TRACKING TERRA

In the second installment of Scott’s (Shades of Truth, 2007) sci-fi trilogy, an undercover guardian of the human race dodges bullets in Arizona and Peru and passes through dimensional gates of space-time.

Sara Alessa Giustino was born in 16th-century Italy but retains her youth and vigor five centuries later thanks to childhood mentoring and a few physical alterations by a “cosmic alien” from Andromeda named Kryios. Sara has a mission to protect the planet’s biosphere and the humans within it, because Earth turns out to be a valuable piece of real estate in the universe. After finishing an assignment to destroy an alien lab, Sara receives an anonymous note warning of a billion-dollar price on her head and urging her to visit an Arizona man named David. She finds him in Sedona, along with other shady characters in a covert group centered on finding the Urstar, a hidden alien artifact of immense power. Sara and David, just a few steps ahead of pursuers, soon travel to mystic gates in North and South America. While this novel has all the elements for a trendy paranormal romance, the author opts instead for a lean, matter-of-fact action thriller, complete with car chases and hostage takings. Along the way, Sara passes through different realms of consciousness and existence, tours far-future cities and underground complexes, and even undergoes a Doctor Who–style regeneration. The book’s dizzying cosmology embraces UFOs, Area 51, black holes, moon-landing coverups, astrology, reincarnation, pyramid power, the Bermuda Triangle, crystals, chakras, karma and the fifth dimension. Fortunately, it’s all delivered with a light, brisk touch of pure pulp fantasy.

A transcendent sci-fi beach read.