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Title: Pedestrian
Review: This is a first contact novel with a religous dimension. The protagonist is an ernest, actually bland, graduate student detailed to become a spy on a research station orbiting Jupiter. He is supposed to be spying for religous organizations who have come to dominate the politics of most of Earth. These groups are threatened by the discovery of new life forms within the Jovian system and immensely concerned by the possibility that intelligent life will be discovered on Jupiter itself. This is a good foundation for a book; a possibility to explore the relationship of science and religion as well as individual dilemmas of conscience. Instead, this is a conventional adventure story with pedestrian writing. A real lost opportunity. Readers interested in religion and the issues raised by first contact would do well to find a copy of James Blish's A Case of Conscience. This outstanding book, published over 40 years ago, has a similar point of departure, but is immensely superior to Jupiter.
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