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TekWar (TekWar #1)

3.09 of 5 stars 3.09 · rating details · 574 ratings · 50 reviews

TekWar is the story of ex-cop Jake Cardigan, who's framed for dealing an addictive brain stimlant called Tek and sentenced to fifteen years of suspended animation. Now, mysteriously released after four years in the "Freezer," Cardigan is on the loose...and out for justice.

Paperback, 307 pages

Published August 1st 1990 by Ace (first published 1989)

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Jun 06, 2008 josie rated it 1 of 5 stars

what you get when you mix TJ Hooker and Star Trek with someone who can not write.

6 likes · like · see review

Apr 08, 2013 Twohundred rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hardcovers

I keep this around for a couple reasons.

1) I found it for less than a dollar in a goodwill-type store in Austin a couple years ago. If only all scifi could be found this way! Oh wait, that would mean that they (authors) would never get any money and Scientifiction would stop being published, only to be replaced by endless Twilight fan-fic...

2) It shows that books and albums are very similar. This book is an example of an album with one hit single on it, the first track. The first chapter has som...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Spiro rated it 2 of 5 stars

The picture on the cover with a space ship heading toward a space city is completely deceptive. This book is not that kind of space adventure. It's just a cop story. And not a very good one either.

The writing style seemed very familiar, and when I did some research, I found that it was ghost written by Ron Goulart. As soon as I discovered that it clicked. This is very much his style. The way characters split their sentences and refer to a character's name mid-sentence, and the way he splits his...more The picture on the cover with a space ship heading toward a space city is completely deceptive. This book is not that kind of space adventure. It's just a cop story. And not a very good one either.

The writing style seemed very familiar, and when I did some research, I found that it was ghost written by Ron Goulart. As soon as I discovered that it clicked. This is very much his style. The way characters split their sentences and refer to a character's name mid-sentence, and the way he splits his speech mid-sentence with a reference to the character talking.

The deception is something I'm used to with Goulart as well. Read Galaxy Jane? The blurb makes you think it's about a space pirate called Galaxy Jane, and the title goes along with this clever ruse. However, the book itself is just about some people making a movie about Galaxy Jane.

I haven't read any other Goulart books, but with these two, it strikes me that he loves writing about the mundane. There's no big epic space action. The characters are mundane, the situations are mundane, the technology is for the most part mundane -- although perhaps that's because I'm looking at it from a point of view where the technology has changed enough since this book was written, and that I am very technically competent, so most of what I read just makes me yawn. The only technology in TekWar that could be seen as predictive of a future trend was print-on-demand books.

Take out the technology in TekWar, replace the "chip" Tek drug with cocaine or methamphetamines, replace the android sidekick, who is a replica of one of the people he's hunting, and replace the stun guns with tasers, and you have perfectly run-of-the-mill cop fiction. None of those technologies in the book were an integral part of the story.

It wasn't a bad read, but it's not what I expect from science fiction. I own the followup, Tek Lords, but it's pretty low on my priority queue now. Thankfully I got the two books in a huge box I picked up at a book fair for $20. I'd certainly be upset if I had paid full price for this.(less)

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Dec 05, 2012 Stephen Ormsby rated it 3 of 5 stars

I will open this review by saying I wanted to like this book. It is William Shatner, legend of stage and screen for shagging alien females of all colours. You can’t really say shapes and sizes as they were always curvy by human standards. I expected this to be Star Trek-ish with a healthy dose of James T. Kirk thrown in.

What did I get? A novel that I don’t think was written by Shatner to start with. Ron Goulart had a huge part in doing the leg work for this book and is even acknowledged by Shatn...more

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Oct 23, 2012 Robert Sanders rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Sci-Fi geeks, fans of Shatner, etc.

Recommended to Robert by: My dad, because he found it on the shelf.

From the mind of one of the main characters from one of my favorite TV shows, comes a surprisingly good book.

