Celestial Lights

Pin’s introspective sophomore effort (after Wandering Souls) follows a British astronaut’s 10-year-long expedition to one of the moons of Jupiter. Socially awkward Ollie Ines, commander of the privately funded trip, begins his narration with the events of his life leading up to the voyage. Born in a small English village on the day of the Challenger disaster in 1986, Ollie earns a degree in engineering and spends years in the British Navy before accepting the mission and leaving his wife and young son at home. Pin handles the scientific details with a light touch, devoting much of the narrative to themes of memory and regret. Early on, one of Ollie’s professors points out that he has a certain ruthlessness, “the—rather regrettable—ability to go forward in life, no matter the cost.” While Ollie’s ever-supportive family, friends, and lovers come across as too good to be true, Pin adds more depth to Ollie’s moral quandaries on the voyage, during which he pushes the crew through one disaster after another and considers the consequences of reaching a point of no return (“There’s nothing left for you down there, is there?” an inner voice asks him. “Why don’t you stay here?”). It’s a chilling portrait of the cost of ambition. (Mar.)