In the Blood by Robert J. Sullivan

Self-published via CreateSpace on June 8, 2010

In the Blood is a science fiction crime story. Desperate humans fleeing political turmoil on the planet Samos settled on the planet Procrustes. They had little choice: their ship had nearly exhausted its supplies and needed repairs they could not make. In the early years, an apparent plague claimed the lives of many young settlers. The humans eventually negotiated an agreement with the planet's native inhabitants, the Zhergi, that provided the humans with land and clan status. Since then, humans and Zhergi have generally coexisted in peace, although Zhergi bias against humans is obvious. In recent years, however, a serial killer has targeted humans in the City of Herenjeros during an annual festival that resembles Mardi Gras. The killer uses a pike-like Zhergi weapon known as a sedtvo but wields it inexpertly, leaving the police uncertain whether the murders are committed by a human or a Zhergi. The governing council of Herenjeros hires offworld detective Sam Dane to help the local police conduct their investigation.

In the best marriages of science fiction and crime fiction -- Warren Hammond's KOP is an example -- the two genres are equal partners. In the Blood is more effective as a detective story than as a work of science fiction. Neither the Zherghi nor the planet Procrustes are recognizably alien. The Zherghi are inadequately described but their physiology doesn't seem to differ significantly from a human's. The atmosphere and food supply on Procrustes are well suited to humans without adaptation. Readers looking for an alien planet that is truly alien won't find it here.

The detective story is nonetheless interesting. In the Blood isn't a whodunit: the killer's identity is revealed about midway through the novel. At about the same time, another murder, apparently unrelated to the serial killings, takes place. The human victim is someone Dane knows, a development that adds a new dimension to the plot. When the killer's motivation is finally revealed, the explanation is .... imaginative might be one description, farfetched another. I stop short of saying ridiculous because that would be too harsh. Science fiction, after all, requires a greater suspension of disbelief than other genres. Still, I found it difficult to accept that certain historical events could have been concealed for so long from the human population. That observation notwithstanding, the plot isn't as implausible as some others I've encountered. In any event, I enjoyed the story.

Robert J. Sullivan is a capable writer. Despite its shortcomings, In the Blood is a well-paced, entertaining novel. It isn't at the top of either genre, but it isn't bad.

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