Archives: Book Reviews

    The Tower (PanMacmillan, $32.95) is not science fiction or fantasy in the strictest sense. It is that great old staple of speculative fiction - pulp. Think of a cross between Clive Cussler and Umberto Eco. The author, Valerio Massimo Manfredi is an Italian archaeologist, who has obviously been steeped in the best of American pulp. The history is great, the action intense. The Vatican has begun receiving a radio message from space. It is triangulated to a point in the Sahara desert, where a mysterious tower has stood for millennia. This novel rollicks along, not taking itself too seriously, I'm looking forward to more.