Quest for Tomorrow: Delta Search

The kickoff of Shatner's third SF series (after Tek and Man of War) is, according to the publisher, aimed to promote ""scientific literacy and a love of reading."" The novel certainly promotes the revival of the Heinlein-style juvenile, with a few contemporary themes (e.g., sex) added to the pulpy mix. In the 22nd century, young Jim Endicott finds himself a fugitive because his DNA carries information about combining human minds into a gigantic organic computer intended to help humanity compete with its superior, and alien, neighbors. The pursuit of Jim by Delta, Jim's biological father and head of the Combined Intelligence Agencies, is violent, costing the lives of Jim's biological mother and foster father, and eventually bringing Jim back to Earth. There, he is turned into a walking bomb in order to bring down Delta, who invented the group-mind technique. Delta broke with Jim's mother over the invention and has used an inferior version ever since, creating mass psychosis among Earth's unemployed. At the end of the novel, the aliens continue to surround humanity, reason enough for the next book in the series. With gritty realism and computers, high-tech weaponry, spectacular action scenes and breakneck pacing through which familiar characters scurry, this novel essentially combines Star Wars and cyberpunk in the Heinlein-juvenile framework. It's entertaining but too often gives whiffs of old (too old) wine poured into a new bottle. (Feb.)