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Second Contact [Mass Market Paperback]

Mike Resnick (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)


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Book Description

November 15, 1990

It looked like a no-brainer to defense attorney Major Maxwell Becker. A starship captain has gone a little crazy and killed two of his crewmen in cold blood. Just plead insanity, make sure they give his client a nice, comfortable, padded cell, and go skiing at Aspen.

But the captain refuses to cop an insanity plea. He insists that the two crew members he killed were not humans, but aliens. That's his story, and he's sticking by it. So Becker reluctantly goes through the motions of trying to prove his case—

—and suddenly his witnesses start getting transferred or disappearing, and when he finally finds one he realizes there are holes in his story… and suddenly Becker is running for his life, hunted by every branch of the military. He can't figure it out: he's a loyal officer, he's just doing his job as a military attorney, he's never broken a law, there are no aliens: so why does everybody want him dead?

Join Hugo- and Nebula-winning author Mike Resnick as he chronicles Becker's desperate attempt to learn the only thing that can save him: the truth.

"Few stories move any faster or capture the reader any more completely than does Second Contact." —Comic Buyers' Guide

"Veteran readers of science fiction are pretty hard to surprise, but Resnick's denoument in Second Contact is an almost-guaranteed eyebrow-lifter." —Cincinnati Post

"Resnick weaves a tight and well-paced SF murder mystery with a pleasingly logical yet unexpected resolution." —Publisher's Weekly

"Second Contact is one of those books you keep telling yourself you'll only read a portion of at a time, and then finish in a single sitting." —Science Fiction Chronicle

"Resnick is thought-provoking, imaginative, and above all, galactically grand." —Los Angeles Times

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the year 2065, Max Becker, lawyer and major in the U.S. Army, is ordered to defend Commander Wilbur Jennings, captain of the spaceship Roosevelt , against the charge of having murdered two of his crewmen. Jennings freely confesses that he killed two people, but says they were alien impersonators. He refuses to let Becker enter a plea of insanity, claiming that he is the innocent victim of a conspiracy. With the help of his computer-hacker friend Jaimiesp ok Nchobe, Becker tries to gather evidence to convince Jennings that he is wrong. In the process, Becker discovers that he himself is marked for extermination. Resnick (Santiago) weaves a tight and well paced SF murder mystery with a pleasingly logical, yet unexpected resolution.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Resnick skillfully weaves a story of intrigue and government coverup. Commander Jennings kills two of his starship crew members because he "feels" they are aliens. Lawyer Max Becker is assigned to what he feels is an open-and-shut case of temporary insanity. Then several attempts are made on Becker's life; witnesses disappear and the body count rises. While the characterization is superficial, readers will be pulled into this thought-provoking science-fiction thriller. --John Lawson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (November 15, 1990)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0812511131
  • ISBN-13: 978-0812511130
  • Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.9 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,006,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mike Resnick is the author of numerous science fiction novels and short stories, including Dragon America, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Amulet of Power, Mutiny, Return to Santiago, and Santiago. He is the editor of This Is My Funniest and has won five Hugo Awards and the Nebula Award. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

 

Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Second Contact: A Sci-Fi Mystery -- X-Files meets JAG, April 3, 2000
By 
Joe White (Layton, Utah United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Second Contact (Hardcover)
Second Contact by Mike Resnick is a wonderfully constructed futuristic mystery novel. The book focuses on a military lawyer who has to defend a starship commander. The commander is brought up on murder charges because he killed a fellow officer. The commander did this because he felt that the other officer was an alien. Well, things aren't what they seem. The lawyer starts investigating the case and, right away, he realizes that someone -- or something -- doesn't want the truth to be found. I won't tell you the ending but it is clever and quite shocking -- but intelligent.

While this novel may appear like the TV series the X-Files at first glance (it actually preceded that series by a few years), Resnick adds his unique sense of wry humor to the novel. This is refreshing because it seems that many authors take sci-fi too seriously or not seriously enough. Resnick has found the perfect balance.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A Fun and Fast Read, December 1, 2007
By 
Alex Camacho (Crosby, TX United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Second Contact (Mass Market Paperback)
I've always enjoyed Resnick's books and this was no exception. While I don't think it's in the catagory of some of his other titles like Paradise or A Miracle of Rare Design, it was a fun book all the same. The story is very enveloping and the writing is, as always, well done.
It's more of a mystery novel and I found myself staying up to find out what was going to happen next. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from cover to cover. Even the rather dated science of computer technology added an element to the story I really liked.
Not the top notch story Paradise was, but definitely a fun and fast book.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An Engaging Sci Fi Mystery - but dated, October 26, 2002
This review is from: Second Contact (Mass Market Paperback)
Second Contact is a hard to put down Sci Fi mystery. Military lawyer Maj Max Becker doesn't believe his client is sane when he claims that the two crewmembers he killed were aliens, but he will argue the defense that his client wants. Suddenly, though, witnesses begin to disappear, and Max begins to suspect that maybe something really is being covered up. With the help of a hard-nosed computer genius, Max is in a race to discover the truth before the two of them wind up dead.

I really enjoyed this book. I had trouble putting it down and was in a hurry to find out what really was going on. However the computer science Second Contact is terribly dated. The novel seems to have been published in 1990 before the internet took off. A major portion of the plot is uncovered by breaking into computer systems, but there is no mention of the internet. All access is achieved modems and the phone system. At one point they use the Library of Congress, "the biggest English language database in the world", whereas now the same research would have been done on the web. Although the novel is set in 2065, none of the computer technology used is beyond what exsisted in the late 80s except for some voice recognition. It doesn't take the enjoyment out of the read, but it makes it seem like a classic novel from the 50s and 60s where you ignore the flawed science.

Overall Second Contact is a very enjoyable, hard-to-put-down read, and I highly recommend it.

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