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![Masterminds: A Retrieval Artist Novel: Book Eight of the Anniversary Day Saga (Retrieval Artist Series 15) by [Kristine Kathryn Rusch]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51EvJsdNLrL._SY346_.jpg)
Masterminds: A Retrieval Artist Novel: Book Eight of the Anniversary Day Saga (Retrieval Artist Series 15) Kindle Edition
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As Moon Security Chief Noelle DeRicci struggles with the overwhelming scope of the investigation, Retrieval Artist Miles Flint races to save the life of a man from his daughter Talia’s past. A man with vital information regarding the identity of the masterminds who planned the Anniversary Day bombings. And deep beneath the surface of Armstrong, a dome engineer makes a chilling discovery that could crack the investigation wide open.
If only he can get someone to believe him.
The thrilling conclusion to the Anniversary Day Saga.
“Rusch wraps up the near-future Anniversary Day Saga, set in her Retrieval Artist universe, with this deeply satisfying eighth entry. … Rusch juggles the ensemble cast and numerous plots skillfully, offering up a cerebral thriller that’s part mystery and part action-drama with a ticking countdown. The human element plays well against the tense atmosphere, and frequent scene shifts help provide a sense of momentum and foreboding. While it’s almost essential to have read the previous installments, this is a very strong payoff for the series.”
—Publishers Weekly
“The Retrieval Artist universe is rich and exciting, and Rusch’s characters are real beings (Human and otherwise) struggling against overwhelming odds. The thrills are nonstop, and the tension keeps increasing with each successive book [in the Anniversary Day Saga]. If you’re a nail-biter, you might want to wear gloves for these.”
—Analog
“Starbase Human puts all the pieces in place for the big showdown/crisis in Masterminds [the final book in the saga]. I highly recommend the Anniversary Day Saga. It’s one of the major events in science fiction this year.”
—Amazing Stories
“…the way Ms. Rusch structured the book was very much along the lines of a chess master arranging the pieces for a devastating endgame. … This is one of the best series out there..”
—Futures Past and Present on Vigilantes
“The Anniversary Day Saga just keeps getting more interesting and more complicated. Each addition is eagerly anticipated and leaves the reader anxious to discover what will happen next, who the bad guys are and what it is they are hoping to achieve.”
—RT Book Reviews on The Peyti Crisis
“This new Retrieval Artist Universe novel is action-packed and continues where A Murder of Clones leaves off. These must be read in order to fully appreciate the suspense and mystery that is taking place.”
—RT Book Reviews on Search & Recovery
“Fans of Rusch’s Retrieval Artist universe will enjoy the expansion of the Anniversary Day story, with new characters providing more perspectives on its signature events, while newcomers will get a good introduction to the series.”
—Publishers Weekly on A Murder of Clones
“The latest Retrieval Artist science fiction thriller is an engaging investigative whodunit starring popular Miles Flint on a comeback mission. The suspenseful storyline is fast-paced and filled with twists as the hero comes out of retirement to confront his worst nightmare.”
—The Midwest Book Review on Blowback
“Anniversary Day is an edge-of-the-seat thriller that will keep you turning pages late into the night and it’s also really good science fiction. What’s not to like?”
—Analog on Anniversary Day
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateJune 9, 2015
- File size1088 KB
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About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B00UKCJTR8
- Publisher : WMG Publishing, Inc. (June 9, 2015)
- Publication date : June 9, 2015
- Language : English
- File size : 1088 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 384 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 1561466255
- Best Sellers Rank: #606,716 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,005 in Colonization Science Fiction eBooks
- #1,299 in Colonization Science Fiction
- #2,267 in Genetic Engineering Science Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

New York Times bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in almost every genre. Generally, she uses her real name (Rusch) for most of her writing. Under that name, she publishes bestselling science fiction and fantasy, award-winning mysteries, acclaimed mainstream fiction, controversial nonfiction, and the occasional romance. Her novels have made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction has appeared in eighteen best of the year collections. She has won more than twenty-five awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Le Prix Imaginales, the Asimov’s Readers Choice award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award.
Publications from The Chicago Tribune to Booklist have included her Kris Nelscott mystery novels in their top-ten-best mystery novels of the year. The Nelscott books have received nominations for almost every award in the mystery field, including the best novel Edgar Award, and the Shamus Award.
She writes goofy romance novels as award-winner Kristine Grayson.
