Black Brillion


Black Brillion Matthew Hughes Tor, Nov 2004, $23.95, 272 pages, ISBN: 0765308657 reviewed by Harriet Klausner Archonate Bureau of Security Agent Baro Harkless is a rookie whose father was considered one of the best "Scroots" ever. Baro believes he must prove to his superiors, his peers and more so to himself that he earned the job on his own merit and not his sire’s reputation. He sees his opportunity when notorious con artist Luff Imbry arrives in Sherit. Baro arrests Luff the but the rookie agent is shocked when his boss Arboghast liberates the felon and assigns him as a partner to Baro in an effort to find evidence to bust master criminal Horselan Gebbling, the Old Earth’s greatest conman. The new partners think they may have a chance to obtain proof to send Gebbling away for years. The grifter insists he has the elixir to cure the wealthy of Lassitude, a new disease. However, to obtain the cure, one must buy passage on a cruise sponsored by Gebbling. On the vessel, the agent and his partner believe the rare BLACK BRILLION is at the core of the scam, but the proof remains to be found perhaps via the Commons, a collective through the ages of mental activity. This exhilarating futuristic tale insures that the reader will accept that the investigation takes place many millenniums from today due to the clever use of a scholar providing explanations of brillion, the Commons, and their ties to the past. The story line is fast-paced, but the key cats members seem genuine as the audience understands the motivations of Baro and Luff (Gebbling recently conned him) to find the evidence of a scam. Though Baro becomes a Commons "practitioner" seemingly too easily, fans will appreciate this outstanding Jungian science fiction police procedural.
reviews

Black Brillion
Matthew Hughes
Tor, Nov 2004, $23.95, 272 pages, ISBN: 0765308657
reviewed by Harriet Klausner

Archonate Bureau of Security Agent Baro Harkless is a rookie whose father was considered one of the best "Scroots" ever. Baro believes he must prove to his superiors, his peers and more so to himself that he earned the job on his own merit and not his sire’s reputation. He sees his opportunity when notorious con artist Luff Imbry arrives in Sherit.

Baro arrests Luff the but the rookie agent is shocked when his boss Arboghast liberates the felon and assigns him as a partner to Baro in an effort to find evidence to bust master criminal Horselan Gebbling, the Old Earth’s greatest conman. The new partners think they may have a chance to obtain proof to send Gebbling away for years. The grifter insists he has the elixir to cure the wealthy of Lassitude, a new disease. However, to obtain the cure, one must buy passage on a cruise sponsored by Gebbling. On the vessel, the agent and his partner believe the rare BLACK BRILLION is at the core of the scam, but the proof remains to be found perhaps via the Commons, a collective through the ages of mental activity.

This exhilarating futuristic tale insures that the reader will accept that the investigation takes place many millenniums from today due to the clever use of a scholar providing explanations of brillion, the Commons, and their ties to the past. The story line is fast-paced, but the key cats members seem genuine as the audience understands the motivations of Baro and Luff (Gebbling recently conned him) to find the evidence of a scam. Though Baro becomes a Commons "practitioner" seemingly too easily, fans will appreciate this outstanding Jungian science fiction police procedural.

reviews