World-Eater

Fans of Room 13, Hydra and Timesnatch will know just what to expect from this one. 150-odd pages, 36 short chapters, a story that rattles along, constant changes of scene and one or two issues to consider. A new planet appears after an enormous storm. Young Orville, a loner at school obsessed by the imminent hatching of his first brood of racing pigeons, slowly comes to the realisation that it's an enormous egg. But what monstrous creature is inside and who can he get to take him seriously? The story travels via a sympathetic local reporter and his contact, an astronomer cum SF writer, on to Jodrell Bank itself. Meanwhile the Russians and Americans are at work -but how can they stop it hatching? It's Orville again who finds the answer and the world is saved by a joint space-venture. There's a nicely downbeat ending as Orville wants no publicity and returns to school and the taunts of the 'lads', secure in the knowledge that 'we all have things to do that aren't easy. And to do them and keep quiet about them is the hardest thing of all. It takes a man.'