2020 SF. The two top-ranked new Interplanetary Marshals go to Delta
sector, where crime is out of control…
Though from the setup I was expecting something of a picaresque
exposition of an Old-West-in-space series of frontier worlds, this
book (intended as the first of a series, though others haven't
appeared) is mostly confined to the sector's headquarters
station—which is quite sufficiently infested with criminals and
trators.
Sadly, the overarching plot (who is the traitor at headquarters?) was
a bit of a let-down for me, as there are two people it could be and
from there it's pretty easy to work out. (Still I am a regular mystery
reader and very used to this type of problem.)
On the other hand there's a lot of fun to be had on the way. Morcos
has to content with subordinates of dubious loyalty, a smuggler who's
not a bad person honest, and other crriminals who are happy to keep
smiling and cooperating right up till the hammer comes down. She
spends most of this book trying to trace back an act of sabotage, even
as witnesses start being blatantly murdered. This is solid two-fisted
action even if most of the fighting is done with stunners and the
occasional laser pistol.
The proofing is very rough, with the sort of error that would be
caught by a standard spellcheck, repeated words in paragraphs, and
even some misspelled names. I know a lot of books are like this now,
even those from supposedly professional publishers, and there was
nothing bad enough to throw me out of immersion, but it seems a shame.
I'd like to read more about these people.
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