Juggler of Worlds

August 1, 2008
As an agent for the Amalgamated Regional Militia, Simon Ausfaller uses his innate paranoia to ferret out alien conspiracies and protect earths colonies from harm. He meets his match in the obsessively protective puppeteers, a race of two-headed extraterrestrials whose impermeable General Products spaceship hulls come with an expensive guarantee of safety. In his latest investigation, Ausfaller probes the reasons why one GP hull apparently failed to protect the humans inside and discovers that tidal waves from a neutron star had some part in their demise. The case quickly becomes more complicated, leading Ausfaller on a trail across multiple worlds that branches into an even deeper mysterypuppeteers everywhere are deserting their posts for unknown but ominous reasons that may also spell disaster for humans. In their second collaboration, Niven and Lerner return to the era of Known Space history predating human discovery of Nivens iconic Ringworld. They clearly enjoy revisiting aliens familiar from Nivens menagerie while spinning an elaborate tale of interplanetary intrigue. Their many fans will, too.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)