Parker Strikes Again...

UNDERCURRENTS by Robert Buettner (2011 Baen Books / 402 pp / tp & mmp)

The second in Buettner's Jazen Parker military sci-fi series takes place two years after the events of OVERKILL. Parker's now a saloon owner in a space station, when he's enlisted back into action after one of his former partners, Kit, goes missing on a corrupt, primitive planet where his father has much history.

The action comes fast and furious (as it should in this subgenre) and rarely lets up. But there's plenty of meat here, too; fans of Buettner's previous Jason Wander ORPHANGE series will be in geek heaven as much of that series is referenced. We learn more about Parker's father, and as always Buettner's way of bringing vintage military vehicles/weapons into a futuristic story gives the whole thing a unique spin. One scene inside an abandoned church's bell tower is to die-for exciting.

With crab monsters, all types of aquatic creatures, warring factions, traitors, a tough-as-nails 11 year-old girl (!) and some old-school tanks thrown in for good measure, UNDERCURRENTS is yet another bone-crunching good time, and nicely sets up the forthcoming third novel (BALANCE POINT).

I'm absolutely loving this series.