Rating: 
Summary: Gripping read
Review: Very much on the bright and thoughtful side of SF. I am hard pressed to say why, but this book has much the same feel as the Repairman Jack novels; however, there is no fantsy as the engineering and political science is strongly realistic. Simply the best book I read the year it came out. I look forward to more and wonder why there has not been any follow up. Just as when the Anita Blake series first came out, there is a rush to reading this work; followed by confusion as to why our current SF readership takes so long to discover these treasures.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad for a first attempt, but...
Review: When I first started this book I thought, "great! A character somewhat like Travis McGee (I'm a big fan of the late John D. MacDonald's series) without it being a clone", but as I read on I felt there was something missing. Maybe it's the way Matz introduces us to characters and then forgets about them after one scene; perhaps it's the way that Gavilan seems to be *too* much of an expert on too many different things, which strains credibility to the breaking point. And the ending is somewhat disappointing after the long buildup.At any rate, I wouldn't say *don't* read this book, although I definitely wouldn't put it on my list of favourites. Hopefully Marc Matz' next work will be just a little bit better.
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