The Scoundrel Worlds (Star Risk #2)

Star Risk, Ltd, a specially trained mercenary outfit seeking fame and fortune, must travel to the planet Trimalchio IV to stand guard over a skyball game between two opposing worlds that has erupted in violence and murder. Original.

In the new Star Risk novel, the protagonists--former military personnel who left the service for the service's good--are now mercenaries. Being few in number, they are, however, more police and detectives than soldiers. The abundant action begins with a prologue in which Star Risk is hired to protect the referees at an interplanetary skyball festival, at which the fans have progressed from riotousness to homicide. After being paid, the Sky Risk crew undertakes to prove the innocence of a man condemned for treason, whose case has ramifications that read, probably deliberately, like pastiches of current media features. The element of wish fulfillment in the novel is undeniable; also pleasurable, for who hasn't felt like obliterating a stupid politician or obnoxious mediacrat? Lightweight action sf that sometimes reads like a novelized TV script (no surprise, given Bunch's TV background), this should hold the series' present audience and attract others who want to see the media skewered. Frieda Murray
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