ISBN: 0-425-04664-8 Order from: Amazon.com
An improbable, but occasionally quite funny satire of spies, paranoid generals, telepaths and swashbuckling charlatans.
Reviewed by David on June 24, 2000
Genre: Science Fiction (ESP, Conspiracy, Intrigue, Humor, Near Future)
Synopsis: In the future, the technology has rendered one large large portion of the US population unemployed and another desperately seeking enlightenment in cults. The slowly shrinking majority of normal taxpayers are proudly, and sometimes fearfully, contemptuous of their welfared brethren, and a number of admirals are exceedingly paranoid while the navy becomes increasingly irrelevant in the age of space-based weapons.
The young Lietenant Burrows, USN, is sadly disappointed in his romantic dreams of space exploration. However, he finds plenty of excitement when an emaciated, drugged girl is found in a hotel room next to a top-secret meeting of the admiralty. Asked to investigate the threat of potential telepathic espionage, Robert Burrows has to fight his own disbelief of extra-sensory perception.
However, both the cults promising astral enlightenment, and several undercover agencies—including some in his own armed service—are deadly serious. Robert, and his disreputable allies are facing a plot which may plunge the world into disaster.
Full Review: A light, satirical romp, this novels pokes fun at most of the modern conventions, in a world which is very similar to our own. Substituting an unlikely hero, it has the hallmark of Kurland's writing: sympathetic characters, superficial and quickly-moving plot, baudiness and heroism by force of circumstance.
Superficial but pleasant, this book provides a couple of hours of cliche-destroying diversion.
Overall: 5.5; Plot: 4.5; Characters: 5.5; Style: 6; World-building: 5.5; Originality: 6;
Copyright date 1980, Berkley Publishing Group (Berkley), September 1980, Mass market paperback, 184 pages
ISBN: 0-425-04664-8 Order from: Amazon.com