This is the second book in Fredrick Pohl's "Gateway" series.
In this universe mankind has discovered an alien artifact full of ships that they can't figure out how to steer. People volunteer for missions where they ride the ships out and back. They have no idea how long they'll be gone or if they'll survive. But if they find something of value they'll get a reward and a percentage of any money generated from that tech.
Robin Broadhead is one of the richest people ever and the principle owner of the Gateway Corporation. He discovered some terribly profitable tech on a mission. Alas, his wife and the rest of the team didn't return with him. His wife is still stuck inside the event horizon of a black hole. He remarried but still wants to save her or at least apologize for leaving her.
Another alien artifact has been discovered in the Solar System's Oort Cloud (an area about a light year out from the sun that all comets are thought to originate from). A family is sent out in a slow moving Earth ship to investigate. After many years they get there to find that it's a ship for mining comet material to make food for the aliens. There's a teenage boy on board whose mother came there in a Gateway ship and gave birth but never returned. Plus there's some primitive creatures living in one section that seem to kidnap and torture people.
This book follows both stories. It's on par with the first and sixth books in the series but you might want to read "Gateway" first.
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