cover image Camouflage: 6

Camouflage: 6

Joe Haldeman. Ace Books, $23.95 (304pp) ISBN 978-0-441-01161-2

Joe Haldeman's Camouflage, a near-future SF thriller that alternates between the experiences of two different aliens who land on Earth, skillfully weaves its disparate plot threads until the cop-out, deus ex machina ending. This is a more sophisticated, if less than satisfying, handling of a similar situation in Hal Clement's Needle (1950). Agent, Ralph Vicinanza. .