Metal Sky

It’s been two years since the events of Wyrmhole. Jack Stein and Billie, now 14 years old, have moved from the corrupt city of Locality to the better upkept and less corrupt town of Yorkstone. Billie has been thriving there away from the scene of her days as a sexually exploited child. She is now freer to follow her various educational impulses. Stein, however, remains some rudderless in his life, and work isn’t as plentiful at Yorkstone.

But work shows up with the femme fatale Bridget Farrell who wants Stein to find the Maltese Falcon a valuable artifact stolen from her.

As it progresses, this series has less and less interest in being a science fiction private eye story. Caselberg really does use the plot of the classic film The show more Maltese Falcon, right down to very similar scenes and dialogue (though we don’t seem to have the equivalent of the movie’s Joel Cairo).

Also, the metal tablet Stein is hired to get is tied to alien ruins on the planet Mandala. It’s typical of their characters that Billie is excited by the traces of aliens being discovered while Jack barely remembers the news story. Taking advantage of the newer and faster travel between stars made possible by the events of the last novel, Billie and Stein even visit Mandala.

But the book’s main point of interest is the ambiguity and tension in the relationship between Billie and Stein as skillfully conveyed in dialogue and Stein’s insistent resolution not to think about the matter. While we start with Billie sort of being the organized, motivated parent to Stein’s lack of direction from the previous novel, it goes to other areas here.

At times, Stein seems a parent to moody teenager Billie, and, at other times, their dialogue and interactions seem like a married couple or potentially romantic couple though there is no sex of any kind in the novel. That ambiguity persists through the book and, of course, makes the reader rather uncomfortable given Billie’s past and their age differences not to mention that they do have a weird sexual link from the previous novel.

And it’s the interplay between Billie and Stein throughout the series that gives it its main interest and develops the series' theme of isolation. show less

Private investigator Jack Stein has set up shop in the town of Yorkstone. It’s a town on the move, literally (it really is a moving town), and it’s a programmable town. For instance, one change the furniture in a room just by telling your computer. Jack’s appointment book is empty, until Bridget Farrell walks into Jack’s office. She is a very beautiful woman who knows how to use her beauty. She asks Jack’s help in finding a metallic tablet inscribed with ornate symbols.

Farrell had a colleague/competitor in the field of obtaining rare objects, a man named Talbot. Unfortunately, he got too close to the business end of an energy weapon, and is now very dead. The Yorkstone police are now very interested. A rich industrialist named show more Landeman is also interested in the tablet.

Jack is a psychic investigator; he works from hunches or "feelings" gained from objects, other people or dreams. He meets Talbot in his dreams and is told to go to a planet called Mandala. A major archaeological dig is underway, uncovering what was a major city. In his dreams, Jack sees the city as it was a millennia ago. But he is no closer to discovering the answers to his growing list of questions.

Back in Yorkstone, Billie, Jack’s teenage "ward" and an expert information finder, learns that the object is made of a metal unknown to science, and probably came from Mandala. It could be an object of great power, or the key to some advanced civilization. Jack begins to piece it all together; a potentially "huge" object like this would be worth a lot of money to some people.

This works really well as a mystery story and a science fiction story. It’s just weird enough, and it also has echoes of famous tales like The Maltese Falcon. Either way, it’s worth reading. show less

I'm not sure where I got this 2004 paperback. It has a price tag from "Dollar Haven" on the back for $2, but that store name doesn't ring any bells.

This is a sequel to a book called Wyrmhole, and feature Jack Stein, a psychic investigator, and Billie, his 14-year old ward. In this book they have left the hellish crime slum of the Locality, and are living in a wholesome little city called Yorkstone. The problem now is that it's hard for an investigator to find much business in such a respectable place. Until Bridgett Farrell shows up and wants Jack to find a metallic tablet inscribed with mysterious symbols. Then Ms. Farrell's main suspect is found murdered.

I like Jack, tho he's a bit passive at times. I wanted to kick Billie on occasion show more - but she is a teenager, so she's expected to act a bit angsty. I'm not sure I could follow the mystery very well - there were times when I was completely lost - but it all came to a satisfying conclusion. I'll be looking for other books by this author. show less

I I am not overly impressed with this book. The main character, Jack Stein, spends a lot of time wallowing in self-pity because his psychic powers seem to have deserted him, or simply atrophied. There are a lot of scenes that do nothing to really advance the plot. He goes to talk to someone, and instead of getting anywhere, he basically leaves the conversation with nothing. Perhaps he's too busy bewailing his lack of insight, or he's just unused to having to use his cognitive abilities without benefit of his gifts. He is a terrier, but not a bulldog. He will stick with something, chew it over and over and worry at it, but he's not relentless, per se, since he spends a lot of time waiting for his gift to kick in and bail him out of his show more quandries. Honestly, I was amazed Jack actually made it to the end of the case without giving up. I was even more surprised that he actually ended up successful, with $$ in the bank.

The rest of the characters in the book, with the exception of Billie, Jack's 14yr old charge, were stereotypes and two dimensional. Billie seemed to be fairly well drawn, but even she was a little sterotyped.

The plot was okay. Chick comes in wanting Jack to find an antique which her former partner seems to have stolen. She's pretty vague and evasive, and she doesn't even blink at Jack's inflated fee and request for a hefty retainer. Big red flag. The partner turns up dead, but the antique seems to have been stolen. Of course, the cops think Jack had something to do with the death, but can't prove it. More BS with the chick, and again she doesn't blink when Jack asks for an even heftier additional retainer. Jack and Billie then go to a resort planet that sports some alien ruins. This is where the artifact (the antique) came from, those ruins. The artifact is possibly a map to the alien homeworld, or at least a part of a map. Jack just gets more questions, no real answers, so he returns home to find a message from a bigwig, also looking for the artifact. Jack gets another retainer from this guy. More hijinks ensue. Jack comes to find out the artifact was never on his planet; it was enroute from the resort planet on a slow freighter, the captain of which ends up dead on Jack's sofa, but only after bringing the artifact with him. Now comes the final vision-dream that ties all the questions up in a neat little bow. Without spoiling the ending too much, Jack gets paid, the artifact and murders and thieves end up with the police, and the crap between Billie and Jack somehow gets resolved, sort of.

Again, I found this book easy to put down even in the middle of a paragraph. I finished it, but I wasn't driven to finish. As such, I'm trading this one off. show less