ALPHA BUG

by M.E. Morris ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1986

No, not a biological warfare yarn, but a simple minded, highly improbable thriller involving contending US and USSR space shuttles. Suddenly, a new piece of technology appears in the sky: a Russian ""space-plane,"" with unprecedented maneuverability, Stealth radar-baffling outline, and a variety of beam-weapons. The Joint Chiefs of Staff demand to know what the Alpha Bug is. So the CIA, needing a one-eyed, Russian-speaking ex-astronaut, recall Joe Dover; he's fitted with a camera in his empty eye socket and dispatched posthaste to Russia. After various routine evasions involving inept Russians and a comic-book sadistic KGB colonel, Dover arrives at the Alpha Bug factory--to find dozens of specimens ready to fly; enough, in fact, to swamp US Star Wars defenses and thwart any ICMB attack. Dover takes his pictures, is captured, escapes with ludicrous ease, downs a couple of Russian interceptors, and arrives safely back in the US with the precious photographs. By happy coincidence, however, the pilot of the first Alpha Bug has suffered a fatal stroke; even more fortuitous, he's occupying the same orbit as that taken by the US space shuttle, and has cut himself off from Russian ground control. So Dover goes into space again, stands off some more Russians in another Alpha Bug bent on rescuing their comrade, takes over the incapacitated Alpha Bug and brings it home to the grateful applause of the CIA, Joint Chiefs, NASA, etc. Slick and silly.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Presidio

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1986

Categories: FICTION