Edward Hoornaert The Trial of Tompa Lee

Tompa Lee is one of the more fully developed heroines I've come across in science fiction. She is feisty, determined, pig-headed, independent, a man hater and a survivor. And yet ultimately, she is an innocent. When she is forced to fight back against her accusers, the violence makes her question her own sense of being a decent person. This raises some interesting philosophical issues of guilt and innocence, and also gives Tompa a depth that is unusual.

The Trial of Tompa Lee by Edward Hoornaert has some truly outstanding scenes. For example, Tompa's woozy reminiscences while she is informed that she will be handed over to the aliens is a marvellously surreal moment. The love scene was gripping, exciting, and yet completely in good taste. And the ending... If someone had told me the ending when I was halfway through the book, I probably would have said that it couldn't possibly happen without straining my credulity to breaking point, yet when it develops that Tompa is triumphant, in a tragic sort of way, the moment seemed almost inevitable; and that, to me, is the sign of an excellent book.

The Trial of Tompa Lee

Edward Hoornaert

Five Star, Oct 2005, $25.95

ISBN: 1594143269

Tompa Lee has worked hard and diligently, especially while in space for the past five months to overcome being a Manhattan "street meat". However, the Commerce Space Navy officers and crew of the Vance, still treat her as if she still lives in the ooze below the food chain. On the first shore leave, ever at planet Zee-Shode, Tompa just wants to fit in. However, someone tosses a Navy grenade into the pub she is in, killing several patrons.

The Shon accuse Tompa of committing the terrorist act. Her peers and superiors assume she did the deadly deed because she is street meat. Navy MP Dante Roussel, escorts Tompa to stand trial for murder. Only elderly Shon Awmit and those who did the atrocities, believe Tompa is innocent. Her trial is combat with her supporters on her side, and her accusers on the other. It is Tompa and Shon vs. at least three hundred complainants until Dante joins her side, though he is unwelcome by the New York loner.

THE TRIAL OF TOMPA LEE is a terrific, twenty-second century legal thriller, that takes place in its entirety on an alien planet governed by extraterrestrial laws. The Navy sees Tompa as expendable, which bothers Dante, but not the beleaguered heroine, as she is used to her government abandoning people like her as they did in Manhattan twelve years earlier. The trial is reminiscent of the best of classic Star Trek. Science Fiction fans will want to read this fantastic futuristic trial by combat tale, that never slows down, yet insures that the magnificent three are fully developed, and that the Shon are a thriving unique species. All that inside a great legal thriller.

Harriet Klausner