Tek Secret

TekWar #5

by William Shatner, Ron Goulart (Contributor)

When Alicia Bower, the beautiful daughter of the world's wealthiest robotics industrialist, disappears, her boyfriend hires Investigator Jake Cardigan, who recently lost his own love, to find her.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Mystery

Unknown Binding

First published October 27, 1993

About the author

William Shatner is the author of nine Star Trek novels, including the New York Times bestsellers The Ashes of Eden and The Return. He is also the author of several nonfiction books, including Get a Life! and I'm Working on That. In addition to his role as Captain James T. Kirk, he stars as Denny Crane in the hit television series from David E. Kelley, Boston Legal -- a role for which he has won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe.

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. It was okay. It moved at a decent pace, for the most part. It did seem kind of spotty, in parts, though, where it felt like it jumped around a bit too much and messed up the pace. It also seemed like the author(s) were setting up a potential new love interest for Jake. The character development was all right; I think I would have liked to have seen a series of books based on Jake's son Dan and his girlfriend, Molly [their characters have changed a bit since the last novel, so there was some definite character development there].

I believe several months have passed since Beth's death, and Jake is attempting to move on with his life, but it still seemed like he maybe should have been mourning her "more" throughout the novel. There was one point where he did come across as deciding "this is the last time" he was going to think about Beth or feel anything for her; it seemed out-of-character [in some respects] and a bit cold. He loved this woman for several years; I realize it's not quite the equivalent of somebody dying after ten or twenty or even forty years of marriage, or one's parents passing away, but it still seemed a bit harsh/cold on Jake's part that he was able to stop thinking about her.

I was hoping the authors had finally given up on the younger-than-sixteen child prostitutes, but that was not the case. Perhaps the authors were going for some kind of "shock value" by having child prostitutes in their dark view of the future; I felt it was unnecessary for the flow of the book. There was one point where Jake is in a "mid-Western" brothel and the brothel is advertising "three underage virgins for tonight only" and the android "bouncer/pimp" claims it is hard to find one virgin, let alone three at a time, so it was a special night (202). Earlier in the book, Sam Trinity [a US Government agent] is sitting with a "naked girl" he is terrorizing and abusing before he plans to have sex with her (113-117); not a naked woman but a girl. It is ridiculous that they even had a scene involving child abuse AND child exploitation [Sam has "had" this girl before and has abused her in the past by inflicting pain when she would not do what he wanted]. She clearly does not want to be with him, yet he is abusing his power and his position by hurting her and intent to continue hurting her for his personal pleasure.

I really wished Sam Trinity had been killed, I have to admit. Not only does he abuse this child prostitute, but he also abuses a child [teenager] in front of the child's mother [fries the teenager's ear for being disrespectful. While I might support some form of corporal punishment or other, frying the boy's ear seemed a tad extreme] (160-161) AND abuses a mother emotionally and physically before threatening to have her son "operated" on for his organs to be harvested and replaced with fake organs "for testing purposes" in order to coerce her to give him the information he wants (181-185).

Aaaaaand . . . it finally happened! I was wondering when the United States government was going to get the shaft in this "dark, dismal, unhappy" dystopic world that Shatner created. Apparently the government has been in cahoots with an android manufacturer who controls the android servant market in Central and South America. The US Government is made to sound like it [or elements of it are] secretly making money off the Tek Cartels while attempting to either control or "destroy" the elements refusing to cooperate. The leaders of the cartels who refuse to cooperate are murdered. It is an ingenious plan - android servants are specifically created for ten cartel leaders in order to murder them; seven have already been murdered. I am sure this is what leads into the next novel in the series.

The kidnapped Alicia Bower [the underlying "focus" of this novel] had overheard her father discussing this list with a government agent, and then the silly woman had gone on to read the list of names. After the attempted mind-wipe [eventually] failed, she was taken to the facility again for a second, deeper mind-wipe and memory replacement procedure. Jake rescues her with assistance and takes her to the facility of a former government agent who tries to repair the damage done by the government's mind-wiping people [instead of just outright killing them].

On the one hand, I did think it was an interesting concept, to have android servants programmed to act as "government assassins" and then, after the task is completed, the underlying code is erased and they continue acting as "simple servants" going about their regular routine. Of course, this becomes a slippery slope because it would be all-to-easy for the government to start murdering dissidents and even other elected officials who disagreed with "current policy procedures" or whathaveyou. Plus, having android "agents" act in such a way circumvents any legal rights the murdered might have if he [or she] were to physically appear in a courtroom setting. It was kind of amusing, though, the amount of disdain that was heaped upon the "kamikaze" androids used in earlier novels. The makers of the servant-assassin androids were quite proud at how well their models were able to fulfill their "mission parameters" before going about their "regular duties" as servants.

