The Life Below
by Alexandra Monir
Synopsis:
It was hard enough for Naomi to leave Leo, a fellow Final Six contestant, behind on a dying Earth. Now she doesn’t know who to trust.
The International Space Training Camp continues to dodge every question about its past failed mission, and Naomi is suspicious that not everything is as it seems on her own mission to Europa. With just one shot at Jupiter’s moon, Naomi is determined to find out if there is dangerous alien life on Europa before she and her crew get there.
Leo, back on Earth, has been working with renegade scientist Dr. Greta Wagner, who promises to fly him to space where he can dock with Naomi’s ship. And if Wagner’s hypothesis is right, it isn’t a possibility of coming in contact with extraterrestrial life on Europa—it’s a definite, and it’s up to Leo to find and warn Naomi and the crew.
With questions piling up, everything gets more dangerous the closer that the mission gets to Europa. A storm threatens to interfere with Leo’s takeoff, a deadly entity makes itself known to the Final Six, and all questions the ISTC has been avoiding about the previous mission get answered in a terrifying way.
If the dream was to establish a new world for humans on Europa…the Final Six are about to enter a nightmare.
Review:
The Life Below is the 2nd book in The Final Six series. Naomi and the chosen astronauts are bound for Europa, but there’s a saboteur on board. And ship and mission is still being controlled, and monitored, by people back on Earth. Meanwhile, Leo is training to take a secret ship to meet up with Naomi’s and warn them that there is life on Europa – right where they are set to land.
This sequel is much more exciting than the first, as it mostly takes place in space, with danger constantly looming. This thrilling adventure is fast-paced and unpredictable. I wish we’d get more character depth from the other crew members. But the strength of this story is the plot and suspense – like a scifi, thriller movie. I can see why this series has been optioned for film. And there is a dramatic finale that will leave readers eager for the next installment.