Spindoc

Venture Silk #1

by Steve Perry

When his lover is murdered, Venture Silk, a spin doctor who manipulates the news for public consumption, becomes the target of spies and assassins, and he must change hats and--for once--search out the truth

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

262 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Librarians note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Steven Carl Perry has written over fifty novels and numerous short stories, which have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Perry is perhaps best known for the Matador series. He has written books in the Star Wars, Alien and Conan universes. He was a collaborator on all of the Tom Clancy's Net Force series, seven of which have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list. Two of his novelizations, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and Men in Black have also been bestsellers. Other writing credits include articles, reviews, and essays, animated teleplays, and some unproduced movie scripts. One of his scripts for Batman: The Animated Series was an Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Writing.

Perry is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, The Animation Guild, and the Writers Guild of America, West

Reviews

[Scott Holstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really wasn't a bad novel. Not hard sci fi, not military sci fi, but just a good, plain, enjoyable read. It was fast paced and kept my attention. It's about Venture Silk, a spin doctor who lies for a living. His beautiful doctor girlfriend is murdered and he's determined to get to the bottom of it. Unknown to him, there are several "players" in this game and he's soon embroiled in a nightmarish series of escapes and near misses on his life by a major spy out to get the man he and another off-world spy are chasing. The off-world spy is Zia, a gorgeous blond who lies and uses sex as a weapon. She gets Silk to go where she goes in search of this man, all the while with the other spy, King, after them. It's an exciting chase with a little bit of futuristic technology thrown in to make it sci fi. The one thing that bothered me about this book -- and I never thought I'd say this -- is there's too much gratuitous sex! That's right -- the author is obsessed with sex and it gets old after awhile. Crazy, huh? This is probably a four star book, but because I enjoyed it so much and because everything is tied up neatly in the end, I'm giving it five and a hearty recommendation.

[Paul Close · Rating 2 out of 5]

pretty good

[Terry Goodwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed it, good character development.