Solo - Softcover

Solo, the charming superrobot who was left to drown at the end of Mason's Weapon (1989), found that his waterproofing was better than design specs called for. His fans should be quite pleased that he has bobbed back up. Every bit as personable as Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator but, with his black Bakelite exterior, less--well--human, Solo has pulled himself back from the bottom of the ocean, paid a courtesy call on his adopted Nicaraguan family, wowed a Stone Age Indian tribe, hacked into the Defense satellite-computer system for an update on the military-industrial complex, watched old movies to brush up on the fine points of being human, and stowed away in the bilges of a banana boat on his way to New York. In Manhattan, he hooks up with a brokenhearted bag-lady whom he reconstructs and with whom he builds a thriving business based on his marvelous ability to talk heart-to-heart with the computers at Merrill Lynch, Shearson Lehman Bros., and Nomura Securities. Solo needs his newly earned fortune to rebuild his batteries so he can go disconnect from Con Ed and go to Florida. He wants to rescue his younger, stronger brother, an Army colonel who's programmed to kill without question. Solo can't do it alone. He needs the help of his brilliant and filthy-rich inventor, who is only too glad to leave the office and have some fun. The techno-thrills are secondary to such amusements as Solo adapting to N.Y.C. and N.Y.C. adapting, more or less, to Solo. Much fun for the techno-credulous. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

In this sequel to his well-received first novel Weapon , Mason again weaves SF into a techno-thriller plot to produce a fast-moving action-adventure novel. Having faked his own destruction at the end of Weapon , killer-robot-with-heart Solo goes into hiding in a Central American village. But gung-ho Admiral Finch and his computer-hack partner Brooks learn that Solo is still loose and plan a search-and-destroy mission. The robot heads for New York to contact the other killer robot in development, Nimrod, which is currently in trainingwhat does this mean? under the malevolent Colonel Sawyer, who uses electronic pain to reinforce instruction.better?ss /now i get it/ pre Meanwhile, Solo's creator, Bill Stewart, has determined to save Solo, Nimrod and himself from the clutches of the military. Sawyer and Finch want to use Nimrod to trap and destroy Solo; Solo wants to save Nimrod and teach him to become a freethinking individual; and the novel hurtles toward a violent climax. The action is quick and entertaining, Solo is a likable personality and Mason handles the character relationships with panache, but most of the plot twists and angles are moribund and cliched. Not a bad diversion, but little else. BOMC featured alternate; QPB alternate.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.