Unlike most John Walker books, this on has several story threads going on, but it’s not that hard to keep up. I think that’s due to how well this book is written and how interesting all the threads continue to be. Impossible as it may seem, Sam Levine, a small time criminal has switched lives with Aldo Cassidy, a rich guy who was getting drafted. Sam was tired of his life and especially tired of the situation he was finding himself in. He had stolen something very valuable right from Security Corps HQ and they were definitely mad about it. The something he stole was given to a minor criminal boss who later found out the device was bogus. So now Sam has made the crime family Constance mad at him too!
Meanwhile, Aldo wanted nothing to do with the military, but there didn’t seem to be a way out of his draft predicament. If he didn’t report, he’d be arrested and spend quite a few years in prison which he definitely didn’t want. But if he went into the military, he figured he had a good chance of getting killed with the coming war with either the Talmar or the Gorlan. So, he had the money to find another alternative.
Both men met with a scientist who said he could switch their identities and no one would be the wiser. Of course he didn’t disclose who he would switch them with and he really didn’t care as long as they both look reasonable alike and of course paid him lots of money. He did the deed and sure enough, Sam Levine woke from the treatment and now he was Aldo Cassidy. Likewise, Aldo Cassidy woke to find himself in the body of Sam Levine. Confusing yet, but even more so for these two guys.
Sam was still a wanted criminal and he was being hunted on Mars. Everyone wanted him and he had no where to hide because he didn’t have the real Sam Levine’s knowledge of the criminal world. Still, he manage to contact Shep, a colleague of Sam’s, and she helped him get off the planet although it wasn’t easy. Meanwhile Aldo decided that his quickest was off the planet was through the military. He went in but to his surprise he found himself a commissioned officer which wasn’t as bad as the thought. Of course this Aldo had no idea how a military officer was supposed to act or even do. So both of these guys are having some serious trials trying to adapt to their new lives.
Then there’s the Security Corps Justiciar Caden Raines. He’s out to get Sam Levine. He doesn’t care if they switched bodies or what since he doesn’t know anything about that. All he knows is that this Sam has done something no other criminal has ever done and that was to walk right into Security Corps HQ and seal something of high value. He now knows that Sam has managed to leave Mars and has gone to the planet Constantine, the home planet of the criminal family by the same name. Meanwhile, the daughter of the Corporate Board has been abducted. They believe she has been taken to the same planet he’s headed for so his boss tells him to redirect his efforts to find Jenna Oslow.
So, by now you can see all these story lines merging. They are doing so on the planet Constantine where outlaws flourish and even Security Corps Justiciars aren’t welcomed nor usually obeyed. Yet, things are going to take place here that affect a lot of the characters in the story. Sam Levine and Shep have crashed landed on Constantine when their pilot turned agains them. So now they much find a why to avoid the planet-wide scavengers that will kill or take anything you have while they also have to find some way to convince the Constantine family that Sam didn’t do the things he’s accused of. Same as the former Aldo Cassidy, is something of a financial genius. He can make money for the crime bosses if only they’ll listen to him.
Aldo Cassidy is now leading Naval Rapid Response team aboard the *Arden*. That ship is preparing to go deep into Talmar space looking for an abandoned space station that was supposed to contain a large amount of research on the Gorlans. If the humans and Talmar were going to jointly fight these deadly aliens, they both needed this information. For some unknown reason, the Talmar had abandoned the station a while back and no had been there since. So, Aldo and his small team were going to breach the space station and find the data core. Nothing ever is as easy as it sounds.
Ok, so there’s what’s going on now. It’s a lot, but if you know the characters, it’s pretty easy to switch gears every chapter. I like the way the book was written with everything seeming to be very interesting. Some of it, like the parts with Jenna Oslow are very surprising so that’s good. Nothing gets finished in this book so book 4, “Threat Identified”, will continue with all the story lines. It’s available on Amazon right now.