"A fine addition to this action-packed SF series"

As they travel through space, Dr. Cherijo Grey Veil and her spouse, Perpetua ship Captain Duncan Reever are pleased over her pregnancy. However, her joy turns to sadness when she learns her cloned body's immunity system is killing the baby. She informs her husband she has a miscarriage. Cherijo knows she can never birth a child with anyone except perhaps her demented creator Joseph Grey Veil.

While Cherijo recovers, a meteor shower disables the Perptua beyond repair. Transferring to their other ship Truman may mean that Cherijo's creator who gave her that spacecraft may be able to track them via some undetected device. Soon the duo is forced to go underground to live among half-breeds. Duncan has no choice but to participate in the local version of SHOCKBALL even as Cherijo now knows you can hide, but at some time you must fight especially when the cause is personal.

SHOCKBALL, the fourth Stardoc tale, is an exhilarating science fiction space adventure. The zestful story line stays at warp speed even when introducing new readers to the lead characters. Cherijo is as fresh as ever as she undergoes new heartaches while her spouse has his own problems. Fans of futuristic outer space novels will want to take off with this tale and the three previous Stardoc books as all four stories take the audience where they rarely have been before.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted September 28, 2001