Rereading: FRIDAY by Robert A. Heinlein

Cover art by Richard Powers

Published in 1982, this is the second of five novels from Heinlein in the 1980s, the last years of his life, and my favorite of those. There’s less talk and more story action than the others, and the main character is appealing.

Friday works as a clandestine courier for an organization run by an elderly man she knows only as Boss. Earth in the story is quite different from our world in many ways. America, for instance, is broken up into several countries, and a few powerful corporations wield as much control as any of the national governments. There are colonies on the moon and Mars, as well as several in space, and travel to them is often done by a very tall elevator nicknamed The Beanstalk. Friday is returning from a delivery to one of the space colonies on that elevator when she realizes she’s being followed. Forced to act quickly, she kills her tail, and flees back to her home base near Chicago. There she finds that base in the hands of enemies, and Friday is soon captured and tortured. So begins a difficult and eventful time in her life.

Friday has special training and abilities, and also a secret that would make her feared and hated by many if known. That secret, and her upbringing, fills her with insecurity and self-loathing. The book is in part a quest for connections, friends, and lovers she can trust, ones that will accept her for what she really is, and who will help her accept herself. A group family in New Zealand seems an answer, but turns out all wrong. Other new friends in Canada are a better fit, but then a series of political assassinations turn everything in Friday’s world to chaos. She’s desperate to get back to the Boss and his group, but new border restrictions make that very difficult, and then she must go on the run to avoid Canadian police. How can Friday find her way in this troubled world, even with all her skills, when she can’t know who to trust?

A fine read, the story wanders around a bit, but it’s all interesting, and quite satisfying in the end. Recommended.

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