In the fight against the evil Modhri, a detective gains new allies as he searches for collectible statues that could be turned into weapons.

I found this book, like the first one, overly complicated when combined with the main character’s intuitive leaps. One or the other I can handle, but there is just too much of it to make this an enjoyable read. I often found myself drifting along with the narrative because I didn’t care too much about what the characters were doing. It could simply be the style of writing, which is more of a noir detective, and which I don’t really care for. The clues, along with the lengths the character was willing to go to collecting them, were at times tedious, at times brilliant. The climax of the story was well done, even though I only figured out a couple of the many loose ends that were tied up. Although I understand the reasoning behind the Modhri being nervous about what Compton can do, he should have easily been killed so many times –I don’t buy the number of chances he got, from all around. In the end, this was the second take-it-or-leave-it book in this series for me. I hope the next one is more to my liking.

I went with the flow for much of this book, looking for clues, but not trying to figure out the main character’s twisted logic or activities. Much like Bayta, I had to be told and explained what was going on. So many times Compton would do something that made no sense, only to be validated by the story afterwards. It didn’t flow naturally, even though murder mysteries are not all that familiar to me.

Additionally, the Modhri gave Compton way too many chances. As did Morse and the Spiders. Is it always because of what happened at the end of Night Train to Rigel? The train disappeared, and nobody except Compton and Bayta know what happened, but is that worth all the Modhri’s caution? I guess so, from the story’s perspective.

As this book starts, Compton is witness to the aftermath of a murder. I knew that Daniel Mice was going to be just a partial word, but I didn’t expect it to be Daniel “my son”, which was a neat twist. Detective Morse, of the European security services, happens by, and he doesn’t like Compton for some unknown reason, so finds him guilty of the murder, even with the lack of evidence. Morse is angry through the rest of the book, though at times he gives Compton grudging respect.

Bayta doesn’t have much to do in this book, except get jealous as Compton woos a female lead, and asks the Spiders for favors. She’s there more so we the readers can be told what’s happening, and why Compton thinks the way he does, often without any justification.

Neither of them want stragglers, much less ones that they might have to explain the threat of the Modhri. But Morse hangs around, and when they save him from walkers, he ends up in the hospital so Compton can read his information on the case. It turns out the murdered man was looking for the third Lynx, a collectible artefact left over from the last Mohdri war. The pieces come in threes, with a Hawk, Lynx and Viper as the different parts. Together, they eventually find out, these can create a powerful weapon that can be camouflaged from sensors, even the ones the Spiders have. So it’s imperative that the Modhri doesn’t get one. It turns out that he already has two complete sets.

The main suspect in the theft of the third Lynx is Stafford, whom they track down by way of his girlfriend Penny. This is when Bayta starts getting jealous, because she doesn’t know how to read human emotions or reciprocate them. It turns out, though, that Compton was a victim of a Modhri thought virus when he kissed Penny, so everything returns back to normal at the end.

They track Stafford across the Quadrail system, which is where the author shines, giving enough information about the different species, some of which are passengers, others thugs (like the Halka Gargantuan that keeps showing up). I don’t understand why the Modhri put up with so many changes in plan, even if he was afraid of Compton. He was tricked, cheated and manipulated all throughout, and always acquiesced. At some point, his patience had to break, but it didn’t until the very end.

Stafford is on an artist planet, doing clay work and trying to stay out of the spotlight. Compton’s Bellidic friend Fayr is there also. Compton’s logic about Stafford didn’t make sense to me at all, but this was at a point where much of the story was getting too complicated and I didn’t try to understand everything, or all the characters. But he’s there, and Fayr gets them out of trouble, even though Penny and Morse are captured. They rescue Stafford, keep Fayr anonymous, and cause illogical distractions to keep eyes away from Stafford. I have trouble believing that even the Spiders would allow Compton to run around with a gun, but maybe I was confused about where the distraction took place.

Compton reasons, as the reader must, that Morse is a walker, but his attitude suggests that the coral polyps must be in deep cover, because they even work against the Modhri at times. He flies a speeder to crash into an attack on Fayr at the end, preventing the Modhri from obtaining the pieces. In the end, Compton makes Garantuan so angry that the telepathic link causes the power sections of the devices to explode, even the underground and undiscovered ones. The devices are now useless –they would have been invisible bombs, even to the sensors of the spiders, allowing Modhri to hold the Quadrail system hostage.

I suppose the secret must come out eventually about the Quadrail, but I can’t say that I fully understand it, either. How would the truth about the central line allow any species to realize that they could build their own warships? Maybe because those ships could use the central line, too?

After all, the planet with the devices that Compton made explode also housed spaceships, buried for millennia, and Compton wants to keep those secret, too. We’ll see what happens in the next books. So far, I’m less than impressed.