Detour

By Jeff Rake and Rob Hart
** Publication Date 13 January 2026 **
​4 stars




I love books that twist your brain in numerous ways. Rob Hart is a master of this, with his previous books such as Assassin’s Anonymous and The Paradox Hotel. Jeff Rake comes from an entertainment background with shows like Manifest. So it’s no wonder that this novel will rattle you.


John Ward is a billionaire. Richest man in the world. I could make parallels here, but I’ll refrain. Let’s just say he has all the money to do pretty much whatever he wants, and own both people and property. He’s currently working on a mission to send humans to Titan, a moon of Saturn. The earth is dying. Humans need a backup plan. Titan is Ward’s backup plan.


Ward has created a ship that very much resembles the ship from the movie The Martian. A ship that will house the astronauts as they live and work in space on their way to the far reaches. It travels much faster than any other ship in history, getting the astronauts there in a year and back in a year. 


The people chosen for this mission are three stellar and experienced astronauts - Mike, Della, and Alonso. The remaining three are an astrophysicist, Padma, who was the one originally credited with finding Titan more hospitable than Mars; Stitch, a graffiti artist with a Mensa brain who was chosen by lottery; and Ryan Crane, who saved Ward’s life. These six people will have to navigate their way through space and time to drop a satellite in Titan’s orbit before another mission heads there in a few years.


While the astronauts train and become a cohesive unit, Ward has his own goings on. He is running for president. Of course he has skeletons. And out there is a man named Lerner that has some suppositions of his own about this journey to space.


This was the first book of a series, as it does end with ‘to be continued.’ While I would have loved to wrap this wild tale up at the end of one book, more than one will certainly do it way more justice. The first part of the book really just gives us insight into the lives of these six humans prior to the space expedition. Each one has their own messed up lives, so we get to know all about them. And Ward. But then you hit the time in space and after, and it then gets really interesting. 


Fans of sci-fi and concepts of multiple or alternate universes will love this one. If you enjoyed any of Hart’s previous novels, this one follows a similar pattern of chaos, keeping you on the edge of your seat.


Cannot wait for the next installment.