Baen, 1999, ISBN 0-671-31949-3, $6.99, 316 pages

The Doohan-Stirling duo return for a sequal, and once again, "Scotty" is front and center on the cover. And once again, they deliver a fast-paced, nail-biting yarn set in an asteroid field.

Peter Raeder, war hero, returns to face a court-martial from a rules-happy space navy bureaucracy. Well, that's a bit cliché, and so too is the outcome--the choice between a suicide mission or an office cubicle in the department of paperclip counting. Raeder chooses danger and off he goes into the pirate business with a letter of marque so to speak.

Stirling's prose races along cleverly, sweeping you along on the various missions as Raeder turns an abandoned mining base into a raider's lair. The hero outguesses, outthinks, and outfights just about everyone, including his own command. The dust-ups and tight situations provide a marvelous rollercoaster of optimism and pessimism about Raeder's chances at defeating "Mollies." It's the essence of a good novel and Stirling creates a good one.

I noted in the first book, The Rising, that I'd look forward to a sequel. The Privateer certainly lived up to my expectations. And yes, I look forward to the next one, called The Independent Command. Bravo.

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