertaining blend of mystery and sf, a solid police drama that asks hard questions about what justice between cultures, and even species, really is. Terrence Miltner
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

International bestselling writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch has won two Hugo awards, a World Fantasy Award, and three Asimov’s Readers Choice Awards. Her latest novel is Diving into the Wreck from Pyr. Golden Gryphon has collected her recent award winning stories in Recovering Apollo 8 And Other Stories. For more information about her work, please go to kristinekathrynrusch.com. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Roc (July 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451458885
• ISBN-13: 978-0451458889
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,067,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hunted By Aliens, December 28, 2002

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Disappeared: A Retrieval Artist Novel (Paperback)

The Disappeared is the first novel in the Retrieval Artist series. It is the story of people who have been helped to disappear in order to escape alien justice. As humans go to the stars, they find alien sentients with their own body of law. The humans agree to abide by local laws, but later find that these laws are sometimes illogical, inhumane, and bloody. Thus, disappearance services are created to provide a new identity, a new job, and a new home for humans who are hunted by the aliens.

Miles Flint is a newly promoted detective in the Moon Police. One morning, he and his partner, Noelle DeRicci, are sent to the Port to deal with a multiple killing in a space yacht. While there, they are asked to check a ship picked up by the Border Patrol with aliens and two kidnapped children onboard. Later, a very terrified woman lands an unmarked ship at the Port. Flint discovers that all three cases have a common element: they all involve the Disappeared.

This novel is a good read, with believable characters. Flint is getting more antsy as things progress and DeRicci is maybe even more disturbed by the events. Everybody else hates the situation, but sees no way to change it; they figure its a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

Recommended for anyone who likes stories with decent people trying to deal fairly with an inherently unfair situation.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thriller with more than a touch of humanity, May 17, 2003

By 

J. Bowman "Bookworm" (Fresno, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Disappeared: A Retrieval Artist Novel (Paperback)

This is the prequel to Rusch's 2000 story, "The Retrieval Artist." As that was and is one of my favorite novellas of all time, I was eagerly anticipating this book. I was not disappointed in the least.

Miles Flint is a first-year detective on the Moon Sector Police, with his tough experienced partner, Noelle DeRicci. Both are smart and somewhat on the fringe of the agency, and thus tend to pick up the cases others don't really want. As the book opens they are given a case in the Port, a mysterious vessel with three victims of a gruesome Disty vengeance killing inside. Almost immediately, a call comes in that Wygnin have been brought in with children but without the proper warrants. They have to be brought into custody until the warrants can be confirmed, though really, Flint and DeRicci just want to stall them with the slight hope they can get them out of it.

Because in this future, humanity has made trading contracts with other species that allow them to use their own justice on humans who violate their laws. Once an appeal has been denied by the multicultural courts, the aggrieved party is allowed to take matters into their own hands however their laws see fit. Those humans can be pressed into slavery, messily executed along with everyone involved, have their children taken, or any other punishment, with impunity. Though few like it, for the most part the politicians and corporations have convinced people that it's necessary for progress. However, in the wake of this, various quasi-legal Disappearance services have sprung up to shield and give new lives to people who are willing to pay.

Soon yet another case is plopped right into the duo's lap, this time of a cunning woman claiming to be on the run from the Rev, another alien species. The keep watch on her, but she surprises DeRicci with a laser pistol on the way to the station and escapes. The whole patrol is on the lookout for her, the base is locked down, Flint is with the chief doing damage control in his blunt way. Meanwhile the Rev show up and he has to run to placate them, while DeRicci tries to deal with the Wygnin and their targets. Both groups are angry and short-tempered, the two officers toeing the line to a diplomatic disaster. It slowly becomes obvious that all of this is related to a disappearance service selling out its clients (though it's revealed to the reader much earlier).

Both work hard to keep such a stressful situation from spiraling out of control, even though they'd be within the law to do nothing. In the end Flint proves his humanity, and generally tries to help as many as he can; he doesn't entirely succeed, and he doesn't as well as he'd like, but it's the best he could and by far more than anyone hoped for.

I can't say enough for this story. All of the characters are very real, the stress and worry etched into every page, hope rare but held onto tightly. Everyone has their own dark pasts, everyone their own mistakes that haunt them though they push it down. Seeing people with many different interests competing or working together or both. The story unfolds masterfully, weaving in and out of cultural and interpersonal relations, rules and regulations, philosphocal conundrums, histories, desperate attempts to keep order, and it's always apparent that everyone wants to do the right thing, though only Flint is so willing to fight hard for what he believes in, and DeRicci, inspired by him and past caring about her future.

The reader is given a lot extra that the cops don't have, and in many ways this brings us to sympathize with the guilty and less likable protagonists. Even the woman in the first chapter, horrified to find her vessel abandoned to the Disty, and next seen brutally eviscerated... and later we find out it was all for teaching a Disty English. The prose is kept tight, clipping forward from the first page, taking only the short breathers that the heroes and the fugitives get. It's an effort just to set it down, no matter where you are. Even the exposition is fluidly intermixed with the story, so nothing feels rushed. The technology is neither overexplained nor silly, light enough to keep a non-technical reader comfortable.

I recommend this to all. I cannot wait for the next installment, be it in short form or novel.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What is Justice?, October 7, 2004

By 

J. Vilches (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Disappeared: A Retrieval Artist Novel (Paperback)

Humans have expanded into space, but dealing with their alien neighbors has taken a lot of negotiation. Alien justice is harsh, but humans agree to abide by their laws and punishments for the sake of trade. The Rev have brutal work camps, the Wygnin take children to pay for the crimes of their parents, and the Ditsy have gruesome vengeance killings. Humans who willingly or unknowingly break an alien law must submit to the sentence or disappear.

Miles Flint and his partner Noelle DeRicci are detectives on the Moon; within a few short days, they are drawn into three cases of alien justice - an unusually high percentage. One involves a woman, Ekaterina, who is trying to disappear to avoid the Rev; the two others involve people who have been hiding for years. As DeRicci tries to track down Ekaterina, Flint tries to figure out how to avoid turning a baby over to the Wygnin while working to solve the connection between the three cases.

The Disappeared functions fairly well as a detective partner story with DeRicci as the embittered veteran and Flint as the newly promoted rookie. Plenty of tension is provided through checkered pasts, irritable aliens, uncaring bureaucracy, and the occasionally convenient loss of communications. Rusch deals well with the emotional turmoil involved in having to support alien laws that seem immoral and are quite accurately described as inhumane, especially as the detectives get more involved in the cases. The characters are fairly well drawn - they are all basically decent, real people facing difficult situations and haunted by their pasts. I'd like to know more about the aliens - we're really just introduced to them in this book. I have to wonder if there are any aliens in Rusch's universe that are even-tempered and reasonable by our terms.

This is the first novel in the Retrieval Artist series, and sets up the background and main characters. One of my minor quibbles with The Disappeared is that sometimes it feels like the set-up is more important than the story being told. Also, I found Flint's amazing ability to get secure information out of any computer system he touches to be unrealistic. The Disappeared does succeed in making you think about justice and culture clash - I'll be interested to see where Rusch goes next with these concepts.