Rule of Evidence: JAG in Space, Book 3 (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

Having read the first two books in this series, I'd been waiting eagerly for the release of this one. It's every bit as good as I anticipated.

John G. Hemry continues to impress me, not only with the quality of his narrative prose (which purrs along like a well-designed engine), but with his remarkable ability to handle technical, physical, and legal details accurately without bogging down the story. This is fine stuff, and there's a lot of homework buried between the lines.

The tale picks up shortly after the events of _Burden of Proof_. Lieutenant Junior Grade Paul Sinclair is now serving as Combat Information Center Officer on the U.S.S. _Michaelson_ (and still doing double duty as legal officer), and his sierra oscar Lieutenant Junior Grade Jen Shen is an engineer on the _Michaelson_'s sister ship, the _Maury_. There's a big multinational maneuver coming up, in which several nations are planning to show off a little bit to put the fear of God into the South Asian Alliance.

As with the earlier two novels, reading the summary on the back cover will take you too far into the story. The blurb describes some events that don't happen until eighty or a hundred pages in, and at least one really dramatic scene loses some of its oomph because we know how one highly relevant portion of it is going to come out. So I'm not going to tell you any more about the plot, and I _am_ going to recommend that you try really really hard not to read the back cover before you've read the innards.

Hemry continues to excel both at putting us inside the heads of these characters (and, indirectly, giving us lots of lessons about life in the present-day Navy) and at writing gripping scenes of space-navy action _and_ legal drama. All I can say without giving away plot details is that portions of this one are even better than the first two books in the series. (I guess I can mention that there's an absolutely hilarious Captain's Mast scene fairly early on, involving one Seaman Jacob.)

This is turning out to be one of the very finest series in modern SF. If you've read the first two books, don't hesitate to grab this one as fast as you can. And if you haven't read any of them yet, it doesn't matter _too_ much where you start, but it's probably better to read them in order (_A Just Determination_, _Burden of Proof_, and this one).

Rule of Evidence (2006) is the third SF novel in the JAG in Space series, following Burden of Proof. In the previous volume, Commander Carr convinced the courtmartial board that Lieutenant Scott Silver was negligent in his duties. Admiral Silver was very upset with Paul Sinclair over the conviction of his son.

In this novel, the South Asian Alliance is pushing even harder against other spacegoing nations and federations. In response, US and European politicians have conceived of a way to demonstrate the strength of their space navies. The USS Michaelson will participate in joint maneuvers with the USS Maury, the British HMS Lord Nelson, the Franco-German ship Alsace and the Russian ship Pyotr Veleki.

A SASAL warship disrupts these maneuvers, but draws back when the British ship threatens to ram them. Afterward, the spatial maneuvers are successful, but have little influence on SASAL. The US tries another way of showing the flag, ordering the Michaelson and Maury to approach the perimeter of the SASAL zone under maximum stealth and then suddenly becoming very visible to the SASAL sensors.

The approach to the perimeter is accomplished with commendable precision, but the Maury suddenly explodes after the stealth systems are shut down. The Michaelson sends damage control parties over to the Maury to conduct rescue and reinforcement of the hull. Apparently the engineering spaces have been thoroughly destroyed and most of the engineering crew killed in the explosions.

Paul leads one damage control team. When he sees the destruction, Paul is convinced that Jen Shen -- an engineering officer on the Maury and his significant other -- is dead. While concentrating on his duties, he is able to hold back his feelings, but afterwards he becomes despondent. Shortly after returning to his ship, Paul receives a message from the Maury that Jen is still alive.

In this story, the Maury incident becomes a media sensation and soon is blamed on the SASAL. Thorough investigation of the ship and personnel rules out external attack or sabotage. Moreover, the experts cannot conceive of any way that the explosions could have occurred by accident. Someone on the ship must have caused the explosions.

When Jen is arrested for sabotaging her own ship, Paul searches for alternative answers. Since she is the only survivor among the engineering crew, everything Jen says is unprovable. Although those who really know her are convinced that she is innocent, everyone else assumes that she is guilty as accused. Jen is already suffering from survivors guilt and now is beginning to believe that she somehow caused the disaster.

Jen's father is away on patrol and her mother died long ago. Now she only has Paul, but she is beginning to lash out at him in an unconscious effort to determine whether he too will abandon her. Luckily Paul has a few friends who counsel him during this crisis.

The author uses the Maine incident as a historical example of shaping public opinion toward war. Many historians believe that Randolph Hearst caused the Spanish-American war through the sensational coverage of this affair in his newspapers. Remember the Maine became a rallying cry for that war.

Highly recommended for Hemry fans and for anyone else who enjoy tales of naval affairs, legal ploys and personal crises.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I personally thought this book was a waste of my time. The premise was promising, but Henry failed to deliver. I found myself disappointed with the 2-dimensional characterization, predictable plot turns, and lack of innovation on the author's part. This book could have been so much more. At many junctures it read like a poor imitation of David Weber's Honor Harrington. Henry needs to be able to take us deeper into the character's head, and to create characters that seem more like real people instead of just action-oriented pawns through which to move the plot along.

The other thing I took issue with was the author's lack of innovation when it came to his hero's problem solving abilities. Throughout most of the book, it seemed to me as if solutions kept falling into Sinclair's lap, and many of his problems were also solved seemingly by accident or through some convenient act of serendipity.

A letdown.

Read Honor Harrington instead.