Odd Girl Out

While not Zahn's best work in my opinion, it's a great follow-up to the series that started out with such a bang. Zahn knows how to hook and entertain, and Odd Girl Out is no exception. I recommend this read to anyone with a fancy for fiction, sci-fi or not!

Odd Girl Out (2009) is the third mystery SF novel in the Quadrail series, following The Third Lynx. In the previous volume, Compton and his associates drove away Modhri walkers digging in a buried Shonkla-raa equipment dump. Special Agent Morse had been suspected of being a Modhri walker, but subsequent actions mollified this suspicion. After all left except Bayta and himself, Compton confided his beliefs that the dump might contain other weapons. In this novel, Frank Compton is a former agent of Western Alliance Intelligence. Now he works for the Chahwyn, who created the Spiders and the whole Quadrail system. Compton is their operative against the Modhri. Bayta is a hybrid between humans and the Chahwyn. She is telepathic on the spider wavelength and can communicate with them undetectably. So she is Compton's liaison with the Spiders. Bruce McMicking is head of security for Hardin Enterprises. He learned about the Modhri during the first adventure and almost became a walker himself. His boss hates Compton, but McMicking helps him anyway he can. In this story, Lorelei Beach greets Compton with a gun in her hand. She wants him to help her sister Rebekah to escape from Imani on New Tigris. Compton is dead tired and tells her to call the police. He sends her out the door, but she carries off one of his guns. Compton goes to bed, but is awakened a couple of hours later by the police. He is escorted to a crime scene. There he finds out that his missing gun was used in a double murder and one victim was Lorelei. Compton believes that the other victim was probably a Modhri walker. The police arrest Compton on murder charges. The arraignment judge is aware of how flimsy the evidence is, but sets bail at a half million dollars. Fortunately, Compton knows someone with that kind of money. After McMicking bails him out, Compton explains what has happened and what he plans to do. McMicking provides tickets to reach the Quadrail and documents, including a Hardin ID with a carry permit. Then Compton catches the first shuttle toward the Quadrail station. Compton talks with the Modhri through several of his walkers. For some reason, the Modhri makes a deal to let Compton search for the Abomination. Compton is not sure what is meant by the term, but he agrees and continues his search for Rebekah. On New Tigris, Compton and Bayta find the missing girl, but get into more trouble. Modhri walkers frame Compton for three deaths and even try to storm the bar where the girl is located. The whole scenario is rather confused. Compton feels certain that he is missing some facts. This tale leads Compton, Bayta and McMicking into one risky situation after another. Gunshots -- both snoozers and thudwhumpers -- are fired by both sides. McMicking even steals a torchship. The story is a typical tangle of lies and false leads. The threesome get trapped on a Quadrail train by a group of walkers. Compton is arrested several times. Yet Bayta and

I found Odd Girl Out to be an attention getter and an attention retainer--typical of Timothy Zahn's novels. There is an excellent balance of character development and suspense and just plain adventure, even when this book is third in a series. If I have a complaint, it's that the series wasn't concluded--it's exciting to anticipate another book, but now I'm left hanging! Keep up the good work, Timothy Zahn!

I have always been a fan of Timothy Zahn's writing when I was first exposed to his Star Wars novels. I did read The Third Lynx and gave it mixed reviews based on the extended descriptions and excursions on the Quadrail making it seem reminiscent of an old western involving a who-dunnit on the Orient Express. I can't speak for other Sci-Fi fans, but a story that takes place on what seems like a futuristic version of the Orient Express is not my idea of great science fiction. Back to The Odd Girl Out, Zahn improved on this with limited forays into the Quadrails although he does utilize their design as a plot device. Compton learns something new about the Chahwyn towards the rather anti-climatic end, leaving the series wide open for another book. This was an extremely quick read since I was able to finish it in less than a days worth of reading and the biggest gripe I have is with the rather boring end. Perhaps I had to read the story prior to The Third Lynx, but I didn't really feel the same emotion Compton felt about the Chahwyn's new plans. It also seemed like Compton was some omniscient super spy that is able to defeat Halkas (which I pictured to be brutish bulldogs) using pipes and parts taken off a Harley Davidson motorcycle (yes, there was one being shipped on the Quadrail) when he didn't have access to his HK or Glock pistols loaded with "snoozers" (tranq darts?) or thudwumpers (ballistic ammo). Overall, Zahn's writing is excellent as always and I'll be eagerly awaiting the next book!

There is some truth to the complaints from other reviewers that there is a lot of backstory thrown into this one. To some degree, this is necessary as the nature of the conflict between the Modhri and Compton's employers changes in this story. Harriet's review says nothing of the Modhri's fear/anger over what it calls "The abomination". That fear leads the Modhri to try to persuade Compton to help the Modhri get rid of the abomination. Of course, Compton is too cagey for that. The Modhri shows increasing cleverness in its use of "walkers" and some interesting new capabilities. It is also good at using the legal process to try to slow Compton down. Fortunately, he has Bayta, and McMicking to help. The latter is especially useful. It also appears that Compton is warming up to Bayta. A lot of action happens here. It is clear though that this war needs several main actors. Compton inflicts damage, but it takes time to get to different places on the quadrail, giving the Modhri time to create new situations and countermeasures. McMicking helps significantly, but it's still too limited a force. A good read with lots of twists and turns and new developments.