The man who used the universe (1983)

*** beware spoilers ***

A racy read in which our protagonist, hired gun for a local protection racket, takes over his boss's syndicate, gradually worms his way up the criminal system and the layers of "illegal" status ranks, builds an interplanetary crime empire, and then breaks into "legal" business, using the kind of organizational skills which enable businessmen to hide their dealings in layers of shell companies and offshore tax havens, plus uncanny psychological intuition, long-term secret planning. and the strategic use of blackmail, extreme violence, and almost complete emotional detachment. Driven only by his desire for control over his own destiny (reacting against a childhood of bullying and parental neglect), he becomes the first human to make a full commercial agreement with the rival empire of the Nuel (delightfully depicted as a molluscan race so slimily repulsive that they have a collective paranoia about it). He plays human and alien interests against each other in an ever-more complex system of bluffs and double bluffs, and ends up saving both civilizations from conflict and invasion almost as an accidental side-effect of his personal obsession. Maybe there's some sort of message about how good leaders must eschew loyalty or even morality in relation to individuals in order to achieve a greater good for all; but mainly, it's just a fun SF novel.

MB 8-x-2012 ( )

NIL

Loo-Macklin rises from a low ranked criminal to the highest regarded individual in an interesting and easy to read way. ( )

I need to reread this to do a full review. The bad guy turned good guy, or is he still a bad guy? The plot revolves around figuring out what exactly he's up to, and whether its in his best interest, or all humanity. ( )