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One of an endless parade of science fiction books by men where everything is plot plot plot and none of the characters have any depth or development. I'm willing to tolerate all of that if the world is interesting enough, but the Modhri is such a bog-standard Borg that none of it could hold my interest. Did not finish. ( )

I brought this book home all excited to read a good ol' science fiction, opened it up and discovered it was third in a series. Third. I was tempted to drive the 14 miles back to the library in wintery conditions just to take it back and start with book #1 but I controlled myself. After reading it, I'm sure I could have used a bit of the background on characters from the first two books, but the plot and story of this book was separate enough that I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Frank Compton is embroiled in a fight against the Modhri, a hive brain that can embed itself in others through thought control or physical things called polyps. Compton and his partner Bayta have been trying to root out the Modhri as they travel on the Quadrail, a train-like mode of transportation that goes between planets. He is just getting home from a mission when he is met at his front door by a girl who has been crashing at his apartment and is looking for help. She needs someone to get her younger sister off the planet Tigris where her life is in danger. And so it begins.

This was perfect mind candy. I flew through the book unhindered by my brain, just enjoying the mystery and excitement and imagination that Timothy Zahn set before me. I look at reading as something to be enjoyed and this delivered. This was no Dickens, nor was it meant to be. Odd Girl Out is merely a good old story told in new and interesting places which I find oddly comforting. It brings about a feeling of relaxation and enjoyment and makes it so I don't have to bring my brain out for much exercise. A good, fun read - seven bookmarks out of ten.

http://toomanybooknotenoughtime.blogspot.com/ ( )

A woman shows up at Frank's apartment asking him to help her sister, who's in danger. When she is found murdered the next day, he and Batya travel to New Tigris to save the sister and defeat the Modhri's latest plot. ( )

I picked this book up in the library earlier this year, read the first chapter, and realized that a lot of things were being discussed instead of revealed. Then I looked at the inside cover and realized I had selected book three of a series. Weirdly, lots of reviews of Odd Girl Out have the same story as mine. I don't know what you did Tim, but this one stands out on a shelf for some reason.

As is now the pattern, Frank starts out the book being associated with a murder. Unfortunately for him, this time the cops arrest him and throw him in jail to await arraignment. Fortunately, Frank has friends in high places who can bail him out.

What his friends can't do is explain why the woman who broke into his apartment, and then asked for help before he sent her packing, now lies dead next to a man with a suspiciously similar head wound. This is a classic noir setup, and Frank probably should have seen it coming, given his love of classic cinema. Even Homer nods.

While this escalation is par for the course, what is not is the way we get hints that friend may be foe, and foe friend. The Modhri, Frank's nemesis in the great game for control of the Quadrail and the galaxy, asks him for help. While understandably suspicious, Frank, the keen student of behavior, is intrigued enough to look into it. And the Modhri isn't the only one acting strange. Bayta, his partner, is still cool towards him after Frank kissed a cute girl in the last book, no matter that mind viruses were involved. His employers are keeping a closer than usual eye on him. And of course, he is out on bail for a double homicide.

Which is all just another day in the office for the galaxy's wiliest railroad detective. Fortunately, Frank is far too stubborn to let trivialities like the coldness and distrust of his only friends stand in his way. If things like that mattered to him, he wouldn't have blown the whistle on the United Nations' hopeless scheme to colonize the worthless planet of Yandro. And he won't let it stop him from finding the little girl the dead woman asked him to protect. ( )