Una ignobile stronzata. ( )

My reactions to reading this novel in 1992. Spoilers follow.

I’ve enjoyed Mike Resnick’s short story alternate histories but expected this to be a schlocky, if fun, adventure novel, but it turned out to be surprisingly thoughtful – a rumination on the question of evil and its degrees – as well as a fast-moving, well-told action tale. Some details of assassin Jericho’s exploits – like how he dispatches so many troops at once in the final confrontation with Conrad Bland – are left vague, but Resnick covers this weakness skillfully.

Conrad Bland is a mass murderer of the political variety who has taken refuge on the world Walpurgis III, a planet of Satanists. He is capable of any evil act as the narrative shows and aphorisms from him at the beginning of each chapter reveal the sick mind behind the monstrosities. (In a sly bit of satire, Resnick has the Satanists of Walpurgis III talking a good show about worshipping evil and committing it, but, with the exception of the areas under Bland’s control, not fully living up to their principles. It’s as if Resnick is saying that no society can actually allow such evil to be committed. It literally self-destructs if it does.) Against this ultimate monster is dispatched the ultimate assassin – Jericho. This story details his hunt, a ruthless hunt in which he kills several innocents, even his own fellow agents. Policeman John Sable has to decide which is worse: the compulsive evil of Bland or the ultimately more dangerous evil of Jericho (more dangerous because he slips past Bland’s defenses, his cordon sanitaire of death, to kill him), an evil of calculation and ruthlessness.

Sable takes the only rational, pragmatic, and moral choice: he lets Jericho kill Bland and then arrests him. ( )

A lot of Resnick books are about a super criminal being hunted by a super bounty hunter/assassin in the far future, and this book is no exception. Luckily, this is the sort of story he tells very well. The trouble here is that the criminal (Conrad Bland) fancies himself Satan incarnate, intent on killing everything and everyone in his path. Which would be fine - his quotes at the beginning of each chapter are often scandalously amusing - but he's decided to base himself on the planet Walpurgis, a haven for a large number of Satanic religions. This is where things get a little silly. Told from the alternating viewpoints of the assassin (Jericho) as he attempts to find Bland, and the chief of police (John Sable) as he tracks down Jericho for killing random civilians in his jurisdiction. There's a little bit of "who's more evil, the man who kills compulsively or the one who does it emotionlessly as a means to an end," but this is overshadowed by the focus on the fairly ridiculous religious practices of the assorted sects of Satan-worshippers. I guess if you're easily shocked and titillated, this might be a delightfully scandalous read, but I could have skipped this one and been none the worse for wear. ( )