Skyripper

Tom Kelly #1

by David Drake

Sky Ripper (Mass Market Paperback) by David Drake (Author)

Genres: Science Fiction, Espionage

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 31, 1983

About the author

David Drake is an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran who has worked as a lawyer, he is now one of the major authors of the military science fiction genre.

Reviews

[Peter Tillman]

JD Nicoll gave it this writeup @tor.com:
"Conveniently for the United States of America, while Professor Vlasov developed his innovative method of transforming H-bomb output into directed particle beams while working for the Soviets, the professor is a crank. Convinced aliens are going to invade, equally convinced that the Soviets cannot turn his concept into reality fast enough to save Earth, he will provide the Americans with his ideas (if an American agent can deliver him alive to the US).

More conventional cannons enter into the professor’s plans in an unconventional way. The US’s rocket resources would not be sufficient to deliver the professor’s gadgets to orbit in quantities large enough to save Earth. The professor’s suggestion?

These are small packages, I tell you. Shoot them into orbit. Twenty years ago, you and the Canadians were doing this, two battleship cannon end to end…. How could the aliens invade when the Earth is ready to fire scores of new defensive satellites into orbit in a few hours?"

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first of two near-future thrillers that Drake wrote featuring Tom Kelly. The suspense/thriller aspect gets more emphasis than the science fiction, with a bit of romance and military adventure thrown in for good measure. It's not at the top of Drake's work compared to Hammer or Leary, but it's a captivating page-turner from forty years ago. The politics and technology have passed it by, of course, but that always happens.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get ready for some spy action, when Tom Kelly is on the scene, you need to be buckled up and ready to go. Why would a Russian Scientist who loves his country want to defect to the USA? Especially since he was working on the project of a lifetime, a way to stop nuclear weapons before they got farther from their silo's than a few 100 miles? Even Tom Kelly can't believe it's because the Space Aliens are coming, not just to kill our little old Russian defector, but everyone, and there is only enough time to get something made to stop them if Vlasov gets the Americans to help him build it.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I debated with myself whether to give this book two or three stars. Ultimately, I decided that I enjoyed it enough for three. Skyripper is one of Drake's earlier novels. Though rather formulaic (hero meets girl, hero gets girl, hero incidentally saves the world) it is well written and engaging. The pacing is good, moving evenly between the protagonist's introspective monologues and military violence. If testosterone-soaked, larger-than-life military adventure is your cup of tea, this story will satisfy.

Recommended for young adult+; graphic violence, obscenities, explicit sex.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much thriller as SF. One of Drake's earliest books, I believe. Good, but not as good as the Hammer's Slammers books or some of his other work.