by Tully Zetford (Kenneth Bulmer)
Nell, 1974
It's the 100th Century, and the ship Ryder Hook is travelling in has an emergency evacuation. Most of the passengers are rescued, but if you weren't part of an interstellar Econorg the cost of flying you planetside would result in indentured servitude.
Ryder takes matters into his own hands and crash lands the escape ship. The corrupt customs department demands cash or Hook has to work it off, and he fights his way out. We get a few cycles of Hook, along with Pera, a stranded corporate secretary he's hoping to use financially, robbing, running, trying to get off planet, and getting screwed by corrupt authorities before slaughtering everyone and starting over.
Hook is captured by an alien Econorg leader and forced to infiltrate a rival's headquarters. While there, he senses that this org is run by one of the dreaded Booster Man. Hook is a cyborg with boosted strength, speed, and reflexes. He didn't finish the experimental process, but those who did turned evil and have infiltrated high positions of intergalactic society.
When Hook is in the vicinity of a Booster Man, also called a Novaman, he gains the ability to supercharge his speed, entering a hyperspeed mode where everything else almost stands still. He kills the Boosted Man, escapes, and with Pera's boss' help he finally gets off planet.
Some books you can tell didn't work off an outline - this one read like someone goofing around playing Grand Theft Auto before finally going on a mission. Not a bad thing, but this runs out of steam even with the short page count.
The worldbuilding was ok, some neat aliens and almost cyberpunk corporate society. Where it really shined was the extreme violence with future weaponry. Rays that instantly burned bodies to a crisp, ballistics punching out spines, sausage shaped grenades that drained all the fluids from a body, and rays that melted bodies into piles.
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