Dark Run by Mike Brooks

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Space Opera
Content: Strong Language, Sexual Situations


The Keiko is a ship of smugglers, soldiers of fortune, and adventurers travelling Earth’s colony planets searching for the next job. And they never talk about their past—until now.

Captain Ichabod Drift is being blackmailed. He has to deliver a special cargo to Earth, and no one can know they’re there. It’s what they call a dark run…And it may be their last.


Dark Run is a fun space opera. It definitely reminded me of Firefly and also a little bit of Retribution Falls, even though that book falls under the steampunk category, it has the same feel with its motley crew of characters who all have secrets. This feels lighter though, and it was a really fast paced, easy read. I do wish there had been a bit more depth to the plot. The motivation behind the blackmail job was a little lame, and I could have done with more danger in a couple of situations the crew found themselves in -it all seemed a little too easy. I honestly feel like this is one of those books where you just have to go with it and enjoy it for what it is.

The story is wrapped up completely in this book, so you could read it as a stand-alone. I liked this enough that I will probably continue on to the next book in the series.