Years after a meteorite strike obliterated Washington, D.C.—triggering an extinction-level global warming event—Earth’s survivors have started an international effort to establish homes on space stations and the Moon.

The next step – Mars.

Elma York, the Lady Astronaut, lands on the Red Planet, optimistic about preparing for the first true wave of inhabitants. The mission objective is more than just building the infrastructure of a habitat – they are trying to preserve the many cultures and nuances of life on Earth without importing the hate.

But from the moment she arrives, something is off.

Disturbing signs hint at a hidden disaster during the First Mars Expedition that never made it into the official transcript. As Elma and her crew try to investigate, they face a wall of silence and obfuscation. Their attempts to build a thriving Martian community grind to a halt.

What you don’t know CAN harm you. And if the truth doesn’t come to light, the ripple effects could leave humanity stranded on a dying Earth…

The Second Expedition is on Mars and working to get the facility ready for both the rest of the settlers up on the orbiting ship and, more importantly, the Third Expedition when families will start to arrive. As Elma works towards that goal she becomes increasingly sure that something - something bad - happened on Mars during the First Expedition and that those in the know are keeping secrets from her. How can they build a new society on Mars if they cannot trust each other?

This fourth outing in the Lady Astronauts series is in turns a mystery, what happened during the First Expedition, and a character study as we learn so much more about many of the characters’ pasts and humans in general. The meteor that hit earth in the first book has seen humanity come together in many ways to combat the resulting global warming along with a leap into space to give humans new places to survive. As is typical with humanity there are also those who oppose  the science, refuse to acknowledge that the change in climate will mean, if not the end of humanity on earth, at the very least severe consequences and mass deaths - insisting on Earth First and actively sabotaging the efforts to spread humans to the Moon and Mars. This alternative post-World War II earth sees humans coming together in some ways that we still are searching for now in the real 21^st century but we also see the injustices that plagued our world in the mid-20^th century - racial prejudice, religious prejudice and misogyny.  As we come to speculate, with Elma, on what the various hints of trouble during the First Expedition might mean when we do learn the truth it is more disturbing than imagined. That our settlers can come together to create a society on Mars that respects each other and embraces their differences is both a hopeful sign for the future of humanity as well as a stinging indictment of many on earth.

This entry in the series is more thought-provoking than previous entries and while we have a satisfactory conclusion to the issues presented in this book I hope to see more in the series as we look to the younger generations of Lady Astronauts.  Highly recommended. ~~ Stephanie L Bannon

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