What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

If anyone can help me, I'd really appreciate it. In the 80's there was a hardboiled paperback I read about a detective(?) who was chasing a serial killer across the galaxy. The serial killer had an alien sidekick that looked like a praying mantis. I think the mantis would eat children...Gritty, noir-ish, full of sex and very violent. No ones been able to give me any good guesses on what it might be. Could have been from the early 70's to the mid 80's...and I thought it was from Tor or Ballantine. Also it was missing the cover, so that won't help. I would love to find this book and read it again!

Additional things I can think of...I can remember the lead character chasing the serial killer between planets. The praying mantis-alien sidekick was like 7 ft. tall. He ate children, but would have sex with them first...yeah, twisted, I know. But it was one of the things that stuck out.

Thomas why did you start a second thread on this topic? One thread that you bump as time passes is really all that's needed, otherwise people get confused.

My bad, I forgot that I posted it, and someone advised me to post here today! Sorry!

I don't know which titles have been suggested in the other thread, if any, but here's two possibilities:Mantis or Mantis

No, it's neither of these. This book is sci-fi, written in a 70's pulpy style. The protagonist is human, as is the villian. The mantis-like alien is just a henchman who works for the killer in exchange for all the children he can eat.

So yeah, we should merge the comments onto one thread, and delete the other one.

Ok...how do we do that?

Justanotherbiblophile wrote: "So yeah, we should merge the comments onto one thread, and delete the other one."

Just deleted the other one...

Thomas wrote: "Justanotherbiblophile wrote: "So yeah, we should merge the comments onto one thread, and delete the other one."

Just deleted the other one..."

No, it's still there:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

Please don't delete posts - let a moderator either delete the thread, or ask a moderator to close the thread so no new comments can be posted. It's incredibly confusing when someone deletes their posts in a thread, but everyone else's posts remain.

Ok, I've taken care of the duplicate thread. Only this one will show now.

Since this sounds interesting (I read both sci-fi AND mysteries) I'm hoping it gets IDed fast so that I can see about finding a copy.

Heh, I would've deleted *this* thread. The other one had a comment about the mantis killer?

Not really...I got excited when I saw the Mantis suggestions, but those are not sci-fi. I want to say there was something about an award winner (hugo?) on the back cover, but it my have been a blurb from another author. This book seemed like something a known author would have done under a pseudonym. I can remember being shocked when I read it at around 14-15 (1987?)

Thomas, are you still looking for this book?

Lobstergirl wrote: "Thomas, are you still looking for this book?"

Yes. Haven't heard anything that sounds close yet...

Captain Jack Zodiac?

The Silkie? Doesn't seem a complete match, but one reviewer says: There are three very separate stories in this book, about a mantis-like alien who eats his lovers, a galactic collector of worlds, and the ancient enemies of the Silkies.

Ok guys, after a year of scouring the net the closest book I could find was Walpurgis III by Mike Resnick, right time frame, genre and general plot however crucially it was missing the Praying Mantis henchman. Does anyone else out there have any more thoughts on what this could be?

A longshot, but maybe one of Alan Dean Foster's novels about the Humanx Commonwealth? His aliens, the Thranx, are usually nice, but they do look like praying mantises.

I've had Thranx suggestions before and trawled ADF's works without luck, maybe it was something he wrote under a pseudonym?
I'll keep searching!

Pm13 wrote: "I've had Thranx suggestions before and trawled ADF's works without luck, maybe it was something he wrote under a pseudonym?
I'll keep searching!"

Are you Thomas?

No I'm not Thomas, I messaged him for more info a while ago, haven't heard back yet, but I'm into cult hardboiled Sci-Fi so am keen to locate this title and keep the search alive!

Ok.

Try Lynn Hightower David Silver series, first book Alien Blues 1992 Ace paperback, further novels Alien Heat, Alien Rites, Alien Eyes. In Alien Blues David Silver chases a serial killer dubbed Machete Man helped by an alien partner, an Elaki who " looks like a seven foot stingray ".

Links for Zane's suggestions - https://www.goodreads.com/series/9702... - Alien Blues by Lynn S. Hightower

So the closest fit suggested so far seems to be The Antenna Syndrome by Alan Marks aka Alan Annand from 1979.
It looks like it had a revamp in 2014 for re-release as an ebook.

The Antenna Syndrome / Alan Marks or Antenna Syndrome / Alan Annand for Pm13's suggestion.

Technically this should be moved down to Abandoned since the OP hasn't done anything since those early posts. But, I'm like PM13 and really want to know what this book is, so I'm going to ignore that technicality.

Looks like the original Thomas abandoned that account and then created a new one to post @15, so his most recent post is from 2014.

Thomas, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

I still actively search for this from time to time. Does anyone have any new leads?

Lobstergirl wrote: "Thomas, are you still looking for this or did you find it?"

No response; moving to Abandoned.