Tek-war [Paperback]

William Shatner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 22, 1990

A futuristic novel by Star Trek's Captain Kirk. Jake Cardigan, a one-time high-flying policeman, is released from the Freezer many years before his term was up, to help track down a famous scientist and his daughter. Cardigan finds himself in the middle of a full-blown war.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his first novel, Shatner delivers a hard-boiled private eye story set against a science-fiction background. The erstwhile "Captain Kirk" of Star Trek fame takes us to the 22nd century where many of the technical trappings of society have changed drastically, but politics and attitudes remain the same. Some of Shatner's projections are likely (newspapers and magazines published by fax), some are improbable (androids so human-like that most people can't tell the difference) and some are the same old thing (a missing scientist with the standard-issue beautiful daughter). Ex-cop Jake Cardigan has been sentenced to 15 years in a controlled coma on an orbiting penal colony after being framed for dealing "Tek," an addictive, computerized mind-altering drug. Mysteriously released after only four years, he is hired by a detective agency to find the missing scientist, a task involving a trip to a Mexico torn by civil war to question his former lover, the beautiful rebel leader known as "Warbride." Accompanied by an android of the scientist's missing daughter and torn by the growing evidence that his ex-wife is involved not only in the present case but also his framing, Cardigan fends off attacks by maniacal cyborgs and other futuristic menances. While the writing is awkward in spots, the pace is unrelenting.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

An ex-policeman caught in the schemes of drug lords, unscrupulous businessmen, and his one-time allies turns private detective to track down a missing scientist whose invention could win the war against the insidious computerized drug known as "Tek." Set in a futuristic, high-tech world of robots, androids, and designer drugs, this first novel by Shatner (better known as Star Trek 's Captain Kirk) should appeal to most fans of fast-paced sf action-adventure.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Books (Transworld Publishers a division of the Random House Group) (February 22, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0593018834
• ISBN-13: 978-0593018835
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,119,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than I expected, January 20, 2005

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Tek War (Hardcover)

Tek is the newest illegal and most addictive drug. It is electronic in nature, generating a false reality to match whatever you desire. To use it, a headset is placed on your head and a disk containing the experience is placed in the player. I imagine it would be much like the Apple iPod or Sony Walkman. Jake Cardigan is a former police officer who was convicted of dealing in Tek and sentenced to a fifteen-year sentence to be spent in a suspended sleep state on a satellite of Earth. However, he is granted a parole after only four years, awakened and sent back to earth. His wife has divorced him and taken his son to an undisclosed location.

Jake is hired by the Cosmos Detective Agency and reunited with Sid Gomez, also a former officer. They set out looking for a professor and his daughter. The professor has been working on a device that could destroy all Tek disks in the world, and since Tek is big business, the ruthless drug lords are trying to prevent him from developing the device. Robots and androids are prevalent in the society, and some of the androids are so sophisticated, they can pass for human.

Cardigan is persistent, traveling down to Mexico to be reunited with the leader of a rebel army, who is also his former lover. He avoids several assassination attempts, even managing to fend off three animated bulls who try to kill him. Eventually, he learns that his ex-wife and her boss were the ringleaders of his being framed, but he manages to find the professor and then his daughter. During his adventure, he meets an android copy of the professor's daughter and develops feelings for her. However, the android is destroyed when she saves him from being destroyed by a kamikaze, which is an android that seeks out a person and then explodes, killing them.

While this story is not the highest quality science fiction in terms of style, there is a great deal of originality. The Tek drug is somewhat original and certainly reminds you of the mindless quality of people with a Walkman on their head. The kamikaze android and some of the other aspects of the robots and androids show some originality. I enjoyed the story, reading it in a single sitting. Clearly, from the structure of the story, it was designed to be the first in a series.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad effort from Captain Kirk, June 27, 2004

By 

... "vilbs" (Montreal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tek War (Hardcover)

William Shatner, best known as Star Trek's Captain Kirk, provides his first literary effort here in Tekwar, and truth be told he does a pretty good job. This isn't an amazing novel, or a particularly deep one, but it's a fast paced story with lots of great action set in, shocker of all shockers, the future.

Jake Cardigan, detective extraordinaire, is jailed after being framed for dealing the mind altering drug known as Tek. Four years later, long before his sentence has expired, he is released from stasis/prison under mysterious circumstances. The terms of his parole entail his going back to work searching for a missing scientist and his beautiful daughter, with all sorts of adventure and mishaps along the way.

Sometimes silly, but totally filled with action, Tekwar is a solid first effort from a multitalented entertainer. It's a fun cross between a mystery and flat out sci-fi adventure, and succeeds because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Worth a read, and thoroughly entertaining.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Futuristic Drug War, February 12, 2006

By 

Astral Guardian (Hammond, Louisiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tek War (Hardcover)

William Shatner paints a bleak picture of what the future might be; full of crime bosses, corrupt law enforcement, and rundown living arrangements. Amidst this backdrop, he presents us with Jake Cartigan; an antihero's hero. His situation is similar to the Demolition Man; awaking up from a cryogenic sleep. How's this for a twist? He soon discovers that his wife has divorced him whilst he was frozen. He has been released from his prison sentance in order to end a war that was started several years ago and for which he became ensnared in the process. The aply named drug known as Tek is the future's version of LSD except the user controls the elctronically generated fantasy. Jake must try to stop this war while at the same time deal with his former wife, protect a professor's daughter and regain his former reputation. The novel is fast paced and quite colorful in the language department. The idea of highly advanced androids acting as suicide bombers is original and the discovery that the daughter is only an android herself is a bit of a shocker. It is a farely decent literary work and scifi fans should pick this one up. Just don't use the "new" Spanish phrases you'll learn along the way.