The Spare Man, Review

As a sci-fi fan, the description for The Spare Man stood out to me. A brilliant inventor on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner to Mars getting caught up in a murder mystery? Sounds fun.

The story follows Tesla Crane, a genius inventor and heiress, is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner, cruising between the Moon and Mars. Travelling incognito for some anonymity and free time with her new husband Shal, she's hoping it'll be a lovely break from her usual life. Then someone is murdered, and her new spouse becomes prime suspect number one after security has him fleeing the scene, even though he's chasing after the actual murderer.

Armed with banter, martinis, her small service dog Gimlet, and a powerful lawyer hours away on a very expensive speed dial, Tesla is determined to solve the crime to keep the real killer from striking again, so that the newlyweds can get back to doing what couples on honeymoon do.

Tesla, Shal, and Gimlet were just delightful characters. Yes, I include the dog in that. It's the perfect writing of an adorable little dog. The banter and humour between characters were fun throughout and gave us a couple very much in love whilst going through a stressful experience.

The murder mystery aspect remains a mystery for most of the book. There's little foreshadowing and very few hints. And the ones you do get quickly turn out to be false leads. The only one that remains consistent is that Shal might not be all that he seems, and you spent your time hoping that that isn't the case because Tesla seems to really love him.

Tesla's chronic pain, PTSD and the use of Gimlet as a service dog was dealt with nicely, adding some nice touches. Tesla can't go chasing after people, uses grounding techniques to calm herself down and she ramps up her pain meds to the point that she realises she either isn't thinking straight or can't keep going on as she has been. Mentions of how Gilmet can't be touched because she's on duty are a nice reminder that people really shouldn't be touching service dogs. Although Tesla does break that rule when necessary using Gimlet's cuteness to distract or get people to open up works almost every time.

Tesla makes for a great main character and heroine. She gives us character traits that we don't often see in main characters. Smart, funny, and constantly masking the pain she is in physically and mentally to other people. As readers, though, we get to see it all. Tesla uses her brains, her privilege and her disabilities to protect the man she loves and track down the truth. Something the incompetent security officers seem incapable of doing.

I found this book really enjoyable. I had no idea who the killer was other than having some doubts that it could be Shal, but that wasn't anything concrete. I don't mind that there were few clues because it was quite nice having zero ideas who it was. And there was a lot of robotics talk and science fiction talk that was a delight to read. I'd be happy if we get to see more of these characters in the future.

Rating: 5/5