TEKLAB

This third futuristic crime adventure by Star Trek's Shatner (TekWar, 1989; TekLords, p. 571) displays the same cardboard characterization, predictable plotting, and lackluster prose as before. Once again, private detectives Jake Cardigan and Sid Gomez tangle with the nefarious international dealers of Tek, a mind- altering electronic ``drug.'' The case this time begins with a grisly murder in the style of an elusive serial killer, the Unknown Soldier, but Jake and Gomez have reason to believe it was really the work of the Tek cartels; and through a series of unlikely contrivances and convenient informants, the detectives uncover a plot that links the Tek dealers to a conspiracy (believe it or not!) to restore the banished monarchy to power in England. Along the way, Jake's son Dan, Dan's girlfriend Nancy, and Jake's ex-wife Kate get involved, and the whole family heads for a climatic conclusion aboard a luxury resort satellite, the Caribbean Colony. Shatner's future world is as generic and unconvincing as his characters, and the fast-paced action that carried the other Jake Cardigan adventures is tired and limp here. If this is where Shatner's writing career is headed, one wishes he would return to TV.