Jack the Bodiless

May's newest series, following from her two Intervention titles, begins by combining galactic-scale intrigue with the smaller but no less turbulent affairs of the powerful Remillard family. In the mid-21st century, earth's humanity, led by the mentally gifted Remillards, is awaiting acceptance into the vast Galactic Milieu, a political and telepathic alliance of alien races. But some beings on earth, even some among the Remillard clan, are wary of the aliens. At this delicate juncture, Teresa, wife of clan leader Paul Remillard, conceives a child who promises to be the most powerful mental talent ever, but whose genetic defects condemn him to death under Milieu law. Meanwhile, a demonic force calling itself Fury has begun to kill off Remillards and others with ``metapsychic'' powers, creating a chaos that threatens to delay humanity's admission to the Milieu. The plot is engaging and May's prose adequate to it, but the story is marred by its unbroken focus on elites, with no attention paid to ordinary people, and by its aliens, who seem too much like humans. Literary Guild's Science Fiction Book Club selection. (Jan.)