I originally grabbed this off on of the shelves in Half Price Books because I noticed it was written by William Shatner; an actor in Stark Trek (James T. Kirk), and a number of other TV shows and movies. I am a fan of Star Trek, so I figured a book by an actor of Star Trek would be pretty interesting. I wasn't wrong.
I liked this book, but honestly not as much as some others I've read. As...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Christopher Hivner rated it 3 of 5 stars

In Tek War, Jake Cardigan is an ex-cop who has spent four years in jail for crimes he says he didn’t commit. He gets out early after serving only part of his sentence. When he gets home he learns that his wife has divorced him, taken their son and moved to Mexico. He then finds out the person who got him out early was a man who owns a detective agency that Cardigan’s old partner works for. So they partner up again to find a missing professor and his daughter whose aircraft crashed in the jungles...more

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Aug 11, 2012 James rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is a work of entertainment. Like a guilty pleasure movie, it is one that if you ponder too long or invite too much critique of, it will lose its polish and gloss. If, however, one wants to be entertained and engaged only in the entertainment and not critical analysis, then this work is a lot of fun. Will you find yourself quoting it a week later? Probably not, but I enjoyed it for the work that it was, an engaging little tale that does not aim to be the next work of William Gibson, but...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Frank rated it 2 of 5 stars

Want a book about William Shatner running around making love to people on other planets and fighting an multi-planet shadow organization?

Then get Tekwar!

I wish I was joking, if you ever tried to write something with out training, or ever read something someone wrote and as you read it, you realized that the book is just a god complex or hero complex on paper, where the writer wants their character to be the most awesome thing in the world, and gives them no flaws, you're already on the right t...more

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Aug 21, 2010 Jason Mills rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Beach-readers, Trekkies...

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction

I have a lot of time for William Shatner, so I wanted to like this; but it was nothing much. Our hero Jake Cardigan is a 22nd-century cop, framed and incarcerated for dealing in Tek, a kind of electronic wish-fulfilment 'drug'. (Why these Tek chips can only be used once remains unanswered...) Strings are pulled by a detective agency to have him released so that he can track down a missing scientist, who may have invented a technology that would destroy the Tek trade.

Shatner's is an endearingly o...more

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Feb 26, 2012 Timothy McNeil rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, also-a-movie

Having recently read four different books on the "how-to's" (and one specifically titled [u]How Not to Write a Novel[/u], I can safely assume that if your name is William Shatner, and you have a large built-in fanbase from TV and movies, then those rules don't apply to you.
I wasn't so much bothered by Shatner's story, but rather how lazy and allowing his editors were. There may not be spelling errors or missing punctuation, but Shatner repeats words to often and in too close proximity. Everythin...more

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Nov 22, 2012 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

This book is pretty lame, but I still enjoyed it well enough. The science fiction tendency to combine words to make new ones is here. Like durasteel and flimsiplast in Star Wars. It's been overdone and though it sometimes works it doesn't here. Plaschair is not a futuristic thing at all. We have them and we call them chairs. I'm sitting in one right now. There are several instances like this. Others just sound stupid like lazgun.

He starts out with too many adjectives in his descriptions of thing...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Todd Russell rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, detective

Jake Cardigan is awakened from a prison sentence 'freeze' and goes to work on a missing persons case. There is a little action here and there, but most centers around trying to find somebody and catch up with how much his life has changed since he was sentenced for his involvement with the mind altering drug Tek. The story moves fairly swiftly and is described as sort of a hybrid between Shatner's TJ Hooker and Captain Kirk type character from Star Trek. Cardigan is a somewhat interesting charac...more

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Aug 31, 2011 David Caldwell rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: series, sci-fi

I read a review that called this a mix of Star Trek and T.J.Hooker written by a bad author.First off, William Shatner had help writing this from Ron Goulart (he even thanks him in his acknowledgements).Secondly it isn't badly written at all.But the rest of his description ( meant as an insult I am sure)is fairly accurate.The funny thing is both Star Trek and T.J.Hooker were fun action series that did well.Likewise the opening book in the Tek series is a fast-paced fun adventure. A little grittie...more

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Jul 14, 2008 Patrick rated it 2 of 5 stars

The story itself is passable, but one feels that an editor should have had a heavier hand with the finished product. Shatner probably only got this published because he was famous to begin with.

1 like · like · see review

Jul 07, 2007 Chris Wolfe rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

It's true - if you go to the library without your book list, you're likely to pick up books written by WFS. Not exactly a TOTAL waste of time, but damn close.

