One part space opera of the old planetary-romance school and one part hard-boiled thriller, this final volume of Gotlieb's SF trilogy (after Flesh and Gold
and Violent Stars) showcases the Canadian poet's ability to use the constraints of these subgenres like rhyme schemes to structure her varied and rich material. To accommodate the large cast of characters both new and old, the narrative follows three strands. The pugilist Ned Gattes and the telepath and former prostitute Lorrice are both looking for work now that the arenas and brothels once run by the defunct interstellar crime syndicate, the Zamos Corporation, are closed on their planet. They find themselves, along with the alien legal scholar Hasso, caught up in a conspiracy of gangsters and foreign agents trying to fill the vacuum left by the fall of the evil Zamos empire. While the parallels to post-Communist Russia offer food for thought, the multiple points of view never satisfyingly converge. The ubiquitous ESP powers allow for some lyrical and evocative flights of mental imagery, as well as intriguing difficulties for the crime solvers that, alas, remain underexploited. (Since evidence obtained by mind reading is not legally admissible, characters may know whodunit, but be unable to prove it.) Likewise, the author never fully explores the possibilities for paranoia implicit in a conspiracy that can read your thoughts. Fans may be disappointed that the novel, which works better as space opera than thriller, doesn't transcend either genre as well as the previous two books in the series. (May 7)
FYI:An SF literary award has been named for Gotlieb's first novel,
Sunburst.
