ISBN: 0-312-86426-4 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com
In this second intallment of an alternate America, Modesitt shows an extraordinary married couple in love with each other, sublime opera-singing, some heavy-handed politics and spy-type adventures,
Reviewed by David on April 04, 1999
Genre: Science Fiction (Alternate Reality, Weird Science, Ghosts, Cloak and Dagger)
Synopsis: In an alternate world where ghosts exist and are affected by electromagnetic fields, the history took a different turn from ours. The East American colonies have retained a heavy Dutch flavor, and the North American continent is split between several independent nations.
In what is now Upper New York, Doktor Johan Eschbach, a veteran of the Columbian Republican forces, a retired member of the feared intelligence service and a former sub-minister of Ecology, is quite content to be teaching in a small college. He is even happy to be married to beautiful Lysette, once a famous opera singer, now a tormented refugee from France crushed by the armies of the brutal emperor of Austria.
In Of Tangible Ghosts, Johan has been reluctantly involved in the banned ghost technology and the deadly intrigues of several secret services. After showing that his skills are still sharp from his days as a covert warrior, Johan has scattered a few bodies, and won what he hoped was a peaceful retirement.
However, now his wife's extraordinary talent is drawing attention to Lysette, just when Columbia, the Mormon state of Deseret, and New France are locked into a deadly dance of diplomacy, intimidation and murder. Unfortunately, it is Johan's own government that may pose the greatest danger to Johan. To protect his safety, and that of his wife, Johan has to recall his most dangerous skills, in both combat and ghost manipulation.
Full Review: Modesitt created an intriguing world, where the history was affected by the fact that violently killed individuals leave ghosts that haunt survivors. From lower birth rate, to the failure of "William the Unfortunate" to conquer England, the world history has taken different turns.
The technology of this alternate world is a bit behind ours, except in the clandestine research of ghost creation and destruction.
Modesitt's rather plodding prose is appropriate to the heavy, Dutch-influenced culture of the Republic of Columbia (governed from the Federal District of Columbia, of course). The book makes rather obvious points for the rugged individualism, and the typical intellectual sloth of the majority, and the venal viciousness of the political authorities.
The hero's wife, Lysette, is haunted by her past in more ways than one. Her art, and the affection between Johan and Lysette adds spontaneity and emotion to this rather stolid novel.
The political conspiracies, while important to the plot, are somewhat sketchy. Nonetheless, this is an entertaining and rather original thriller, and worth continuing in another installment.
Overall: 5.5; Plot: 5.5; Characters: 6; Style: 5; World-building: 6; Originality: 7;
Copyright date 1998, Tom Doherty Associates (Tor), September 1998, Cloth, 303 pages
ISBN: 0-312-86426-4 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com