The star ship USSN Stagecoach runs regular trips to Earth's new colony planet Pandora. On this trip there are five individuals all with different reasons for going to Pandora. A young woman whose brother was murdered by a gangster and wants revenge, with her murdered brother's girlfriend; A successful gambler who wants new challenges and two young explorers who want to run adventure trips to the wild jungles of Pandora. They meet on Stagecoach and continue their friendship at their destination. But their lives become entangled in a complex series of dangerous events both on Pandora and on another alien planet.
The worldbuilding is good, the characters are fascinating, and the story kept me reading. Stagecoach has a high unnamed body count, but the characters that matter survive to a hopeful ending.