Print List Price:	$18.99
Kindle Price:	$5.99 Save $13.00 (68%)

Add Audible book to your purchase for just $1.99

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group. Learn more

Quantity:

This item has a maximum order quantity limit.

Enter a promotion code or Gift Card

Share <Embed>

Masterminds: A Retrieval Artist Novel: Book Eight of the Anniversary Day Saga by [Rusch, Kristine Kathryn]

Audible Sample

Playing...

Paused

Masterminds: A Retrieval Artist Novel: Book Eight of the Anniversary Day Saga Kindle Edition

by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Author)

25 customer reviews

Book 15 of 15 in Retrieval Artist Series (15 Book Series)

See all 7 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$5.99

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

$18.99

$18.08

$11.16

Audible, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

MP3 CD, Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$9.99

$6.85

$6.72

The fate of the Alliance hangs in the balance as the masterminds behind the Anniversary Day bombings trigger the final stages of a plan decades in the making. A plan that will bring about the total destruction of every dome on the Moon.

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

Length: 384 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled	Audible book: Audible book Switch back and forth between reading the Kindle book and listening to the Audible book with Whispersync for Voice. Add the Audible book for a reduced price of $1.99 when you buy the Kindle book. Available	Matchbook Price: $2.99 What's this? For thousands of qualifying books, your past, present, and future print-edition purchases now lets you buy the Kindle edition for $2.99 or less. (Textbooks available for $9.99 or less.) Thousands of books are eligible, including current and former best sellers. Look for the Kindle MatchBook icon on print and Kindle book detail pages of qualifying books. You can also see more Kindle MatchBook titles here or look up all of your Kindle MatchBook titles here. Read the Kindle edition on any Kindle device or with a free Kindle Reading App. Print edition must be purchased new and sold by Amazon.com. Gifting of the Kindle edition at the Kindle MatchBook price is not available. Learn more about Kindle MatchBook.

Complete Series

Retrieval Artist Series (15 Book …

Kristine Kathryn …

$86.85

Try Kindle Countdown Deals
Explore limited-time discounted eBooks. Learn more.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

USA Today 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. 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, krisdelake.com, retrievalartist.com, divingintothewreck.com). She lives and occasionally sleeps in Oregon.

Product details

File Size: 1088 KB
Print Length: 384 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1561466255
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: WMG Publishing, Inc. (June 9, 2015)
Publication Date: June 9, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B00UKCJTR8
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Not Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Enabled
Screen Reader: Supported

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #575,056 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #1939 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Colonization
- #2175 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Space Exploration
- #2324 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Galactic Empire

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?

Customer Reviews

2 star (0%)

1 star (0%)

Write a customer review

See all 25 customer reviews

Rated by customers interested in

What's this?

Cosmology

4.7 out of 5 stars

Physics

4.4 out of 5 stars

Fantasy Books

4.7 out of 5 stars

Is this feature helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

Read reviews that mention

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

ndmzero

reaction to series more than individual book

June 11, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Wow, this is a tough one.

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.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Not Helpful

Comment

Spoon

A Good Finale to s Good Story

June 29, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Rusch has finally wrapped up the "Anniversary Day" sequence of books in her Retrieval Artist universe. Previous books have detailed attacks on the moon over a period of years, with flashbacks showing other events leading up to the attacks and the overall conspiracy. In this book, Rusch somehow manages to tie together the many different story lines, leading finally to the mastermind of the whole scheme and the reasons behind it. We also see heavy involvement here of Miles Flint in this book; his character was minimal or non-existent in the previous books of the sequence.

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.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Not Helpful

Comment

Karen A. Wyle

Imperfect but largely satisfying culmination of the Anniversary Day saga, and well-written when viewed as an installment

November 20, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I have two different assessments to this book, as an installment of the Anniversary Day saga and as its culmination.

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.

Helpful

Not Helpful

Comment

Audrey

the grand finale of the Anniversary Day saga

June 17, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This is the conclusion to the Anniversary Day saga I was waiting for. There is the suspense of a suspected impending third Moon bombing. More villains appear. We find out who was responsible for the clones, the Moon bombings, and more. All of the key characters (Miles, Noelle, etc.) appear as well as a number of other characters that appeared in the past seven books. I like Kristine Kathryn Rusch's books and writing style. This one was up to her usual standards.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Not Helpful

Comment

John H. Hardin

but pretty complicated. There are a great many threads that ...

March 21, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Masterminds is the conclusion of an 8-book saga, so it does not make sense to write a review of it in isolation. As a whole, this saga is very impressive, but pretty complicated. There are a great many threads that are introduced in the various books and they don't get tied up until Masterminds. While reading this series of books, it was sometimes frustrating to have a new character and story thread introduced in each chapter and I found myself wishing I'd kept a notebook of the characters from the start. Reading this series on a Kindle helped. When a character would pop up that sounded familiar but which I couldn't place, I could run a search of all the books in the series for previous appearances. By the time I'd finished Masterminds, I came to the belief that this might be KKR's magnum opus. I've read and enjoyed each of her Retrieval Artist books and especially the Anniversary Day saga.

Helpful

Not Helpful

Comment

Most recent customer reviews

Zorbon

Great read

I have read many of her books and enjoyed them all.

Published 1 year ago

Mark N. Hougaard

A great read. I couldn't put this one down either

A great read. I couldn't put this one down either. So here ends the Anniversary Saga, however, there is more story to tell. Some questions left unanswered. Hoping for more to come.

Published on May 6, 2016

molly j

Great imagination. The series is excellent

Great imagination. The series is excellent.

Published on March 1, 2016

Beaches

Outstanding series from start to finish.

Rusch truly demonstrates a master craftsman's hand in her Retrieval Artist series. Exceptional character development in a chilling and compelling story line that is incredibly...Read more

Published on October 26, 2015

Ojo

anti-climactic :(

An extremely disappointing ending to the series. I suppose no book could really deliver on what 7 previous novels' worth of tension and drama promised, but to have the entire...Read more

Published on September 10, 2015

Barbara Arnold

A zinger!

This last in a series of books by Rusch is a zinger!

Published on August 15, 2015

sunshine

Flint, DeRicci, Nyquist, Gomez, Deshin! What a great team!

Oh, my goodness! I am sorry that this series has come to an end! It has been a great ride. It was so good to see all these characters from thru-out the series come together to . .Read more

Published on August 9, 2015

LiriMcR

Fabulous series- Satisfying ending

Terrific series. I loved being able to read all six back to back. Given the complexity of the mystery, the detail in this future universe, and the rich character development...Read more

Published on July 14, 2015

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: Masterminds: A Retrieval Artist Novel: Book Eight of the Anniversary Day Saga

Set up a giveaway

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

42

Kindle Edition
$2.99
Kristine Kathryn Rusch

17

Kindle Edition
$5.99
Kristine Kathryn Rusch

55

Kindle Edition
$5.99
Kristine Kathryn Rusch

12

Kindle Edition
$5.99
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Kindle Edition
$2.99
Kristine Kathryn Rusch

18

Kindle Edition
$5.99

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.