The Ganymede Club

Sheffield returns to the future of Cold as Ice, here using the aftermath of the solar system-wide Great War of 2067 as backdrop for a science-fiction mystery. Lola Belman is a haldane: she uses a mixture of computer technology and drugs to treat clients' psychological problems. She lives on, or rather in, the Jovian moon Ganymede with her precocious teenage brother, Spook, who is just beginning to make a name for himself on the cyberspace Puzzle Network. Spook soon meets another teenage Master of the Net (seen in Cold as Ice): Megachirops, or Bat, a fat, poorly socialized but brilliant hacker. The mystery at first concerns Lola's client Bryce Sonnenberg, who has memories of places he has never been and whose account of himself and his family differs markedly from what Lola finds in the census records. But more is involved, and soon not only Bryce but also Lola, Spook and Bat are in danger. The characters, generally interesting and likable, credibly use their various skills to save themselves and unravel level after level of secrets. Sheffield provides a rich and satisfying history, including time lines of human colonization of the solar system and the subsequent disputes leading up to the Great War, and his world-building always works with the plot, never overpowering it. (Dec.)