Off Rock is a science fiction tale about hidden treasure.  It is set in the year 2778.  Mining companies have moved to a new frontier and have begun extracting minerals from other parts of the galaxy.  While doing some work to prepare a site for closure, Jimmy Vik strikes gold.  Gold that the mining company knows nothing about.

It’s enough gold to set up Jimmy for life – if he can find a way get the gold off rock and back to earth.  Jimmy’s regular supervisor is sick, and his new supervisor is Leela – his ex-girlfriend.  Groan.  Any chance of flying under the radar just got much harder – Leela’s going to be watching his every move – their relationship didn’t end well, and Leela isn’t very fond of Jimmy.

Jimmy meets with Jock, a degenerate gambler and the station’s primary smuggler of things.  It’s a lot to smuggle (and if they get caught, the penalties are very severe), but Jock agrees to help, in exchange for a 50/50 split.  He spreads around a bit of money (and a lot of chocolate) and things are set.  What could possibly go wrong?  Well, a lot, of course.

Story

Off Rock is essentially the sci-fi version of a heist story.  The pace is good, our protagonist faces quite a few challenges, and there are other sub-plots in the story.  Overall, a well-constructed story.

Characters

In addition to Jimmy, there are a few other main characters in the book.  Jimmy is very well developed and I found myself rooting for him to succeed.  The author does a good job of making the other characters (including the minor ones) interesting and lifelike.

Verdict

Off Rock is an easy, fun read.  It’s a relatively short book, so you can finish it pretty quickly.  It’s worth your time – give it a shot.

Off Rock is on sale April 18.

[Disclaimer: I received a free copy of Off Rock for review purposes.]

 

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Kosmo is the founder of The Soap Boxers and writes on a variety of topics. Many of his short stories have been collected into Kindle books.

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