She also edits. Beginning with work at the innovative publishing company, Pulphouse, followed by her award-winning tenure at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, she took fifteen years off before returning to editing with the original anthology series Fiction River, published by WMG Publishing. She acts as series editor with her husband, writer Dean Wesley Smith.
To keep up with everything she does, go to kriswrites.com and sign up for her newsletter. To track her many pen names and series, see their individual websites (krisnelscott.com, kristinegrayson.com, retrievalartist.com, divingintothewreck.com, fictionriver.com, pulphousemagazine.com).
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First, this isn't just a review of this book, Masterminds. It is more a reaction to the Anniversary Day series, the last six of which have appeared in the last six months.
I've been reading the Retrieval Artist series from the beginning (although I can't really pin it down to the actual start date.) I like the concept and I think it has addressed some interesting issues in interspecies relations from the get go.
And partially, I'm reacting to the style of this presentation - that six books were published in six months. I bought the ebooks, and I don't regret it (I want to support authors I like) but I felt pressure ... of the top of my head I can't think of another author who at this time I would buy this many books from so quickly - so OK, for now, but I really hope this isn't a harbinger for the future of publishing. I assume it was an experiment, and I don't know how it turned out, but I think the circumstances were pretty unique.
OK, for this series -- this book did resolve the overall situation.
Possible Spoilers.'
While I will concede that there is some justification for the scope of this situation, and even, now that I've read it all, the overriding motivation, the complexity of the series is an issue --
Again, Spoilers
The overall complexity of the "Plan" of the Masterminds is daunting. THe author obviously spent a lot of effort supporting the story of the "attack" (in stages) on the Moon. There is a tradeoff here -- the "plan" has been in the works for decades, and somehow the separate stages are defeated by our "Heroes" in a short span of time. The first, second and even third times this happened it was -- acceptable. This last time it seemed to stretch the balloon just a bit much.. The exactitude of the "bad guys" - that the Peyti Clones knew the date they would die decades ahead (and apparently, that they all had the same date even though they were raised decades apart. (ed. to remove reference to a major error I made. apologies to Ms. Rusch - - Peyti clones did not attack on AD although their strike appeared linked to all the fallout from Ann Day - so not clear. So my position is weakened. )
Ultimately, there were too many moving parts in the plan. Even with the infinite resources (which were established quite convincingly) for the Masterminds.
I like the book. I'm beginning the reread (and HINT, pay attention at the beginning of this book - it'll pay off later) - I like the series and I like the universe, I'm just not entirely convinced that it needed quite this many books to get to the conclusion. But they were all good reads.
I don't see this model of publishing fitting well into a universe of used book stores and/or libraries. So possibly this is the future - I'm just not sure I'm going to like it.
Edit - Oct 2016 - FWIW - one of my local libraries (Fairfax Cty, VA) does have at least three of this sub-series in paperback. I believe that means they will have more.
As an installment, I liked the book very much. Down-to-the-wire suspense is difficult to do well, and Rusch does it well, in general and here. Multiple character threads come together, and as we learn more about some characters who earlier appeared peripheral, we in some cases will like them more as well.
As a culmination of this saga-within-a-series, I find the book not quite as successful -- though I hope and guess that some of the many loose threads will be addressed in future Retrieval Artist books, even though Rusch characterizes those coming books as "stand alone" novels. Of those threads that Rusch seems to mean to resolve to some extent, I find the treatment of the "masterminds" disappointingly cursory. The revealed motivation itself, to the extent (not clear) that it applies to most or all of the conspirators, is not implausible (and in fact I'd thought of it as a possibility), but as Rusch handles it, it doesn't quite work as an adequate explanation of the conspiracy as a whole.
All that notwithstanding, I found the way the book pulls threads together somewhat satisfying, despite the issues I've identified.
However, some items were left hanging (such as the legal defense of the Peyti clones and the arrest of the bad cops), so some effects of the attacks and the conspiracy will linger (hopefully) into future books.
Rusch did an amazing job of putting out last five of the "Anniversary" books on a monthly basis earlier this year, making it easier to follow the convoluted paths and story lines she set up. She introduces each book with a short forward explaining how and why she did it this way. I'm looking forward to the next book in this universe.
Top reviews from other countries

Only four stars because there are to many characters and to many side stories making it difficult to follow. Plus a last minutes almost miraculous save makes it a but unrealistic.
