Contact Imminent Review

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(More customer reviews)Contact Imminent (2003) is the fourth novel in the Jani Kilian series, following Law of Survival. In the previous volume, Jani has solved the mystery of Le Blond, the point man for a semi-legitimate trade association and the man trying to smear the reputation of both Jani and Tsecha. Ceel, the Oligarch of the Vynsharau, and his suborn Shai have managed to ease Tsecha out of his positions as ambassador and Propitiator, but Tsecha regains most of his status as Intercessor for the Haarin; moreover, now he doesn't have to attend any more boring meetings, can sit in comfortable chairs and doesn't have to wear boring clothes. Furthermore, he and Jani have forced Shai to allow the Haarin to sell a much needed water filter to the Elyans.
In this novel, a year later, Jani, Niall and Tsecha are observers for a mine removal operation on the grounds of the Haarin enclave at Chicago. Something goes wrong and the mine explodes, killing a Terran bomb disposal tech and an idomeni security suborn and injuring Lieutenant Pullman. Jani is suspicious of the official explanations for this incident; since she is leaving for the Outer Circle on business for Tsecha, she asks Lucien to join the investigation team to uncover the true situation.
Jani travels to Elyas in a Neoclona ship with John Shroud and Niall. There she is kidnapped and transported to a Haarin colony, where she finds hybrids much like herself. Soon she is in the middle of a political conflict in the Haarin community between the established dominant and a hybrid challenger.
Back on Earth, Lucien singles out Faber, a comtech who had been on the bomb site in the bunker with Jani and who has been acting strangely since the incident. Lucien has Faber followed and keeps showing up in the comtech's life. Among other things, he notices that Faber is checking out the specs of the latest model military exoskeleton armor.
This novel is an investigative procedural on Earth and a character study on Elyas, with various side stories. Although the author tells part of the story from the viewpoint of Faber, she is able to maintain the suspense up until the final climax. You probably will not want to put the book down until the story is done.
In this story, Jani starts taking on some of the responsibilities of Tsecha's suborn. She acts as more that Tsecha's Eyes and Ears on Elyas, stabilizing the hybrid challenge in a very priestly manner and then gathering a cadre to keep the situation under control after she returns to Earth. While the immediate problems are resolved, this story ends with the promise of more excitement to follow.
Highly recommended for Smith fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of suspense and intrigue, with a touch of romance, in a SF setting.
-Arthur W. Jordin

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Former captain Jani Kilian is a genetically altered human-idomeni hybrid who acts as a bridge of communication between two fiercely incompatible races. With intergalactic civil war looming large -- with renegades in the Service secretly plotting extermination -- Jani Kilian is being pulled once more into perilous space. Because a horrific act of terror is about to ignite a long-feared conflictbetween human and alien…and the key to the survival or destruction of human civilization is waiting for her somewhere on the edge of the universe.

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Code of Conduct Review

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(More customer reviews)Code of Conduct tells a fast-paced story that weaves intrigue, politics, and personal honor into a sophisticated tapestry. With well-realized characters, both human and alien, and a plot full of gratifying twists and turns, this book showcases a fine new voice in science fiction.

About twenty years prior to the book's opening scene, Captain Jani Kilian almost died in a civil war among the idomeni, an alien race just enough like humans to make their vast differences disturbing. Framed for treason and then presumed dead in an explosion, she has spent the years since in hiding. After the blast, her doctors put her together with illegal experiments that combined human and idomeni genes. Now it is catching up with her. Is she dying--or changing into a new species that could threaten the existence of both humans and idomeni?

Jani thinks she is safe--until Evan van Reuter, the powerful Interior Minister of the Commonwealth, finds her. He wants her to solve a mystery that could destroy him: why did his wife die? Author Smith sets-up a wonderfully Byzantine scenario, with the dangerous, augmented Jani as an ideal choice of investigator from Evan's point of view, but a terrible choice as far as Jani is concerned.

One pleasure of this novel is the rich cast, both human and idomeni, that tangles the investigation. To snarl matters more, Evan is Jani's former lover. She finds herself in a political maze that could shake the foundations of the Commonwealth. Smith ties this all together in a well-written story that leaves the reader wanting more.

Smith does a good job with the idomeni, in particular Tsecha, a political and religious leader among his people and an ambassador to Earth. Watching him exasperate his human hosts with his wry personality and audacious nature is fun. The book creates a strong portrayal of an alien, with the nifty twist that eating is a form of prayer for his people. Another strength of this book is the subtle sensuality in the various relationships of the people, especially Jani's interactions with Evan and another character, Lucien. In fact, in general Smith does character well. The motivations and personalities of these people both surprise and make sense, a blend that isn't easy to achieve.

Code of Conduct is good science fiction, good hard-edged suspense, and an all around good read.

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