Too much mil-SF and not enough coast-guard I think. It's not quite clear how much the US CGfolks face this dilemma, but the CG I know is very much the fourth rescue service rather than the 5th arm of the military, and so the emphasis always seemed slightly wrong.

There's also a lot of abbreviations regarding ranks and chains of command etc. and whilst this isn't totally clear it is mostly either irrelevant or becomes apparent as necessary. Our heroine is in charge of a rescue team on the moon, but chinese aggression is leading to increased hostilities and the military (where her husband serves) see it as their turf. When she fail to save him, she returns to earth to teach new recruits - after all the oceans are still a hazard. However politics calls and she's seen as an expendable asset to perhaps force the military to leave the rescuing to the professionals. Once again tensions with the chinese ratchet upwards and the military won't leave things alone.

Perhaps the least believable aspect is the dedicated assistant who despite having family ties of his own follows the captain wherever she goes. The coastguard setting never really made sense and seemed forced, given that most of the plot is actual military conflict. Mostly well enough written with a good balance of characters and ties outside of the direct plot, but enough inconsistencies remained to nto be interested in any further works. ( )

Entertaining, fast paced space 'cop vs military' novel. Action packed, funny at times, absolutely well made, well written. 4 stars for this part.

The story, on the other hand: hitting nearly all the cliches one can expect from this kind of story. No depth, flat characters matching old stereotypes, predictable storyline by someone clearly fascinated by authority. 1 star for this part.

In short: quite entertaining pulp fiction. ( )

http://www.susanhatedliterature.net/2020/04/sixteenth-watch/ ( )

Great read. Interesting characters, extremely plausible setting, and a story that doesn't let up. Really enjoyed it, and I think there needs to be more MilSF about preventing wars. ( )

A blog post by Myke Cole interested me enough to purchase and read this novel about the Coast Guard in outer space. I've read some military science fiction but much of it seems to be a transfer of ground combat to alien worlds or naval battles in outer space. Cole thought a lot about the Coast Guard, which is the often unrecognized fifth branch of the U.S. military, whose responsibilities include search-and-rescue, law enforcement and interdiction of smugglers and other bad guys. How many Coast Guard novels have you read? This one is a page turner and fortunately, the first of a trilogy; set in lunar space and on the moon itself, its characters are both stereotypical and interestingly different individuals. ( )