Odd Girl Out

Ex-government agent Frank Compton must keep an extraordinary little girl safe from the malevolent group intelligence seeking to enslave the universe in the explosive third installment of Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn''s Quadrail seriesFrank Compton is glad he''s finally back on his home planet of Earth-galaxy-hopping aboard the Quadrail on his continuing mission to prevent the Modhri group mind from ruling the universe is exhausting business-but hadn''t expected to find a young woman waiting for him in his New York apartment with a loaded gun in her hand. Ignoring her demands that he rescue her 10-year-old sister, the former Western Alliance Intelligence agent sends his unwelcome guest packing-only to find himself under arrest the following day for her brutal murder. Released on bail and determined to do the right thing, Compton makes tracks for the world of New Tigris. But a captive child is not all that he discovers there: Little Rebekah may also hold the key to the ultimate defeat of the Modhri. Suddenly, keeping one small girl safe is the most important-and dangerous-task Compton has ever undertaken. And with the Modhris'' mind-slave "walkers" everywhere, there may be no safe place for an "abomination" and her protector to hide."[Zahn''s] characters and settings are engaging, and he''s comfortable enough with the genre''s conventions to make Compton''s return worth opening up on a night when the mean streets beckon in the mind." -Starlog "Pays homage to the noir detective and thriller genres, and Zahn spices his novel with a variety of aliens. Nonstop action keeps the reader turning the pages." -SFRevu.com "One of science fiction''s best practitioners of solid imagining and storytelling." -Analog Science Fiction and FactTimothy Zahn is a New York Times bestselling science fiction author of more than forty novels, as well as many novellas and short stories. Best known for his contributions to the expanded Star Wars universe of books, including the Thrawn trilogy, Zahn won a 1984 Hugo Award for his novella "Cascade Point."He also wrote the Cobra series, the Blackcollar series, the Quadrail series, and the young adult Dragonback series, whose first novel, Dragon and Thief, was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Zahn currently resides in Oregon with his family.