Cradle of Saturn

The author of Bug Park now offers an action-cum-romance-cum-disaster novel-cum-movie, with no tackiness. Some time in the future, when the world is not overrun with machines but machines keep everything running, science has stagnated at the pinnacle of its power. Landen Keene, of Earth, is a nuclear engineer struggling to push science out of its rut and to radically change the establishment's way of thinking. Some of his closest colleagues are people he has never met. They are Kronians, citizens of habitats orbiting Saturn's moons. The original Kronians left Earth a generation before to create a society where science is free of bureaucracy and where one's worth is based on how hard one works. After an Earth-sized asteroid is ejected from Jupiter, Keene and the Kronians present evidence that Venus, a troublingly youthful planet, is also an offshoot of Jupiter. The Terran establishment closes ranks and protects its stable solar system dogma. But as the asteroid's course shifts and it begins heading directly for Earth, panic settles in and Keene must decide whether to abandon his new love and escape to Saturn. The action throughout is dense, with no sentence wasted. Hogan's clearly explained scientific hypothesis presents intriguing questions, and his characters are real and likable. Though the sparse detailing renders the settings less than vivid, the suspenseful plot will keep readers strapped in for the ride. (June)