The Langrangists

Lagrange #2

by Mack Reynolds

L-5, a point in the Earth-Moon System where orbits are forever and the new age of Freedom and Plenty can begin. Now they're trying to kill the man in charge of the first L-5 colony, and Private Eye Rex Bader is the man who will have to find and stop them. But who are the killers? The Soviets? The Mafia? "Friends of the Earth?" Only time -- and blood -- will tell.

Genres: Science Fiction

287 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1983

About the author

Dallas McCord "Mack" Reynolds was an American science fiction writer. His pen names included Clark Collins, Mark Mallory, Guy McCord, Dallas Ross and Maxine Reynolds. Many of his stories were published in "Galaxy Magazine" and "Worlds of If Magazine". He was quite popular in the 1960s, but most of his work subsequently went out of print.

He was an active supporter of the Socialist Labor Party; his father, Verne Reynolds, was twice the SLP's Presidential candidate, in 1928 and 1932. Many of MR's stories use SLP jargon such as 'Industrial Feudalism' and most deal with economic issues in some way

Many of Reynolds' stories took place in Utopian societies, and many of which fulfilled L. L. Zamenhof's dream of Esperanto used worldwide as a universal second language. His novels predicted much that has come to pass, including pocket computers and a world-wide computer network with information available at one's fingertips.

Many of his novels were written within the context of a highly mobile society in which few people maintained a fixed residence, leading to "mobile voting" laws which allowed someone living out of the equivalent of a motor home to vote when and where they chose.

Reviews

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ex-spy Rex Bader is finding work as a private investigator drying up and so he takes a bodyguard job for the head of the L-5 construction project. The project has been perceived as a threat to a number of high profile opposition - coal and oil and energy conglomerates which view the solar-power satellites as game changers; the mafia,which sees a lot of lucrative income disappearing off-Earth, fundamentalist religions and just plain crazies. But by far the biggest threat is coming from the Russians whose competing L-4 project is far behind the Americans. Once on the L-5 cylinder Rex is guided through the wonderful future of space living (which author Mack Reynolds is passionate about) and when the final confrontation occurs it is almost an anticlimax. A secret announcement about the future of both the L-5 and L-4 habitats changes the intent of Ilya Simonov, the KGB operative sent to sabotage the colony, but will it be enough to sway all the remaining opponents? Eminently readable. Part of a series.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy some of the ideas and plot in this story but the dated back story and unnatural/weird language in character dialog really distracted, and honestly, was it necessary to use "Wizard" as an expression in every other paragraph?

Somewhat reluctantly, 3 stars

[Dave Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mack Reynolds, always serviceable, always interesting ideas, just not great prose. Like a good "made for TV movie" back in the day when theses were a thing. Would have made a good one. This old paperback disintegrated as I finished it.