Nocturne for a Dangerous Man

In the middle of the 21st century, Gavilan Robie has retired from rescuing kidnap victims for the covert Action Rescue Committee and is content to play his antique cello, quarrel with his mistress and keep his hand in by recovering missing works of art. But when Siv Mattheissen, the female lover of a high-powered lesbian CEO of an international conglomerate, is kidnapped by a self-proclaimed eco-terrorist group named ""the Erinyes,"" Robie receives an offer he cannot refuse. Using a host of old connections as well as high-tech (virtual personas) and low-tech (martial arts) techniques, Robie tracks the kidnappers to a Chinese-controlled bank in Chile. Matz's first novel boasts a robust background (including substantial global warming, among other features), a large cast of ethnically diverse characters (Robie's own ancestry includes French, English, Scot, Basque and Native American) and a wealth of detail about life in the future. The world-building is so involved, in fact, that it sometimes slows the novel's pace and substantially diminishes its climax. But overall, this is an excellent debut, and one featuring a sensitive protagonist certain to appeal to intelligent action-SF readers. (June)