I got impatient waiting for the second Alien Nation novel to arrive via paperbackswap, so I skipped directly to the third volume in the series, Body and Soul, written by Peter David.I'm familiar with David's writing through his Star Trek: New Frontier novels, as well as through his involvement in the kid's television series Space Cases. He's a known quantity, and his writing is appropriately solid here. His prose, though not quite as mature-feeling as the Reese-Stevens', who wrote the first Alien Nation novel, is efficient. It does its job well, though he relies a bit too heavily on cliches . . . and ellipses.The plot is very close to its eventual made-for-TV movie adaptation. There are a few scenes that didn't make the transition to the small screen, much of it sexual content, but also a few scenes relating to the Francisco kids that were really quite nice. David doesn't break any new ground here. This is typical licensed fare, a fast and engaging, if not particularly satisfying or challenging read. ( )