SAABRINA

In Cohen’s SF novel, a corporate executive becomes a guardian of the planet Earth, assisted by a shape-shifting sentient robot who commonly takes the form of a snazzy Saab car.

Bob Foxen is a middle-aged New Jersey widower, father, and observant Jew whose lifelong career in corporate finance has brought him little personal or professional fulfillment, due to his ethical nature. His old buddy Eddiereveals an amazing secret: He is actually a “Sentinel” for the United Star Systems, ensuring Earth’s safety in a hostile universe. Eddie, needing a break, lets Bob take the wheel for a few days. The wheel in question belongs to Eddie’s partner, a jet-black Saab car, Saabrina. The vehicle is actually a transforming robot and transdimensional spaceship—virtually indestructible, powerfully weaponized, and equipped with a female personality. Bob’s first job for the USS is an alien diplomatic-trade mission. It succeeds (thanks to Bob's MBA training), and Bob earns permanent employment as a Sentinel—but Saabrina has had her AI heart broken before, when a previous Sentinel partner did not survive the perils of the job. In this series opener, the author wisely takes few cues from the fondly remembered but cheesy Knightridertalking-car television show of the 1980s and instead follows the road signs set by the BBC’s long-running Doctor Whoprogram, one of many SF reference points for the novel (like the doctor’s TARDIS craft, Saabrina is bigger on the inside than on the outside, with “epic trunk room”). Cohen’s aliens, imperial military men and aristocratic types, sometimes with purple skin and horns, have a British flavor (“Austin pronounces the name with a deep, authoritative voice, almost Shakespearian in its timbre. The English-like accent helps”). The hero’s ethnic identity provides some avenues of humor, though Cohen never goes the full Mel Brooks route. The action-packed climax is pure Marvel Cinematic Universe (another stated inspiration) spectacle.

The pleasingly escapist adventures of an ordinary dad and his friendly alien robot supercar; not as campy as it sounds.