title: The Dead Survivors: A Mars Bahr Mystery
author: Kj Erickson
description: A disappointing follow-up to a promising debut (2001's Third Person Singular), this second novel featuring Minneapolis Special Detective Marshall "Mars" Bahr stumbles in ways mystery fans do not easily forgive: a meandering plot, a too-obvious killer and a limp rendering of what should have been a riveting investigation. Bahr, the head of the elite First Response homicide unit, takes on a case that appears to be a cut-and-dried suicide, except for a 13-digit number written on the dead man's arm. Then other "suicides" begin showing up, all bearing the same number. Gradually, it becomes clear that someone is targeting descendants of a famed Minnesota Civil War regiment, and dozens of volunteer genealogists work furiously to track them down. The real source of tension here is this race against the clock, but it is curiously tame and leaves readers unsatisfied. More satisfying is the very appealing relationship between Bahr, a divorced father, and his young son. The only true source of warmth in the book, as it is in Bahr's life, their time together is a joy to witness. One utterly charming scene between father and son about the birds and the bees almost makes up for the many gratuitous scenes throughout that add nothing and go nowhere but not quite. Erickson's obvious strengths make the flaws all the more apparent by contrast, and leave us longing for a more polished work next time. <br />Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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  ## Chapter 1
  
  
  ****
  
  
  **LOG ENTRY: SOL 6**
  
  
  
  
  
  I’m pretty much fucked.
  
  
  That’s my considered opinion.
  
  
  Fucked.
  
  
  Six days in to what should be a greatest two months of my life, and it’s
  turned in to a nightmare.
  
  
  I don’t even know who’l read this. I guess someone wil find it eventualy.
  Maybe a hundred years from now.
  
  
  For the record… I didn’t die on Sol 6. Certainly the rest of the crew thought
  I did, and I can’t blame them. Maybe there’l be a day of
  
  
  national mourning for me, and my Wikipedia page wil say “Mark Watney is the
  only human being to have died on Mars.”
  
  
  And it’l be right, probably. Cause I’l surely die here. Just not on Sol 6 when
  everyone thinks I did.
  
  
  Let’s see… where do I begin?
  
  
  The Ares program. Mankind reaching out to Mars to send people to another
  planet for the very first time and expand the horizons of
  
  
  humanity blah, blah, blah. The Ares 1 crew did their thing and came back
  heroes. They got the parades and fame and love of the w