content: This one isn't really "science fiction," since, with only changes, it could be set in the here-and-now, or in Ruritania -- but it's pure Heinlein, and better written than many of his earlier works. At only 128 pages, it's also pretty short for a novel -- but it works. Lorenzo Smyth (a/k/a Larry Smith) is an actor convinced of his own talent (which, as it turns out, is actually considerable) who is hired to impersonate the Good Guy leader of a major political alliance, who has been kidnaped on Mars by the Evil Opposition. Against his better apolitical judgment, Lorenzo takes the job because it's a challenge, and almost immediately regrets it as the limited engagement spins itself out indefinitely. There's a minimum of strident overwriting of the sort Heinlein was often guilty of in pursuit of his moral and ethical positions, with the quietly-made exception of a plea for racial tolerance.