Sixteenth Watch

Sixteenth Watch by Myke Cole

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is the second novel in a month which featured a Coast Guard in Space. There's one amazing similarity and a huge number of differences which proved the writing adage that ideas are easy but plots are hard.

Myke Cole is a veteran of the modern-day US Coast Guard, and his novel Sixteenth Watch literally puts the US Coast Guard into space, in the person of Captain Jane Oliver. The book is set in a relatively near future, one in which China and the US are competing for Lunar resources. There's also an unhealthy amount of inter-service rivalry and political intrigue going on.

Here's where the similarity between this book and A Pale Light in the Black, the other Coast Guard book, come into play. Both books have a reality-TV sport called "Boarding Games" in which military units compete in simulated boardings. Getting the USCG team ready is what sends Oliver to the Moon.

But the similarities end there. Myke's book, unusual for MilSF, is about trying to prevent a war. There's action aplenty, but it's in a different goal - keeping the peace. Myke's characters are also different - engaging and a lot of them have PTSD which they are dealing with as best as they can. Since several things in the book are not as they seem, it's hard for me to go into more detail, but I highly encourage you to check this book out as well.

Oh, one other thing. The term "Sixteenth Watch" which feels very realistic is something that Myke invented out of whole cloth. It was a nice touch.



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