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Jan 25, 2013 Patrick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I should probably give this 3 stars but it's Shatner! Bill rates an extra star for his awesomeness. Anyway, a joke on the Simpsons had led me to believe this was one of the worst books ever, but it wasn't so bad. It could have used a real editor to clean it up a little. Too many instances of phrases like "came running" and "came charging" and so forth where you could just say ran or charged. The story itself wasn't bad, a fairly decent sci-fi detective story that borrows primarily from "Blade Ru...more

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Mar 16, 2012 Ray Daley rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: good-to-re-read

In 1990 William Shatner was between jobs and looking at what to do next in his career so he wrote a book. Its highly contested exactly how much of that book he actually wrote and how much was written or helped along by Ron Goulart who is claimed did most if not all of the donkey work for the entire series of books as it is very similar to the plot of a book that Goulart wrote called Brainz Inc in 1985.

In the acknowledgments page Shatner does thank Goulart stating "He did an enormous amount of wo...more In 1990 William Shatner was between jobs and looking at what to do next in his career so he wrote a book. Its highly contested exactly how much of that book he actually wrote and how much was written or helped along by Ron Goulart who is claimed did most if not all of the donkey work for the entire series of books as it is very similar to the plot of a book that Goulart wrote called Brainz Inc in 1985.

In the acknowledgments page Shatner does thank Goulart stating "He did an enormous amount of work" so make of that what you will, regardless of who wrote it the book is a darn good read.

Set in the 22nd Century we follow the fortunes of Jake Cardigan, a disgraced former cop who is certain he was framed in a case involving Tek. Tek is the drug of the future and an idea blatently stolen from William Gibson in that it involves direct stimulation of the brain by electronic means, the description of the Tek brainbox reads like something straight out of a Gibson novel or short story. Tek itself comes in chip form and gives the user a fantasy of their choosing but is also addictive.

Jake has been in cryoprison for four years of a 15 year sentance and has been released early thanks to his friend Sid Gomez & the Cosmos Detective Agency on an insurance case to find missing scientist Dr Leon Kittridge and his daughter Beth who were both involved in cutting edge research dedicated to making Tek no longer a viable means by using oscillation to destroy all Tek chips all over the planet.

It is surmised that the Kittridges have been killed or kidnapped by a Tek Lord called Sonny Hokori who has risen from small time crook to big time crime boss in the 4 years Jake has been frozen in prison. There is also a family involvement for Jake as Hokoris partner is an electronics specialist called Bennett Sands who Jakes ex-wife Kate (who divorced him whilst he was on ice) is now shacked up with.

As an added confusion the Kittridges were last seen in a part of Mexico now run by an ex girlfriend turned Guerilla Leader of Jakes known as Warbride.

The book follows Jake as he traces the path of the Kittridges back to Mexico and his trials & tribulations with Cyborgs, Kamikaze Androids and just about everything else that could possibly get in his way including killer robotic bulls that breath fire.

Along the way Jake loses his partner Gomez to injury and meets a robot copy of Beth Kittridge who proves to be extremely helpful in many difficult corners.

We also have an encounter with Jakes son and get a generally interesting look into Shatner or Goulets vision of the 22nd Century. The book is fairly compelling and quite a page turner and will certainly keep you hooked into the story if this kind of scifi is your thing. I can highly recommend it for its various twists & turns, I can't say how good it is against its television counterpart though having never seen it.
(less)

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Dec 01, 2008 Jason rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Sci-fi fans

I picked up “TekWar” for a nickel at Helping Hands and decided to give it a whirl. I was curious if William Shatner was a good writer, and also if the story was good. I was pleasantly surprised to find the book easy to read and highly imaginative.
The setting that is presented has no room for questions. It’s the future, robots are common (and very humanlike in their attitudes), cars fly, and otherwise life does not seem so different. There cops, clubs, video telephones, jobs, and drugs. The que...more

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May 12, 2008 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is William Shatner's first work of fiction. He creates an imaginative future populated with robots, androids and flying cars. It is unique in that it begins with our hero being released from prison; a former cop, Jake Cardigan was convicted of being both a user and a dealer of a dangerous, addictive drug called Tek. The drug is a type of computer program the user hooks to his mind, allowing him to create any fantasy desired. However, not only is the drug addictive, it can also eventually de...more

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Mar 23, 2008 Rob rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

The edition I have has no blurb on the back cover, just a huge photo of Shatner, staring out at you, piercingly.

