ALICIA II

by Robert Thurston ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 29, 1978

Voss Geraghty is a ""retread""--one of the elite who are transferred to new bodies at the end of their lifetimes. The prior tenant of his body, a ""reject"" not up to ""retread"" standards, was not at all happy about euthanasia at age 26. So Voss, all set for a lifetime of previously unsown wild oats, discovers that--thanks to his predecessor and an underground saboteur-surgeon--he is not only impotent but bereft of the slightest flutter of libido. After a brief career in planetary reconnaissance, he returns to Earth, now a hotbed of hostilities. Nearly everyone he knows is involved in some anti-retread, guerrilla activity. And Voss re-encounters the beautiful and contentious Alicia (a child during his last stay on Earth), who provides him with a new incentive to undertake a massive-sabotage mission in return for some strategic, surgical repair. Thurston, co-author of a novelization of the ""Battleship: Galactica"" TV series, doesn't recapture the stylistic poise of his better short stories. This effort is rather slickly and messily written, but excellent on just about every other count--provocative central premise, efficient plotting, spirited characterizations, and a more than appealing love story.

Pub Date: Nov. 29, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1978

Categories: FICTION