Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Nylund's sequel to last year's Signal to Noise opens where its predecessor ended: in orbit around the destroyed Earth, in the year 2071, as rogue cryptographer Jack Potter hides with a few comrades in his secret base on the Moon. Betrayed and haunted by a mysterious alien named Wheeler, who had given him Gateway, a teleportation device, Jack now fights for his life as his asylum is sabotaged by one of his fellows, attacked by his former business partner and penetrated by the insane gene witch Zero, who kidnaps one of Jack's crew members. Through a fiery space battle, Jack and his cohorts escape, only to be contacted by yet another advanced alien race, referring to itself as "Gersham" and offering to hide them from the relentless, bloodthirsty Wheeler. But if Gersham's offer is genuine, why does Jack hesitate to accept? Reunited with three allies--his lover, Panda, a former Chinese spy; Reno, a former double agent; and his old competitor, Dr. Bruner--Jack must not only produce a cure for a schizophrenic disease that threatens to destroy the few humans left, but figure out how to rescue humanity from Wheeler's evil grasp. Crackling with action, techno wizardry and sexual tension, Nylund's novel also features an unlikely mix of cyberpunk sensibility and a heartening focus on character and humanity. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
After the destruction of Earth by an alien "businessman" known as Wheeler, cryptographer Jack Potter and a handful of survivors take refuge on the moon. Pursued by Wheeler and suspicious of one another, they find that their only hope lies in out-dealing the universe's most deadly con artist. Set in a far future where the line between virtual and actual reality has become blurred, the sequel to Signal to Noise combines fast-paced action with cloak-and-dagger intrigue and an imaginative approach to the end of the world as we know it. For most sf collections. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Sequel to Nylund's VR/alien-contact yarn, Signal to Noise (1998). Wheeler, an amoral alien who plunders and then obliterates technological civilizations, duped computer whiz Jack Potter into helping him. But when Wheeler destroyed the Earth, Jack escaped by means of an instantaneous-transfer "gateway." Also eluding Wheeler were ultra-competitive trader Isabel and geneticist Zero, who fled to their own hidden planets, while computer-enhanced spy Panda, warrior Safa, and drunk mathematician Harold Bruner took refuge at Jack's moonbase. Now Jack is battling two saboteurs, and his computer's gone batty. Another survivor shows up, but Jack trusts the devious spy Reno not at all. Wheeler declares that he'll kill one of Jack's friends within 24 hours unless Jack agrees to work for him again. Gersham, another alien, offers sanctuary from Wheeler but won't name his price. Zero, it emerges, has infected them all with his new enzyme, supposedly to enhance their brainpower; instead, it drives everyone schizophrenically gaga. They can't escape to another planet because the gateway's power source is depleted, and, in any case, Wheeler's bugged the gateway and would follow them. Gersham, it transpires, is Wheeler's ex-associate, differing from his partner in that he tortures plundered civilizations instead of annihilating them. Isabel's enzymically helpless, crazy Zero has grabbed Safa, Panda's dying, and the clock's ticking toward Wheeler's deadline. Rather claustrophobic, what with the small cast and tenuous contact with reality. But, nonetheless, mind-bogglingly inventive, with astounding special effects and a headlong, pulse-pounding, do-or-die narrative.
