The Explorer cover art

The Explorer

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

The Explorer

By: James Smythe
Narrated by: Rich Keeble
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

A tense, claustrophobic and gripping science fiction thriller from the author of The Testimony.

When journalist Cormac Easton is selected to document the first manned mission into deep space, he dreams of securing his place in history as one of humanity’s great explorers.

But in space, nothing goes according to plan.

The crew wake from hypersleep to discover their captain dead in his allegedly fail-proof safety pod. They mourn, and Cormac sends a beautifully written eulogy back to Earth. The word from ground control is unequivocal: no matter what happens, the mission must continue.

But as the body count begins to rise, Cormac finds himself alone and spiralling towards his own inevitable death … unless he can do something to stop it.

©2013 James Smythe (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers Action & Adventure Genre Fiction Mystery Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Science Fiction Space Exploration Supernatural Thriller & Suspense Interstellar Fiction Paranormal Adventure

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Project Hail Mary cover art
The Year's Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction 10 cover art
Children of Time cover art
The Fifth Man cover art
The Deep Zone cover art
Honor Among Thieves cover art
First Meetings cover art
The Settlers cover art
The Lead Cloak cover art
From Darkest Skies cover art
Meeting Infinity cover art
Steal the Stars cover art
Broken: Foremid Saga cover art
Off Planet cover art
The Last 8 cover art
Stasis cover art

Critic reviews

‘It's like an episode of Star Trek written by JM Coetzee’ Guardian

‘The Explorer has the dreamlike detachment of an Ishiguro novel’ Financial Times

‘Beautifully written, creepy as hell. The Explorer is as clever in its unravelling as it is breathlessly claustrophobic’ Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls

‘As you marvel at this twist-laden deep-space exploration thriller, it’s hard not to draw comparisons with Duncan Jones’ film Moon’ Shortlist

‘A fascinating character study that could only exist in a science-fictional world’ io9.com

'The SF novel everyone should read' Foyles
All stars
Most relevant  
Far too long and incredibly boring. Hours of my life that I won't get back again. I only struck with it to find out the explanation and it turned out not to be worth it.

Tedious

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Initially placed this title on my list, though not 'next purchase?' status. Then - along came "The Echo" and I had second thoughts - that gestalt logic - you feel me? So - next credit: "The Explorer". My earlier reservations were ratified - unfortunately! First off you get a 'death-per-page' until it's just Cormac; then the weird thing happens; that's the high point I'm afraid - it's pretty much downhill from there; you then are treated to an ex----tended recap of everything you've just been swept through, though from a different point of view, PLUS other material from the pre-launch preparations - not especially illuminating... this entire story is essentially a foreword to "The Echo"; if you can take that then maybe Part 2 will have made Part 1 worth the trip. Watch that helmet seal lol

In space no one can hear you grind your teeth!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
First part of the book was really interesting, second part really let me down. It's one of the worst books I have ever read.

So so so disappointed

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Partly classic sci-fi, partly modern thriller. so refreshing to read (hear!) something unexpected in the genre. Great characters, superb pacing. Loved it. Very happy to know there is a sequel.

Exciting story that keeps you guessing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.