The Return

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The Return

Title:

The Return

A Novel

Author:

Helmreich, Joseph

Subject:

Thriller

Fiction

Science Fiction

Description:

During a live television broadcast on the night of a lunar eclipse, renowned astrophysicist Andrew Leland is suddenly lifted into the sky by a giant spacecraft and taken away for all to see. Six years later, he turns up, wandering in a South American desert, denying ever having been abducted and disappearing from the public eye.Meanwhile, he inspires legions of cultish devotees, including a young physics graduate student named Shawn Ferris who is obsessed with finding out what really happened to him. When Shawn finally tracks Leland down, he discovers that he's been on the run for years, continuously hunted by a secret organization that has pursued him across multiple continents, determined to force him into revealing what he knows.Shawn soon joins Leland on the run. Though Leland is at first reluctant to reveal anything, Shawn will soon learn the truth about his abduction, the real reason for his return, and will find himself caught up in a global conspiracy that puts more than just one planet in danger.Equal parts science-fiction and globe-hopping thriller, Joseph Helmreich's The Return will appeal to fans of both, and to anyone who has ever wondered... what's out there?

Publisher:

St. Martin's Publishing Group

Thomas Dunne Books

Date:

2017/03/14

Digital Format:

Open in browser

Download EPUB file

Kindle

Language:

English

Summary

During a live television broadcast on the night of a lunar eclipse, renowned astrophysicist Andrew Leland is suddenly lifted into the sky by a giant spacecraft and taken away for all to see. Six years later, he turns up, wandering in a South American desert, denying ever having been abducted and disappearing from the public eye.

Meanwhile, he inspires legions of cultish devotees, including a young physics graduate student named Shawn Ferris who is obsessed with finding out what really happened to him. When Shawn finally tracks Leland down, he discovers that he's been on the run for years, continuously hunted by a secret organization that has pursued him across multiple continents, determined to force him into revealing what he knows.

Shawn soon joins Leland on the run. Though Leland is at first reluctant to reveal anything, Shawn will soon learn the truth about his abduction, the real reason for his return, and will find himself caught up in a global conspiracy that puts more than just one planet in danger.

Equal parts science-fiction and globe-hopping thriller, Joseph Helmreich's The Return will appeal to fans of both, and to anyone who has ever wondered... what's out there?

Author Notes

JOSEPH HELMREICH, author of The Return , has contributed writing to Every Day Fiction and New York Press . He has worked on film and television projects, such as Garden State , Late Night With Conan O'Brien , and No Direction Home: Bob Dylan , before becoming a script-reader for The Weinstein Company. In addition to his writing, Helmreich is also a voice-over actor and member of alternative folk duo, Honeybrick. He lives in New York City and works in film distribution.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

An artfully crafted opening line ("If the conspiracy theorists are right and it never happened, then the day it didn't happen began innocently enough") paves the way for an intriguing setup in Helmreich's debut novel of humankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. The coinciding of a lunar eclipse with the winter solstice prompted television coverage that inadvertently captured live video of an alien abduction in California. The victim, "washed-up celebrity physicist" Dr. Andrew Leland, who had been retained to provide expert commentary on the celestial event, was seen lifted up into the sky by an unseen force emanating from a green structure. Almost seven years later, Leland is found wandering in a desert, but he denies knowing anything about the abduction, claiming that he retired from scientific research and has spent those years working as a farmhand. Brilliant young physicist Shawn Ferris becomes obsessed with learning the truth about what happened to Leland. The plot takes some clever turns, though the ending doesn't quite live up to the beginning, and Helmreich's characters are satisfyingly multidimensional. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

On the day his disappearance into the sky was captured on live television, Andrew Leland was a washed-up physicist, having traded in his controversial scientific theories for Hollywood-style self-promotion. Obsessions with the broadcast led to a renewed interest in astrophysics across the globe as governments shifted funding into scientific research and defense, hoping to discover how Leland had been abducted and by whom. Shawn Ferris was one of the obsessed, a student focusing on Leland's work, with his obsession renewed six years, seven months, and 22 days later when Leland returned to Earth just as abruptly as he had vanished. Shawn's obsession eventually led to a correspondence exchange, the revelation of a clandestine government organization, and fleeing across the country with Leland. The main characters, both geniuses, make all too human mistakes that push the story along in unexpected directions. Helmreich combines just enough science with thrilling action to keep the reader hooked on this story while pondering the greater meaning of Leland's abduction and the sparse memories of his time off-planet.--Moritz, Frances Copyright 2017 Booklist

Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Booklist Review

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