It has been kind of "funny" how the Bascom Detective Agency is described as this "huge, powerful" organization, yet the only three characters we usually see are Sid, Jake, and Bascom himself. When Jake's son was threatened, Bascom did have some of his agency's operatives watching over him, and mention is made of other operatives working for Bascom's organization, but I do not remember ever reading of another employee's name being mentioned. I mean, Bascom's agency is so powerful that government agents who would otherwise have no problems or qualms in murdering somebody do not want to murder or injure Sid or Jake in order to prevent Bascom from turning his attention and "power" against them and the federal government. Just how large and powerful is Bascom's organization, anyway? And, yet, we only see three individuals on a regular basis? However, in retrospect, I do think I remember reading the names of other agents as being possible contenders for assignments being given out or to coerce Jake into taking "the plum assignment" or be swapped out onto a "lower priority, less prestigious" assignment from time to time.

I did find it also humorous that Sid ended up giving Natalie the scoop he'd been lying to her about, in the end. In order to ensure the three surviving cartel members were not murdered as well as to ensure Alicia and others taken by the government were not murdered, Natalie was given enough information to air a story globally that revealed the government "android servant-assassin scandal" and ensured any who might have had to worry about being murdered no longer had to worry about being killed. It kind of served Sid right, considering how he constantly lied to people in order to get the information he wanted/needed for whatever case he was assigned.

On a "side note": It is interesting that there were no "real" repercussions against the United States for utilizing servant androids to act as assassins by other countries in the world. No outcries, no protests, no international sanctions of any kind. No punishment at all. So what, exactly, are the nations of the world doing, that they do not protest what the United States government did in attempting to assassinate ten Tek Cartel leaders like they did?

Also, how powerful is the Bascom Detective Agency? National governments and law enforcement officers, even powerful government officials, have no desire to cross Bascom and his agency because of 'how powerful' it is. It is so powerful it can exert that much influence on other nations and foreign governments? It must be pretty powerful, indeed. Pretty crazy stuff!

It was an okay novel. I think I would have liked it more had it not had so much violence directed towards women and children or the under-age female prostitutes. It moved at a decent pace, overall, despite some hiccups along the way. I do not know if I will ever read this novel [or this series] again, but I think I am glad I took a chance and "finished" the series at least once [I had read the first two books and then stopped]. I do remember watching some of the movies that aired on USA when they first came out and enjoying the made-for-TV movies, so perhaps that influenced me to finish the series of novels. I cannot see reading it more than once, however.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got halfway through and gave up. I'm not sure why, so I gave it 2 stars instead of 1. I just wasn't interested. None of the characters seemed worthy of following. Robots and sky cars are fun, but so ho-hum. I was impressed that William Shatner was the author, but then a Goodreads' comment said it was ghost-written. Maybe I'll pick it back up on day, but I doubt it.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ghost written by Ron Goulart

[Matthew Leeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course another HIT! I loved it! Suspenseful, mysterious, left me on the edge of my seat. The series keeps on rocking! Really hoping for a new movie, one that is in theaters.

[Kay Iscah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hope men in real life aren't telling each other to "get over" their girlfriend's brutal murder after a few weeks, geez. I should have reviewed this book before starting the next one in the series. They're kind of blurring together for me. I felt really bad for Barry, saying why would be a spoiler.

So far if there's a grand plot forming, I've missed it. Nothing wrong with an episodic series. In some ways they're refreshing. It's at least not getting worse. Different cases, different locations. Still not much depth, but I have to respect the world building, particularly for when the series was developed.

[Troy Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Story

Another good book in the TekWar series. This is a new story, about the disappearance of a young woman. There are still a lot of tie ins to the ongoing struggle with the Teklords. Most of the cast is back for this story. It seems though, that the characters move on very quickly with their love interests, except for the main character who wants to stay loyal to his. It also seems that wives and girlfriends are prime targets and get killed off.
Overall I enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it.

[Mike Reiff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jumping from book 2 to book 5 we find Shatner running on fumes - too many characters, a convoluted script to nowhere, his drugstore pulp style stretched to the limits of credulity. The book ends on a note that makes one wonder if a page was missing. Maybe a page WAS missing! The basic world building is still intriguing but this seems like the death throes of the series.

[Manchanko · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marginal improvement over the others now that a certain ongoing plot point is wrapped up. Still, wraps up far too quickly and with very little excitement. How many more lazgun-wielding androids is Jake gonna have to deal with before this is all over?

[David Lemon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fun book ghostwritten by Ron Goulart (He deserves the credit)

[Cws]

SF-Sha

[Jeremy Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just can't quit you, Tek series. I know your all kinds of awful, but I love you for it.