The initial premise of “Beyond Rejection” by Justin Leiber is pretty good. But then, maybe the use of the wrong homophone in the front cover, below-the-title blurb should’ve been a hint that no one put their A game into this novel.

I like the idea of the team of eccentrics who work at restoring or “implanting” a person’s “backup tape” into a fresh body after they die. There were good characters there. It’s a difficult, delicate job, and only people who are a bit weird have the knack for getting it right.

And the idea that in this case, the person being restored is being restored into a body that is far from a match of the original one they were born and raised in, so they really have to come to terms with the change if they’re going to go “beyond rejection” and live.

There’s some good material there.

Most of the second half of the novel, after the operation is done, turns into more of a clumsy, juvenile attempt at James Bond, with the main character and a side kick going on an adventurous investigation. Nothing about this was even remotely believable, and the silly puns on “Moby Dick” just made me groan some more.

The final twist at the end, goes some way towards redeeming the awfully poor adventure portion of the book.

Overall, it was a decent read for a few hours. Leiber could’ve done a better job of the second portion to keep it interesting, and still kept the ending twist. ( )