Reunion On Neverend

In Neverend's underground colony, a technological laboratory on the edge of the universe, science and courage are used to unlock the secrets of the cosmos, while one man journeys to his homeland to take up a long-forgotten battle. Reprint.

An undercover investigator returns to the subterranean colony of his youth and rescues his high school sweetheart from some hi- tech hooligans in Stith's (Manhattan Transfer, 1993) hard SF thriller that's soft on science, character, and suspense. Lan Dillion journeys home to the bland Neverend ostensibly to rekindle an old flame with Tessa Farlon, but a relationship is problematic due to his claustrophobia. However, even phobias are easily overcome in this juvenile chauvinist fantasy, which soon has a team of crooks trying to bilk the helpless Tessa out of the small museum she inherited from her murdered adoptive father. When the bad guys try to bump off Tessa, Lan and his buddy Parke Brenlek muscle in to solve the mystery Hardy Boysstyle. Some ham-handed sleuthing reveals the major attraction within the museum: an alien teleportation device. Soon Lan, Parke, and their girlfriends chase through space to collar the bad guys. Lan and Tessa realize that the teleportation device enables Lan to live in Neverend without feeling trapped, which puts a new face on their future together. All of the old SF formulaic elements are here, and Stith's brew of dark tunnels, cuddly aliens, and teenage romance ultimately spins its wheels, producing no sparks. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.