Good Reads meta-data is 380 pages, rated 4.16 by 6029 cinematizens.
Genre: SciFi; Species: Hard.
DNA: NASA.
Verdict: SETI, indeed.
Tagline: Less can be more.
Dr Bored missed a place among the astronauts and now monitors satellite data from distant and demoted Pluto, when…. Something happens that makes no sense. The titular object appears and does not behave according to the laws of physics legislated by the Solar System. Are the Plutocrats up to something? Someone is going to have pull it over and give it a traffic citation. Who better than the first to see it.
That narrative is interrupted, deflected, and slowed by backstories, sidestories, understories, and overstories, which all too often crowd out the front story. On the plus side, there are no cardboard villains gumming up the works as plot devices. Those who are unenthusiastic about Dr Bored’s mission have reasons which are fully explored.
There is a lot of trip and then the Arrival. Remember Encounter at Farpoint?
P.S. ‘Hard’ means lots of STEM-speak. Lots. None of it contributes to plot or character and all of it was lost on me. One has been warned.