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Space Cops #1
Mindblast
When their partner is killed after discovering the secret behind a dangerous new drug, Solar Patrol Rangers Evan Glyndower and Joss O'Bannion set out to catch the murderer
- GenresScience FictionFiction
250 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1991
95 people want to read
About the author
Diane Duane
167 books2,414 followersDiane Duane has been a writer of science fiction, fantasy, TV and film for more than forty years.
Besides the 1980's creation of the Young Wizards fantasy series for which she's best known, the "Middle Kingdoms" epic fantasy series, and numerous stand-alone fantasy or science fiction novels, her career has included extensive work in the Star Trek TM universe, and many scripts for live-action and animated TV series on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as work in comics and computer games. She has spent a fair amount of time on the New York Times Bestseller List, and has picked up various awards and award nominations here and there.
She lives in County Wicklow, in Ireland, with her husband of more than thirty years, the screenwriter and novelist Peter Morwood.
Her favorite color is blue, her favorite food is a weird kind of Swiss scrambled-potato dish called maluns, she was born in a Year of the Dragon, and her sign is "Runway 24 Left, Hold For Clearance."
(From her official website)
Besides the 1980's creation of the Young Wizards fantasy series for which she's best known, the "Middle Kingdoms" epic fantasy series, and numerous stand-alone fantasy or science fiction novels, her career has included extensive work in the Star Trek TM universe, and many scripts for live-action and animated TV series on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as work in comics and computer games. She has spent a fair amount of time on the New York Times Bestseller List, and has picked up various awards and award nominations here and there.
She lives in County Wicklow, in Ireland, with her husband of more than thirty years, the screenwriter and novelist Peter Morwood.
Her favorite color is blue, her favorite food is a weird kind of Swiss scrambled-potato dish called maluns, she was born in a Year of the Dragon, and her sign is "Runway 24 Left, Hold For Clearance."
(From her official website)
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 3, 2022
It's taken me three years to read the three books in the early 1990s sci-fi series Space Cops. I read one each, in 2020, 2021, and now 2022. So I guess you could say they aren't exactly "must-read" material. The series follows a buddy cop pair in space, Solar Patrol Officers Evan Glyndower and Joss O'Bannion. I read the books out of order, because at varying times I couldn't find some of them. I read book two, Kill Station, first, then book three, High Moon, and now finally the first book in the series, Mindblast.
Having read the whole series now, I have a pretty good idea why this series never became The Expanse of its time: this book, the first in the series, really sucked for the most part. In this one, Evan's first partner Lon has been killed, and Evan and his new partner Joss O'Bannion are sent to the Freedom II colony space station where he was killed to investigate.
But of course, as all the Space Cops books do, this entry has an overcomplicated plot, and it turns out that a drug that temporarily makes you smarter by increasing your neutral transmission for short periods of time, called by many names--among them "mindblast" and "hyper-2"--is also killing people on the same Freedom II space station. Is there a connection between the drug and the old partner's death?
This book wasn't as funny as the other two, and was mostly just really tedious. But hey, if you want a realistic police procedural? This is painfully real. Hundreds of pages of mostly Joss visiting the station Admin office, the comms office, the Customs office, the shuttle port, all to interview people of interest and watch over the shoulder of the comms employees, hoping to catch them in the act sending out an illegal transmission. Seriously? Would anyone actually be such a fool as to commit a crime when a police officer is literally standing over their shoulder? It's ridiculous, and wastes SO many pages. And of course he gets nowhere each time, so it's very frustrating to read.
The other thing I didn't get was, okay, they don't have the dead partner's notes, they're conveniently lost, along with all his progress on the case he was working on when he was killed, but after a certain point Evan and Joss find out which gang killed him. But instead of tracking down a member of that gang, ever, and maybe taking them alive and forcing them to hand over information about why they killed the previous partner, they proceed to essentially start from scratch and re-figure everything out on their own. Knowing very well that the dead partner worked this case for months and it would take them forever to figure all that stuff out again from the beginning. But a nonsensical plot like that sure fills a 250-page book...
If you're interested in Space Cops, I'd recommend starting out with book two, Kill Station, and seeing if you like that. It's the only one worth reading, in my opinion, and if you don't even like that one, I guarantee you're going to dislike the rest of the series.
Having read the whole series now, I have a pretty good idea why this series never became The Expanse of its time: this book, the first in the series, really sucked for the most part. In this one, Evan's first partner Lon has been killed, and Evan and his new partner Joss O'Bannion are sent to the Freedom II colony space station where he was killed to investigate.
But of course, as all the Space Cops books do, this entry has an overcomplicated plot, and it turns out that a drug that temporarily makes you smarter by increasing your neutral transmission for short periods of time, called by many names--among them "mindblast" and "hyper-2"--is also killing people on the same Freedom II space station. Is there a connection between the drug and the old partner's death?
This book wasn't as funny as the other two, and was mostly just really tedious. But hey, if you want a realistic police procedural? This is painfully real. Hundreds of pages of mostly Joss visiting the station Admin office, the comms office, the Customs office, the shuttle port, all to interview people of interest and watch over the shoulder of the comms employees, hoping to catch them in the act sending out an illegal transmission. Seriously? Would anyone actually be such a fool as to commit a crime when a police officer is literally standing over their shoulder? It's ridiculous, and wastes SO many pages. And of course he gets nowhere each time, so it's very frustrating to read.
The other thing I didn't get was, okay, they don't have the dead partner's notes, they're conveniently lost, along with all his progress on the case he was working on when he was killed, but after a certain point Evan and Joss find out which gang killed him. But instead of tracking down a member of that gang, ever, and maybe taking them alive and forcing them to hand over information about why they killed the previous partner, they proceed to essentially start from scratch and re-figure everything out on their own. Knowing very well that the dead partner worked this case for months and it would take them forever to figure all that stuff out again from the beginning. But a nonsensical plot like that sure fills a 250-page book...
If you're interested in Space Cops, I'd recommend starting out with book two, Kill Station, and seeing if you like that. It's the only one worth reading, in my opinion, and if you don't even like that one, I guarantee you're going to dislike the rest of the series.
October 16, 2022
With a title and cover art like that, you'd probably expect Space Cops : Mindblast to be cheesy pulp. But if you give it a chance, you'll find something entirely different - a thoughtful, sophisticated procedural in space. Similar to the detectivey parts of The Expanse novels, but better, Mindblast has something for all sorts of science fiction buffs - hard science, action, criminal investigation, cultural exploration. You name it, Mindblast has it.
June 21, 2022
This is the first in a series from one of my favorite writing teams. They are hilarious in person, BTW. The action starts with two newly-paired members of the Solar Patrol, Evan and Joss. Glyndower and O'Bannion go to the L5 to investigate the Evan's former partner's death and his case regarding data leaks there. Of course, they find more than expected and end up getting attacked more than once.
The book is well-paces and is a quick read. I expect no less from these authors as they don't write bad stories.
The book is well-paces and is a quick read. I expect no less from these authors as they don't write bad stories.
October 21, 2014
Not as much action as the name, cover and caption "Elite champions of justice in a lawless galactic frontier" might suggest. Instead, it is a multi-layered sci-fi detective investigation story. More action would have pushed this to a four star rating, but perhaps it is my fault for prejudging the book by its cover.
December 17, 2009
Hey, it's Diane Duane. It's pretty good sci-fi candy, but is not YA.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews