Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey--pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck--really scratched the itch I was having for an epic, sci-fi adventure.  I described it has hard sci-fi to someone while I was reading it, but the authors call it "working man sci-fi" in an interview in the back of the book.  What they mean is that the focus of the book is on the characters and not the science.  I like that.

In the novel, humans have colonized Mars, the Moon, and space stations built into asteroids collectively referred to as the Belt.  There are two main point-of-view characters:  Jim Holden, XO of an ice miner, and Detective Miller, a cop on the space station Ceres.  Holden and his crew answer the call of ship a in need only to find out that it's a trap.  His ship is destroyed, but he survives in a smaller vessel.  The encounter leaves Holden with information that could start a war between Mars and the Belt.  Meanwhile, Miller is looking for a girl, and his search gets him mixed up with Holden.

Leviathan Wakes has great characters, smart action and an intriguing plot.  There's also an ongoing debate about whether the open exchange of information is a good or a bad thing, which I thought added a lot to the novel.  One thing I didn't like, though, were the horror elements that are introduced about 3/4 of the way into the story (ask me about it if you're curious).  One final thing:  The novel has a Firefly vibe going for it.  If that doesn't get you interested, then I don't know what will.