Reunion on Alpha Reticuli II

Telemass Quartet #3

by Eric Brown

His quest to find his wife and daughter takes Matt Hendrick to the world of Tourmaline, the luxury resort planet to which millions of tourists from across the Expansion Telemass every month. There Hendrick comes across a telepath who offers to help him trace his wife, but all is not as it seems. And soon it will be Starship Day when an ancient spaceship will arrive in orbit at the end of a voyage lasting five hundred years, bringing much more than Matt expects. And when an alien Effectuator claims he can bring Matt's dead daughter back to life, Matt finds himself caught on the horns of a dilemma. Reunion on Alpha Reticuli II is the third instalment of Eric Brown's thrilling and exotic Telemass Quartet.

Genres: Science Fiction

77 pages, Hardcover

First published April 2, 2016

About the author

Eric Brown was a British science fiction author and Guardian critic.

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric Browns writing has become a must have for me, especially his Science Fiction writing. His easy style, fascinating characters and strange locals hit my happy spots.

The main character in this series of adventures is Matt Hendrick, an ex-policeman from Scandinavia, who's daughter has died and then placed in suspended animation, only to be kidnapped by Matt's wife and her new lover.

As Matt pursues her from planet to planet in order to regain possession of his daughter, we meet new cultures and aliens while his wife and only dead child are always just two steps ahead of Matt.

This is an entertaining series of books designed for escapism and fun. Wherever Matt goes he is also drinking a beer, checking out all the cafe's and bars and running into cagy and crooked characters.

This is the third book in the series, and Eric Brown has numbered the titles of the books in a countdown manor.

The countdown for the Telemass Quartet.so far consists of:

The first volume - "Famadihana on Fomalhaut IV" PS Publishing April 2014
The second novella - "Sacrifice on Spica III" PS Publishing August 2014
The third novella - "Reunion on Alpha Reticuli II" PS Publishing April 2016

This is copy 86 of 100 signed and numbered copies signed by Eric Brown.

[Jack Deighton · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this third instalment of Brown’s ‘Telemass Quartet’ Matt Hendrick is still following one step behind his ex-wife, Maatje, and the sleep pod containing his dead daughter Samantha, this time landing on the resort world of Tourmaline, now awaiting the imminent arrival of a starship despatched long before the days of telemass and whose inmates in suspended animation coldsleep are blissfully unaware of what will greet them. On landing he is rescued from the clutches of one (poor) telepath in Maatje’s employ by another (better) one not so encumbered. This is Mercury Velasquez, who volunteers her help in Hendrick’ s quest.

Unlike in the previous instalment the plot this time is more centred on Hendrick’s pursuit of his daughter. Maatje and her new lover Horvath have engaged the services of a Zuterainian effectuator. who may be able to restore Samantha to life. Velasquez’s telepathic ability reveals the dangers in the procedure. However, no full resolution is achieved (Part Four is still to come after all) and Maatje, Horvath and the insensate Samantha give him the slip again.

No weird religion this time but at least two types of strange alien to be going on with. If I have a criticism it is that the ending (involving arrival of the starship) is perhaps overly sentimental. But Brown has always emphasised human considerations.

[david james · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third book in the Telemass quartet, and, in my humble opinion, the best so far.

This one brings in a couple of telepaths which always makes it interesting for me. Telepaths have featured heavily in some of Eric Browns earlier novels and the Bengal Station series (Necropath, Xenopath and Cosmopath) were my introduction to this author and I've eagerly swallowed up almost everything he's written since. The dilemma of 'how do you tell if a telepath is telling the truth or not' leaves you guessing at the ulterior motives of those who can see what we're thinking

This book also has the added interesting feature of the appearance of a 500 year old colony ship that was sent from Earth before the advent of the 'telemass' network.

The main story, however, continues to be Hendrick's search for his dead daughter (held in stasis) who has been kidnapped by his ex-wife and her lover, who are willing to try any hare-brained alien resurrection trick to return the daughter to health, rather than trust Earth's medical system to find a cure.

For a short novella it fits a lot in, and was a very enjoyable fast read.

[Les · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here we are again, examining some great work from one of my all-time favorite genre authors, who repeatedly fails to disappoint me with his ability to spin fun yarns that are interesting, entertaining and a pure joy to sit back and relax with. I read this series as a single Telemass Quartet volume and reviewed it as one body of work. My full review can be found HERE.

[Lee Pfahler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good

[Pedro Marroquín · Rating 3 out of 5]

Otra novella corta sobre este padre que persigue a su ex-mujer, que robó a su hija muerta, para intentar curarla con todo tipo de religiones y cultos alienigenas. En esta ocasión la historia se junta con la de una nave generacional que va a llegar a un planeta ya colonizado (la ciencia avanzó con el transcurso del tiempo y adelantó a la nave) y dónde hay telepatas que van a ayudar a los recién llegados, aunque una ayuda a nuestro protagonista. Se deja leer bien, pero nada más. C+