THE CAT WHO WALKS THROUGH WALLS

A notably schizophrenic Heinlein—of which the first two thirds, despite frequent pauses to belabor the obvious and indulge in idiotic chat, is fairly enjoyable action-adventure. Aboard the space habitat Golden Rule, Dr. Richard Ames and Gwen Novak are plunged into a bewildering and dangerous series of events when an unexpected, possibly phony messenger is mysteriously murdered after delivering a peculiar message. The Golden Rule management inexplicably begins to harass the pair; so they flee Moon-wards—in a sabotaged spacecraft. And waiting for them on the Moon are plenty more bad guys, all bent on murder. What's going on? Well, first Gwen reveals that she's really a rejuvenated Hazel Stone! Her mission involves Mike (Mycroft Holmes IV), the now inactive intelligent computer from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Then, as a horde of baddies closes in, some interdimensional, time-traveling rescuers show up—led by Lazarus Long! At this point, alas, the plot walks through the wall—and the final third of the book is mostly explanations. There are many realities, and each can be changed; hence, a group of benevolent heroes—including the Empress Star and Rufo, Jubal Harshaw, and other favorite Heinlein characters—are striving to prevent two different sets of bad guys from ruinously meddling with reality. The good guys need computer Mike to help them make more accurate predictions—thus Hazel's mission; and Richard Ames is vital to the success of the operation—because the good guys' future history books say so! Curious, rather obsessive work in its forced, unnecessary parade of familiar figures from disparate novels; the effect is sometimes engrossing but just as often tedious, and the windup is disappointingly vague and undramatic. Still, Heinlein fans should be reasonably satisfied.