Detour is a collaboration between two great genre exponents. Jeff Rake is best known for the TV series Manifest but has also been involved in a number of other television projects, Rob Hart is an author whose breakout book was the satirical take-down The Warehouse but is also responsible for, among others The Paradox Hotel and Dark Space, with fellow author Alex Segura. Detour started as an idea of Rake’s for a television series, when this did not quite pan out he took the idea to Hart and the pair collaborated on a novel version of the idea. This is important to keep in mind as Detour feels very much like the first season a television show – in both its pacing and in the number of characters. And, unsurprisingly, Detour is now in development for potential TV adaptation.
Detour is about a mission to Titan, one of the moons of Saturn. Multi-billionaire and presidential hopeful John Ward has convinced the American government that Titan is a more viable future colony site than Mars. He is co-financing a mission there, although it soon starts to emerge that he may have an ulterior motive. The mission will consist of six crew – three astronauts and three civilians. The civilians are Ward’s chief scientist Padma Singh, Stitch, the winner of a public lottery and policeman Ryan Crane, who saved Ward from an assassination attempt. The narrative will follow all six of these characters through the preparation for the mission and beyond.
Detour has a large cast of characters, many of whom get point of view chapters to themselves. Aswell as the six Titan-nauts there is Ward himself, his right-hand woman Camilla and the leader of a shadowy organisation that she employs on Ward’s behalf. As already noted, this feels more like a television approach to this story but Rake and Hart make it work. They give their characters enough time to make them not quite feel like cardboard cutouts and leave plenty to develop into the future. This basis would be enough for good actors to potentially make something more three-dimensional for these characters.
It is hard to talk about Detour anymore without spoiling some of its secrets but suffice to say the mission does not quite go as planned. Detour is very much a puzzlebox with hints dropped along the way as to what might be happening. But as a result, the end of this story is not particularly satisfying as very little is explained or resolved and it ends on multiple cliffhangers. But a follow up is already in the works. In television terms, Rake and Hart have made it to the end of season 1 with plenty set up to leave fans hanging. Fortunately they have been greenlit for a second book, aka season 2, called Roundabout due in early 2027. They have definitely set up an interesting enough scenario to bring readers back for more.
Detour by Jeff Rake and Rob Hart
No Comments
Comments are closed.