Waypoint Kangaroo

Waypoint Kangaroo by Curtis C. Chen, 312 pages

Interstellar spy Kangaroo has just come off a rough mission when his boss sends him on a mandatory vacation aboard the Dejah Thoris, an Earth-to-Mars cruise ship. While Kangaroo attempts to adjust to the round-the-clock buffets and activity schedule, it becomes apparent that something is afoot aboard the Dejah Thoris, and since he's having such a hard time being on vacation, Kangaroo begins meddling, offering up his high-tech physical enhancements and his wormhole-like "pocket" superpower to help out, while still attempting to stay undercover.

In his debut novel, Chen has created a space caper that's fun, action-packed, and filled with a diverse cast of characters led by the wise-cracking Kangaroo. I will admit that some thing that I kept expecting to have happen DIDN'T, which I guess says something about Chen's ability to fool me (though I'll also note that my expectation was for a particular character to be a bit less two-dimensional, so I'm not entirely pleased with Chen's plot deke). Overall, I enjoyed the book, and I'll definitely be picking up the second volume, Kangaroo Too, which came out this summer.