The Scientist A Monster's Resentment by Scott F. Jarvie

To his neighbors and his students Duncan is a mild-mannered, pushover of a science teacher. To the rest of the universe, he is The Scientist a genocidal maniac responsible for the destruction of multiple planets killing billions of people that has been exiled to Earth to put a stop to a galaxy-spanning war. While life on Earth isn't perfect he has his wife Tessa and that's all he can ask for. One afternoon he comes home to find Tessa murdered in their kitchen, the assassin waiting for him sure that he can kill this mild version of the Scientist. Little does the assassin know that he's just become the first victim in The Scientist's spree to avenge his wife. 

Space reads aren't usually my thing and that's fairly obvious if you look at my reading history. However, Scott was one of the first authors that followed me on Bluesky so I had to read his book. I'll definitely be reading more books about intergalactic war going forward!

Right off the bat, this feels like an Isekai, we've got an Alien Overlord residing on Earth in "retirement". He's changed his personality completely to keep up his disguise and in all honesty seems to be mostly happy. Which as the story goes on makes sense. It also makes it very hard to believe that this man could be responsible for the destruction of multiple planets. And to be fair even as we start learning more about the role The Scientist plays in this intergalactic war that his exile effectively puts a stop to it's still hard to believe. He's genuinely not a bad guy, he makes tough decisions that others won't make for the majority of his crimes and the rest he and his crew were framed for. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call him a hero, but, I'm not really willing to call him an anti-hero either, he's just a dude who happens to be super smart and got wrapped up in a mess. I truly enjoyed his character. 

In terms of side characters, I enjoyed all of them as well and given how this story plays out they had to be either enjoyable or you at least enjoyed hating them because what I loved the most about this book is that it's all about trying to figure out who the actual mastermind of this war is someone called The Strategist. They are a figure shrouded in so much mystery they are largely believed to have been made up by the powers that be as a scapegoat for the war. And of course, The Scientist and every single person in his crew are the top suspects when it comes to the identity of The Strategist. It's a truly brilliant way to introduce a mystery into this story especially the way it is done, Duncan/The Scientist reminds the reader just enough that literally anyone including him could be The Strategist that you even start becoming paranoid, every action a character takes is carefully scrutinized for duplicity which adds another layer to the story. And of course, the story ends with us not learning who the hell The Strategist is and heavy evidence pointing towards it being Duncan. 

Highly recommend this for a fun, edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting space mystery!!