T2: Infiltrator

HarperEntertainment, 2002. Near Fine. Based on the world created in the motion picture written by James Cameron a nd William Wisher, this superior franchise fiction is the next best thing t o Terminator 3. Stirling (Against the Tide of Years, etc.) is a skillful wr iter of action SF who has studied both the first Terminator (1984) and Term inator 2: Judgment Day (1991) carefully. He gets the details right, and he' s also thought about how, after two failures, the evil master computer of t he future would modify the robots it sends back in time to kill its nemesis before he grows up. The new Terminator is female, mechanically and genetic ally enhanced but able to masquerade as a normal woman. She interacts with and attempts to manipulate a large cast of characters that includes, natura lly, Sarah Conner and her now-teenaged son, John. Mother and son imagine th ey're safely hidden in Paraguay, their anti-machine crusade over, until the y are noticed by a retired secret agent who happens to be a double for the nasty Arnold Schwarzenegger/first Terminator. When he innocently discovers who they are, the new Terminator also finds out and sends mechanical assass ins after them. And the novel, which has been moving along steadily and eff iciently, shifts into high gear. Stirling structures the plot well, and the action builds to a gripping climax.