THE BRIGHT HIGHWAY

In Crawford’s military SF novel, a new assignment pits a man and his team against aliens invading Earth.

Emmett Hayes is no longer fully human, because his suit, which uses alien technology, is not just a uniform—it’s a part of his body. As a member of a group sometimes referred to as “skinners,” he’s essentially wearing skin that gives him enhanced senses, healing, and brain power, which makes him practically superhuman. However, it makes the other people on his team distrust and outright dislike him. Formerly assigned to Orbital Patrol as a gunner, his new assignment brings him back to Earth, where he must readjust to the strangeness of being on land again. As part of Captain Uba’s new Zero X program, Emmett will work with his teammates to hunt down alien “reachers” that have come to Earth. Emmett is seen as a sort of “reacher radar,” due to the fact that his suit uses reacher tech. Indeed, his skin isn’t synthetic, but symbiotic, and Emmett can sometimes hear it whispering to him—helping him out during battles and waking him from his daydreams. As he and his team continue to be sent out on assignments, getting the nickname “Reacher Hunters,” he begins to learn more about these creatures, and their motivations, than he ever wanted to know. Over the course of this novel, Crawford pens a classic tale of us-versus-them, with the hero set firmly on the boundary between the two. As with a lot of classic SF, this work expects the reader to go with the flow right from the first few pages, setting the tone by mentioning several terms (such as wetgen band and Ret-tag) that are never clearly defined. Also, the symbiotic relationship that Emmett has with his skin takes some time to become clear, as well. That said, for SF readers who long for something different—something escapist, in which Earth itself feels strange and unfamiliar—this will be an intriguing read.

A dense but often engrossing tale of a man torn between two worlds.