Review: Dead Moon by Keith Crawford

Humanity will be extinguished within seven days.

Wing Commander Jude Styles is a starfighter pilot trying to get pregnant before the world ends.

Her wingman Hamid Ashkami just wantes to block the spam messages he is receiving from someone claiming to be his dead ex-husband.

Instead they are locked in a media tour, shown off as the heroes who stopped the alien invasion by destroying the massive mothership known as the Dead Moon, persuading the masses that all be fine if they keep calm and carry on.

Trapped telling the same lies, driven over the edge by post- stress and the constant flow of alcohol, it is only a matter of time before Jude and Hamid break down - and the fragments of the Dead Moon have already begun to fall from the sky.

Grim, human and thought-provoking, Dead Moon is a road trip driven by a friendship stronger than love and an impossible task: how do you go on living when the world is coming to an end? 

Dead Moon is now 99p on Amazon.

My Review 

Wow! This book is an absolute rollercoaster! It cleverly encapsulates disaster, gender politics, the nature of PTSD (induced by warfare and bad parenting) and like all good sci fi, speaks to how we live now.

I loved the central characters - their relationship transcends the boundaries of sexual love. Their quest seems hopeless yet they do not shirk their duty to themselves or the human race. They're damaged, complex and dangerous yet rise to the ultimate challenge. I loved the desperate race against time and the many fascinating descriptions of the augmented creatures that human beings have become since the 21st century.

It's tremendously visual. If I had the money I'd option it for Netflix or Amazon Prime. Such is the density of the narrative that a series would be in order. The author's flights of fancy are temepered by his experience of the military life, that always feel authentic even within a speculative world story. Terrific stuff! 

Author Bio

Keith Crawford is a Doctor of Law and economics, a qualified barrister, and a retired British naval officer. An Economics and Social Research Council doctoral scholar and first of his call to the bar, he taught corporate law and banking regulation at Sciences Po and has spoken at conferences from Toronto to Lecce to Joongbu. He has written for journals, collections of academic writing and newspapers including The Economist.

With the arrival of his first child in 2014 he decided to try the stay-at-home Dad thing and write stories. As a disabled veteran he is passionate about social justice; as a geek he likes literary fantasy and speculative fiction. His first novel, Vile, is a complex science-fantasy about toxic racialism with dollops of sword fighting. His second, Dead Moon, is about the end of the world, which feels terribly appropriate these days.

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