Tek Vengeance

In this latest entry (after TekLab ) in the hard-boiled 21st-century mystery series by the well-known Star Trek actor, PI Jake Cardigan is lured to Brazil on a phony case, leaving his fiancee unprotected as she waits to testify against the TekLords, a group of international crime czars. Her murder brings Jake back to California to exact revenge and protect his son, who is the TekLords' next target. Cardboard characters spouting would-be clever dialogue do nothing to disguise the fact that the novel is woefully short on action and totally lacking a sense of danger or tension. Save for a few androids and laser guns scattered here and there, the setting could as easily be 1920 as 2020. The series, which had a spark of sorts at first, has definitely lost it by now. ( Jan. )