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Gabriel's Ghost by Linnea Sinclair
01/04/2007 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Bantam Spectra. 447 page paperback. Price: $ 6.99 (US), $10.99 (CAN). ISBN: 0-553-58797-8. Buy Gabriel's Ghost in the USA - or Buy Gabriel's Ghost in the UK  check out websites: www.bantamdell.com and www.linneasinclair.com
This time of year tends to be a little quieter as the publishing companies recover from Yuletide and start building up steam and pages for their latest releases. It also gives us reviewers a chance to catch up and being in charge of the amazing number of books we're sent the rare chance to dig into the pile for anything that got over-looked. Amongst these if Linnea Sinclair's 'Gabriel's Ghost'. I have to confess that I did hesitate at first, mostly cos we were sent three of her books, but not the first. Realising that they weren't related stories, at least not by characters as I read this one, I dug into it.
Former captain Chasidah Bergren is stuck on a prison planet for a crime she didn't commit and rescued after killing a brutal guard by a former nemesis, Gabriel Sullivan and his blind alien companion, Ren. Sullivan is supposed to be dead, hence the title. Oddly enough, Sullivan is never called 'Gabriel' throughout the story. As it has little to do with the overall story and people might have mistaken this for a ghost story, I can understand some reluctance in picking up this title. The cover art depicts the characters well but it does also make Ren somewhat ghostly.
Back to the story. Sullivan and Ren need Bergren's help in travelling across the galaxy, often posing as priests, to put an end to the creation of some deadly creatures called jukors even if little attention is drawn to why or demonstrating it. With the story written in first person and through Bergren we see a lot of the journey these folk take.
Sinclair obviously knows what she's doing with her own reality and is a good enough plotter to keep one step ahead of the reader as she unveils some new development shortly before it is utilised in the story. If anything, there's a little lacking or fire in the emotional content probably caused by being in first person that could have been raised in several instances rather than keeping the same pitch.
With the romantic elements, I do have a suspicion that it's more for the lady fans of our genre than the male of the species. It is a little bewildering why these characters go out of their way to kill off these jukors when the obvious reaction is to get away from them as quickly as possible, especially when you have a price on your head. By propelling the story forward at page-turning speed, I suspect that you're just supposed to get on with it without questioning where it's all leading. In that respect, its very much an old-fashioned space opera but written in a modern way. You might find this kind of story appealing because of all that.
GF Willmetts
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