Subject: Meta-review: Code of Conduct by Kristine Smith

From: [email-masked] (P.D. TILLMAN)
Date: 31 Jul 2000 11:25:50 -0400

[Once again, I'm pushing the explicit bounds of this group's charter.
Peter's been a regular contributor and I feel this is useful information,
even if not precisely a review.  If readers object, feel free to email me:
	<mailto:[email-masked]>
Compliments accepted too.  --AW]

	Code of Conduct by Kristine Smith
	Copyright 2000 Peter D. Tillman 

Rating: "A" (me), 4/5 (Amazon). Hard-edged tough-girl SF political
mystery-thriller. The best first novel I've read ths year.  Recommended.

I started to write a review, but found that Catherine Asaro had already
done an excellent (and spoiler-free) one:
http://www.sfsite.com/12a/code70.htm

Back already? What She Said -- this is an exceptional first novel, and a
writer to watch.

You can safely ignore the Baen-surplus neutronium master-blaster that
"graces" the cover, no doubt to the author's chagrin. At least Avon ran a
nice author photo.

A cover blurb compares her to Bujold and Moon, and while Smith has a
distinctive voice, her book is likely to appeal to fans of both these
authors (I'm one). Conduct comes to a satisfying closure, while planting
hooks for the sequel, Rules of Conflict, due out in September 2000. I'm
looking forward to it.

Smith mentions influences from Patricia Highsmith, John Le Carre, Dorothy
Sayers and Agatha Christie: http://www.sff.net/people/ksmith/

Smith is a chemist at a Chicago-area pharmaceutical company. She is a
nominee for this year's John W. Campbell Award for best new writer.

Other reviews:

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue140/books.html -- I disagree with this
reviewer's comment that the main character is "simply dull." Rather, she
is the classic Kinsey Mullhone - Kate Shugak - VI Warshawski "loner with a
dark past," straining to get youthful performance from her damaged, aging
body, and better done than most such.

Tom Easton wrote a nice review for the March Analog --it should be up at:
http://www.analogsf.com/home/features.html

Amazon readers' ratings: 4/5, 11 readers, range 3/5 to 5/5
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0380807831/

Read more of my reviews:
http://www.silcom.com/~manatee/reviewer.html#tillman

%T Code of Conduct
%A Kristine Smith
%D Dec 99
%I Avon
%O US$6
%P 348 pp.
%G ISBN 0-380-80783-1