Derelict for Trade

I’ll admit, I went into *Derelict for Trade* expecting a straightforward adventure—maybe some alien tech, a bit of derring-do, the usual Norton charm. What I got instead was a *heist novel in space*, where the score isn’t a vault but a gutted starship, and the crew’s biggest weapon isn’t a blaster but their collective wit. The first hour feels almost deceptively slow, like Norton’s lulling you into thinking this is just a ‘crew bonds over scraps’ story. Then the corporate saboteurs show up, and suddenly you’re knee-deep in a game of trade permits, forged manifests, and the kind of betrayals that make you hiss at your headphones. Menasche’s performance is *exceptional*, but not in a showy way. His voice for Jellico is weary but sharp, the kind of guy who’s seen every trick in the book and is still surprised when someone pulls a new one. The supporting cast—especially the slippery merchant Van Rycke—gets distinct, nuanced treatments that make the audiobook feel like a full-cast production. My only critique? The sound mixing occasionally drowns out quieter lines during the shipboard scenes; I found myself rewinding a few times when crew chatter blurred together. And while Norton’s trade-jargon adds authenticity, there’s a mid-book info-dump about guild regulations that drags. But these are quibbles. By the final act, when the crew’s gambling everything on a desperate play, I was gripping my phone like it was a lifeline. This isn’t just ‘vintage sci-fi’—it’s a *blueprint* for how to make salvage stories feel fresh, dangerous, and painfully human.