Traitor

2099 #3

by John Peel

Tristran is arrested for his evil clone Devon's crimes and sent to Ice, the maximum security prison in Antartica, where he teams up with Genia, another convict, to plot an escape, while Quietus advances its plans on Mars, and Devon seeks new challenges on the Moon.Tristran is arrested for his evil clone Devon's crimes and sent to Ice, the maximum security prison in Antartica, where he teams up with Genia, another convict, to plot an escape, while Quietus advances its plans on Mars, and Devon seeks new challenges on the Moon

Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fiction, Dystopia

155 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

John Peel is the author of Doctor Who books and comic strips. Notably, he wrote the first original Doctor Who novel, Timewyrm: Genesys, to launch the Virgin New Adventures line. In the early 1990s he was commissioned by Target Books to write novelisations of several key Terry Nation Dalek stories of the 1960s after the rights were finally worked out. He later wrote several more original Daleks novels.

He has the distinction of being one of only three authors credited on a Target novelisation who had not either written a story for the TV series or been a part of the production team (the others were Nigel Robinson and Alison Bingeman).

Outside of Doctor Who, Peel has also written novels for the Star Trek franchise. Under the pseudonym "John Vincent", he wrote novelisations based upon episodes of the 1990s TV series James Bond Jr..

Reviews

[Joe Kessler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another quick but propulsive adventure, bringing us to the halfway point of this middle-grade sci-fi series from 1999-2000. Our main hero Tristan begins this installment in police custody (thanks to innocently sharing identical DNA to his terrorist clone twin), and after dodging an attack from his mysterious enemies, he swiftly finds himself put on trial and then sentenced to life imprisonment at the secure facility in Antarctica. There, of course, he meets up with Genia, and it isn't long before the two teenage hackers have teamed up and managed to escape. Meanwhile, the cop who arrested him is looking into a mole in her organization -- the titular traitor, I guess -- and the various villains are up to their respective schemes. Tristan's ex-girlfriend is also still convinced that he's guilty, which leads to her linking up with a criminal underworld element intent on getting her revenge.

It all moves with a zippy confidence, and the action bounces nicely around the different viewpoint characters, who by now feel linked even when off pursuing their own separate affairs. The one exception is the new protagonist Jame, who was introduced for a short scene in the previous volume without much explanation beyond his presence on the Mars colony. He's now revealed to be a third clone brother, further strengthening the proto-Orphan Black vibes, but because he hasn't really interacted with anyone else we care about, his storyline doesn't seem quite as relevant just yet, though it's certainly horrifying to see him witness corrupt security officers opening fire on an unarmed crowd.

Although the novel doesn't offer as many fun worldbuilding details of life a century hence, it advances the overall plot while never slowing down for a minute. That's worth another four-star rating, in my opinion.

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[Susana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Achei mais fraquinho que os anteriores, mas deixou-me muito curiosa quanto à continuação…

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to re-read it, but I remember thoroughly enjoying this series.

[Andrew Cornelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

ohohoh