Laurence James's intergalactic hero isn't particularly compelling, which probably explains why this never became the long-running series the publishers were presumably hoping for. ( )

I bought this book as a collector of Bruce Pennington cover art, of which this is a nice example, though not one of his very best. That said, it is a piece of art that was clearly commisioned for the book as it does an excellent job of portraying a scene from the early part of the story: sometimes with Pennington's art, particularly later into the '80s and '90s, his work was slapped onto the cover of a book with no apparent (to me) connection between cover art and story.

So, having not bought the book for the contents and picking it up off my bookshelf at random as I was rushing out (a case of poor book-succession planning), I had no expectations of a great read, in which I was not disappointed: this is an OK read.

It's a far-future tale with humans having colonised at least a part of the galaxy, and with earth now a backwater whose civilisation has descended into medieval feudalism for the most part, with a techno-aristocracy ruling over the peasant masses through a combination of religious and military oppression. Against this background, the offices of the galactic law-enforcement agency hears rumours of a conspiracy on old earth to foment war and rebellion, which efforts are to be quashed by the hero of the piece, Simon Rack. He's a typically handsome, charismatic hard-case who just won't play by the rules, but whose skills make him useful when dirty work needs doing. With the obligatory wise-cracking, pug-ugly side-kick, Rack is dispatched to earth to infiltrate the mysterious cabal of conspirators, a mission he is happy to take on as it provides the opportunity for him to play out a revenge plot against the heinous villains who killed his family (no spoiler - this happens in the first few pages).

For an OK cover design and an OK story, this was a fun-enough diversion to while away a couple of hours. I wouldn't feel compelled to get any of the other books in the series in order to follow Rack's further adventures, except that it looks like Pennington's covers for the next two are actually pretty neat! ( )