When I start reading a science fiction story, I expect it to lead me to a world with new technologies and to exceptional characters who dare to face the unknown and are able to cope with the unexpected. The main characters in Steve Lazarowitz's short novel, Confronting The Void must do exactly that, gaining experiences previously unknown to human beings along the way.

The most important character in the story is Major Jack McDaniels, a psychologist who is taken away from his home by secret agents without any explanation, without even a chance to talk to his wife before leaving. He is sent to a human colony on the Moon to find a friend who does not want to be found. He is expected to find him using the psychic bond they used to share, and he has no other option than to try. Jack finds out that his friend, Brandon Alexander is one of the survivors of a top-secret experiment, testing a new spaceship drive. After entering the mysterious Void, the crew's behavior altered radically, and the government wants Jack to find out why.

As Jack has to ask himself where the border is between reality and the work of his imagination, Lazarowitz also makes the reader wonder about life and death, the possible and impossible, and the nature of human relationships. As for the latter, the author is an expert in that and the reader can easily identify with the characters. The story is well written and adventurous.

Confronting The Void by Steve Lazarowitz starts as a science-fiction adventure with mystery elements, but turns out to be much more than that, a journey to the depth of the human psyche. Well worth reading.

Reviewed By Ilona Hegedus
© February 2006