Johan Eschbach, Professor of Environmental Science and semi-retired secret agent, and his lovely wife the world-renowned singer Llysette, return for another adventure, this time in Russia, during the long 'white nights' of summer. Their world is an intriguing alternate present in which many things are changed. What we know as the eastern U.S. is the nation of Columbia, and Russia is still ruled by the Czars. Llysette is being sent by the Columbian government on a cultural exchange mission to St. Petersburg. Johan will, of course, accompany her, allowing him to work behind the scenes on the oil concession in Russian Alaska that Columbia so desperately needs. But even the oil shortage will fade to insignificance when Johan discovers what new weapons technology the Russians are developing, a threat even more fearsome than the atomic bombs of Austro-Hungary. This is the concluding novel of the of alternate history adventure trilogy that Modesitt began with Of Tangible Ghosts and The Ghost of the Revelator.
From Publishers Weekly
Modesitt's writerly tics, so obtrusive in his Recluce fantasy series (The Magic Engineer), seem less annoying than usual in this routine SF novel set in an alternative universe in which the Dutch, not the British, controlled the American colonies. Narrator Johan Eschbach's preachy tone makes the author's frequent infodumps more palatable than in other works, for example, though no less arrhythmic. While Eschbach, a college professor, pads the narrative with his lectures and the presentation of his academic life, his former profession as a government operative comes directly into play as he uncovers a conspiracy. In this world, where unnaturally dead souls remain visible, a plot is afoot in the highest levels of government to capture these "tangible" souls using "difference engines" (i.e., computers). Meanwhile, after a music teacher named Miranda is killed, her ghost spurs Eschbach to find her murderer-though the killer's identity isn't as veiled as Modesitt probably wishes, and Eschbach's technological solutions to the novel's mysteries won't hold most readers' interest (the most engrossing moments here involve a Shakespeare-quoting shade; again there is a link to The Tempest, as in the McKillip review above). Moreover, the overly familiar plot and its complications aren't saved by the author's presenting Eschbach's personal relationship with a singer named Llysette as little more than a plot complication.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
As university professor and former government agent Johan Eshbach reluctantly returns to duty to investigate the death of a fellow teacher, he plunges into the midst of a deadly game of politics and murder. Set in an alternate world where the Dutch settlement of North America did not give way to the British, where "difference engines" handle information processing, and where the psychic energies of ghostly manifestations exert their influence over the living, Modesitt's latest novel transforms a cliched plot into a vivid exercise in historic speculation. The author of the "Recluce" fantasy series (The Towers of the Sunset, Tor Bks., 1992) excels in using subtle details to enhance the credibility of an imaginary parallel world. A good choice for sf collections.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.