What features the man has! What mystique, what writing talent!

I quite enjoyed this, actually. It's trashy, and doesn't occupy the mind too much, but it bumbles along at a fair pace and I even found myself a little disappointed to find the story incomplete and waiting for the next installment.

Shatner's universe isn't terribly well developed, but has some nice shades and is padded out in...more

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Jul 04, 2010 Gary Norris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

Granted it may not be the deepest novel ever written but TekWar remains a fun ride, with some cool ideas, likeable characters and constant, entertaining set-pieces - I can't help but have a special place in my heart for this book.

Plus, it's hard not to imagine the main character (who bears the slightly silly name "Jake Cardigan") as the author, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on your perspective...

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Jan 13, 2013 Janne Järvinen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi

Somewhat generic detective action, makes for a decent time-waster.

Some parts, not many, flirt with being so bad they are good again, in an ironic way.

It did also get me thinking. The casual way this story mixes humans, robots, and cyborgs really blurs the the line on what is human and what artificial. Most stories with these themes are bland black and white human-good-robot-bad bores, so the unapologetic mishmash in this book came as a positive surprise.

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May 16, 2012 Gregor Stocks rated it 5 of 5 stars

plascup
skycar
medibot
plastiglass
stilthouses
skyambulance
swingdoor
medjacket
brainscanners
plastiglass
vidnews
faxpaper
blowup
powergliders
voxbox
plastiglass
sunbrown
faxcopies
plascarton
lazguns
tinchair
faxpaper
sidearmed
full-dimensional
neorayon
neosteel
bioprocess
aircab
lazgun
lighttubing
fakesilk
plaschairs
vidwall
walkramps
knifehand
plyochief

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Jul 03, 2010 Susan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

how anyone could read this book and give it more than one star is beyond me. Shatner's literary abilities rival those of a sea urchin. every character is introduced by a description of their weight, height, and eye color, with all the creative vocabulary of a driver's license. his priceline commercials are more gripping, his cover of "rocketman" has more depth.

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Dec 13, 2012 Steve Grobschmidt rated it 3 of 5 stars

I remember really liking this as a kid. It doesn't hold up quite as well now. The writing style isn't going to win any awards (the main character thinks out loud far more often than anyone rightly should), and no character really stands out.

In short, it's just good mindless reading (I read the whole thing over a couple short plane rides).

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Jun 26, 2012 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

These books are not as bad as people on here make it sound, but they are not as great as I have heard from others either. Most of the discussion of these books has to do with the personality of the author (or creator at least.) This series blends elements of TJ Hooker and Star Trek, the two projects that Shatner has worked the most on. It definately has fun elements of science fiction with a cyber-punk kind of feel, but really they are more like detective novels than science fiction novels. The...more

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Mar 28, 2009 Brett rated it 2 of 5 stars

Got this book at a library book sale for 50 cents. I didn't realize that Shatner had written any books so I figured I'd give the Priceline Negotiator a try. It was ok. It's a quick and easy read and he stuck to his sci-fi roots. If you've got nothing better to do, give it a shot.

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Apr 08, 2012 Hannah Bungard rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

I love this book. However, it's terrible. And I love it.

Imagine a bad story, filled with terribly-named characters and then add the word 'plas' in front of everything to make it sound more futuristic. That's how awful this book is. Complete genius.

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Nov 29, 2012 Kristi rated it 2 of 5 stars

Deliciously dated and in need of a talented ghost writer (and a heavy-handed editor), the story still had some promising meat to it. It was very much a product of its time (and author), but not a total loss. It's that much better if you read it in Shatner's voice :)

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Aug 08, 2011 Alan Hoffman added it

Harlan Ellison, in the published version of his script The City on the Edge of Forever says (among other things about Shatner) that most of these were written by Ron Goulart.

Not bad, though.

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About William Shatner

William Shatner is the author of nine Star Trek novels, including the New York Times bestsellers The Ashes of Eden and The Return. He is also the author of several nonfiction books, including Get a Life! and I'm Working on That. In addition to his role as Captain James T. Kirk, he stars as Denny Crane in the hit television series from David E. Kelley, Boston Legal -- a role for which he has won tw...more

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TekWar (TekWar #1)

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