Book Review: THE NINTH METAL by Benjamin Percy

THE NINTH METAL by Benjamin Percy (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, June 1, 2021) Hardcover, 304 pages. ISBN # 0358331536 / 9780358331537 

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .

IT BEGAN WITH A COMET…

 

At first, people gazed in wonder at the radiant tear in the sky. A year later, the celestial marvel became a planetary crisis when Earth spun through the comet’s debris field and the sky rained fire.

The town of Northfall, Minnesota will never be the same. Meteors cratered hardwood forests and annihilated homes, and among the wreckage a new metal was discovered. This “omnimetal” has properties that make it world-changing as an energy source…and a weapon.

John Frontier—the troubled scion of an iron-ore dynasty in Northfall—returns for his sister’s wedding to find his family embroiled in a cutthroat war to control mineral rights and mining operations. His father rightly suspects foreign leaders and competing corporations of sabotage, but the greatest threat to his legacy might be the U.S. government. Physicist Victoria Lennon was recruited by the Department of Defense to research omnimetal, but she finds herself trapped in a laboratory of nightmares. And across town, a rookie cop is investigating a murder that puts her own life in the cross-hairs. She will have to compromise her moral code to bring justice to this now lawless community.

In this gut-punch of a novel, the first in his Comet Cycle, Ben Percy lays bare how a modern-day gold rush has turned the middle of nowhere into the center of everything, and how one family—the Frontiers—hopes to control it all.

My Five-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     THE NINTH METAL checks a lot of boxes as it plays out. The first book in Benjamin Percy's Comet Cycle trilogy has the potential to be one of those cross-genre novels that attracts a broader audience, appealing to many who don't normally seek out this type of fare.

     There are elements of thrillers, science fiction, crime and politics, horror, action adventure, and sweeping family saga held together by Percy's skill at mixing them all together in an easy-reading and fast-paced epic. 

     Taking all of that into consideration, it's the family saga that kept me reading this and turning the pages. There is some great character development to be enjoyed in this novel, and more than enough characters for readers to empathize or root for one or more of them. 

     At the heart of THE NINTH METAL is a highly detailed saga of a powerful but dysfunctional family exerting its influence on a small Minnesota town. Generations of the Frontier family (ironic last name) built their company into a massive mining operation, invested and helped build up the surrounding community, and even helped support it through depression, recession and a drop-off in demand for their wares. Now, with the discovery of the vast potential hiding within the ninth metal (omni metal, residue deposited on Earth as it passes through a comet's trail), a new Gold Rush is about to begin. The Frontier family wants to lead the charge, but they have competition from unscrupulous sources (including the government). 

     The first novel details the changes in the once quiet community as a result: increased population, migration of workers, increased crime, corrupt police and politicians, organized crime - - but even more threatening internal squabbles, tension and back-stabbing within the family. It gets brutal. 

     Omni-metal provides a new source of power for mass transportation and other applications, including weapon development by the Department of Defense, as well as a spiritual aspect. A religious cult arises around the ninth metal, as disciples smoke and/or snort it for a mystical trip. 

My favorite character is John Frontier, the prodigal son who returns to the fold and gets quickly enmeshed in family business. He's done some regrettable things in his past, but desperately wants to make amends as many of his actions in the story reveal. His heart is in the right place. 

I'm interested in both his further development in the next book of the trilogy, as well as the changes in management for the Frontier family business as their involvement in omni-metal progresses.

     I received an advance review copy of this book through NetGalley and wrote this review voluntarily.