Mr McFadden knows how to tell a jolly good story, and he does it with skill and a light touch that is most refreshing. Have Wormhole, Will Travel is the story of two aliens stationed on earth to make sure that we don’t develop the scientific expertise to travel to their planet and cause a problem. Callum and Jason have been here for two hundred years and were responsible for discrediting the cold fusion experiments to prevent humans going down that path. Since then, every time they’ve popped home via wormhole, they have nothing to tell. The humans are plodding along at a slow pace, nothing to worry about – until Callum discovers that Sam, a research scientist and tutor at Sydney University, has discovered the same technology as they use to skip back to their planet.
Okay, the alien bosses say, time to evacuate, we have to blast earth with gamma radiation, burn everyone to a crisp and set life on the planet back a billion years. Jason gets ready to depart, but Callum likes Manly beach in Sydney where he lives. (I really enjoyed reading a book set in my local city as well.) He also rather likes Jackie, a cute marshal arts instructor, and pleads for a couple of days grace, telling his boss that he can discredit the technology, just like they did with cold fusion. They aren’t interested. The upshot of all this is that he has a few days to save the human race. Things don’t work out the way he expects, of course, and Callum, Jackie and a supporting cast have to get creative or they’ll all be fried. No more human race.
It’s a unique idea and the science sounds all very plausible. I’d say that the author has done his homework. The plot is well constructed, the characterisation solid, the writing lively and engaging and the pacing excellent. Like all good books it speeds up at the end as our heroes race against time.
I really enjoyed this story, it’s not demanding at all, just jolly good entertainment. Top science fiction.
5 stars.
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