Tek Money

TekWar #7

by William Shatner, Ron Goulart (Contributor)

When his son is accused of murder, Investigator Jake Cardigan must clear his name, but the truth about the crime will push Cardigan to the edge of his wits, and beyond. Reprint.

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

304 pages, Paperback

First published November 29, 1995

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

[Jeremy Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got my first taste of the series from a friend, who then cut me off after the first book. Yes I know it sounds a lot like becoming addicted to drugs, but it's worse. I am addicted to bad literature.

[Jeffrey Greek · Rating 3 out of 5]

While all of these books have had a bunch of nearly indistinguishable characters to keep straight in your head, I can't help but feel that this is the first one where the authors themselves lost track of them. Sadly, no earthquake.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay, for the most part. I would have rated it between 2.7 and 2.8 stars, but will round up to 3 stars. It does not have quite the same flow as the prior books; it almost felt like the book was from [or intended for] a different series and should not have been included in the Tek-universe. The character development was okay. The action was all right. It did have some "stupid moments" in it, in my opinion, but that was in the early portion of the book [or thereabouts].

The "blurb" for the book (about Jake's son, Dan, being accused of murder): it is a red herring to try and suck people into reading the book. It is misleading and not at all the focus of the book. The accusation(s) against Dan are dropped right away, in the very beginning, and were not serious charges to begin with. It was more "police harassment" because the police do not care for Jake and still consider him an ex-con despite having been exonerated and his record cleared of all charges.

This book really surprised me in that it had more "stronger" language in it than the other books. There were more "Jesus"-this and "God d*mn" in the beginning chapters than in the prior six books combined. It was a bit of a shock to the system, as it was totally out of character for the way the series had been moving. In addition, it has more "negative comments" to make about Christians (people who find religion, anyway) than in the prior books. It was really kind-of stupid and totally unnecessary for the story; it added nothing to the story other than "shock value".

It also has what sounds like a "nun" who fronts for a "listening post" and gathers intelligence on the side, and a local monastery in Spain provides food products for a local mercenary/rebel group. In addition, there was made mention of some kind of "Christian Commando" group waging war in Africa against their government. It was just a whole lotta stupid, in my opinion.

I did think the overall premise for this book was interesting; it was a "topic" (subject?) not covered previously in the earlier novels, so that was good. The Bascom Detective Agency has become "more global" in nature, apparently, as Sid and Jake are sent to Europe to solve the mystery of the missing high-tech, highly illegal guns. It was quite the caper, and it was interesting to see some "newer" technology described in the book. A part of this case involves tracking large chunks of money that have been moving into and out of various accounts of a weapons-manufacturer. The money trail seems to lead to Spanish Tek cartels, but there are other indications that other forces or agencies are involved. There is additional technology revealed, including disks that mask a person's aura, the ability to hijack not just skycars but skyliners and force them to land, and deadly guns that fire beams of energy that dissolve the skeletal structure of a person.

There are numerous "bad government agents" in the book, surprise-surprise! At the same time, the point is made clear that the entire US government is not all bad, and not all government agencies are bad, so that was "good" to see. The bad agents are intent on double-crossing the Tek Cartel in Spain attempting to overthrow the government by actually supporting a different branch of rebels; the intent is still the same - to replace the Spanish government with one more amenable to whatever the ultimate goal of their nefarious scheme might be. It is up to Jake and Sid, with the help of Dan, Molly, and Bev, to save the day!

There was a death in the previous novel that turned out to be a harbinger for some of the murders in this novel, including the one in the very beginning of the book. "New" Tek chips are being created that have a "kill switch" on them in which a user who has become somehow "undesirable" to the Teklords is killed while using one of these chips. Somehow a type of "code" or "mental suggestion" is implanted in the user's brain, and the person can either die while immersed in his or her Tek fantasy, or the user can die later on when their brain flashfries due to the "killer chip" that they had used. It was a pretty crazy, yet pretty "novel" idea, on the one hand. I did find myself wondering if the Tek chips [technology] would be used to kill people with the death that occurred in the previous novel; I think the android doubles being used to replace Alicia Bowers and the US President kind if tipped me off, albeit indirectly, that this form of murder might be reused in the series.

It was an okay book, overall. Once the authors got over their stupidity, the narrative had a good flow to it. I may never read it again, but I am glad that I read it at least once.

[Troy Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Book

Another good book in the TekWar series.This story centers on the theft of some experimental guns that causes the bones of the target to dissolve, rendering the victim just a bag of skin and organs. A very nasty way to die. The guns had been banned by every country in the world, but were still being kept at a secret location. Most of the cast of characters return for this book. Most of them playing very minor roles. The guns are meant to be used in an attempted coup, but this is also part of another plot involving the Teklords.
Overall a very good book. I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it.

[Kay Iscah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one got a bit more violent...or maybe just the gore factor was a bit higher with the new weapon. I kept falling asleep while reading (not the book, I just read at bedtime), so don't feel qualified to really review.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ghost written by Ron Goulart