Tuesday, May 28, 2013

All My Sins Remembered, by Joe Haldeman

(pb; 1977)


From the back cover:

"No creature in the galaxy is deadlier than man.

"Otto McGavin, one of twelve Prime Operators in the universe, worked for the clandestine arm of the trans-space peacekeeping agency as a ruthless guardian of alien rights.  He traveled from planet to planet - his body encased in plastiflesh, his mind disguised by personality overlay - infiltrating bizarre alien cultures, surviving by raw instinct and violent assassination on exotic, bloodswept worlds.

"And always he returned to his original self - his conscience stabbed by the memory of all those he'd killed in the service of interstellar harmony."


Review:

Sins is an intriguing, episodic and full-of-action science fiction spy thriller, with a protagonist whose personal disintegration - as an individual - becomes more and more apparent as time goes by.  McGavin, as a character, is relatable and sympathetic (for this reader, anyway), making the waste-no-words Sins a good read by an excellent author.

While reading this, I kept thinking that, with the right director and writer, this would make an excellent cinematic vehicle for
Jason Statham, who has enough acting range to show believable emotional shifts, while maintaining his bad-assness.

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