Necroscope: The Touch

British author Lumley's first Necroscope novel since Necroscope IV: Deadspeak (2001) introduces a new hero, Scott St. John, who, like his late predecessor, Harry Keough, is able to talk to the dead and travel anywhere via Moebius strip. Scott becomes a spy in the E-Branch of the British Secret Service, joining, among others, a future-foretelling precog, a mind-reading telepath and a spotter who can detect persons with ESP. When a government official suffers "evagination" (in effect, he's turned inside out like a glove), Scott and crew wind up on a mission to prevent a psychically gifted race, the Shing't, from destroying the Earth. The spirit of Scott's recently deceased wife permits him to dally with an extraterrestrial beauty, Shania, as well as, however implausibly, a shaggy female wolf. Billed as horror, this unpretentious SF adventure provides plenty of fun in the classic pulp tradition. (June)