THE GANYMEDE CLUB

A second yarn set in the medium-future, war-devastated solar system of Cold as Ice (1992), with some of the characters in common. In the year 2032, the crew of the ship Marklake are exploring a tiny moon of Saturn when they stumble upon a slime-like alien life-form that confers immortality. They form the Ganymede Club, dedicated to protecting their own long-term interests and keeping the secret of their fountain of youth. In 2063, on Mars, super-gambler Danny Clay, hiding under another identity, interviews a striking young woman who wants to know, barring accidents, how long she might live. The woman soon turns up dead—and so does Danny Clay. War devastates the solar system in 2067; Lola Belman and her young brother, Spook, escape from Earth to Ganymede. Five years later, Lola, now a ``haldane'' or futuristic shrink, accepts a client, Bryce Sonnenberg, who suffers mysterious blackouts following which he recalls memories (?) of places he's never visited. Spook teams up with the weird, reclusive computer genius, Bat, to try and solve the problem of Bryce's past. Meanwhile, the ruthless Ganymede Club members are also taking an interest in Bryce—somehow he seems to have acquired the memories of Danny Clay, whom they assassinated on Mars! So: Will Lola, Spook, and Bat solve the riddle of Bryce's past before the Club's assassin, Jinx Barker, murders them all? Another intriguing and involving effort, whose one possible drawback is that it doesn't chronologically advance the persuasively detailed scenario Sheffield has already expertly mapped out.