Space Case by Stuart Gibbs (review)

Apart from the celebrity that comes with being among the first people to occupy Moon Base Alpha, Dash Gibson is finding the novelty of space exploration to wear thin. There’s just not much to do in the less than luxurious accommodations, the food is wretched, and nobody can go outside unless it’s critically work related, so even family game time is starting to look good. Then, though, affable Dr. Holtz dies, stepping through the airlock in the middle of the night in an improperly donned space suit. Pressure is on the base commander to write the whole issue off as an accident, or even suicide—anything to keep the costly moon base project in Washington’s political good grace—but Dr. Holtz was a rational man, an avid proponent of the program, who was giddily excited to announce a scientific discovery, an announcement that will now never be heard. Dash knows there’s more to this story than, well, lunacy, and he, gamer geek Roddy, and newcomer Kara launch their own covert investigation. The lunar setting puts a fresh spin on the locked-door mystery genre, and Gibbs plants plenty of credible suspects among the eccentric cast. The climactic chase scene, which plays out in one-sixth gravity with a gigantic robotic arm for a nemesis, is prepackaged for the big screen. Fans of the Spy School series (BCCB 4/12) will welcome this debut entry in Gibbs’s latest run.