The Widowmaker is not a killer novel. Jefferson Nighthawk, known as the Widowmaker, is the most deadly killer to have ever lived, but finding himself dying of an incurable disease has himself placed in suspended animation until a cure can be found. For more then a century Nighthawk has been sleeping the sleep of oblivion with no cure yet discovered and the money in the trust fund set to pay for his suspended animation facility drying up. Then comes a way to continue financing it in the form of a company that wants to clone Nighthawk and send his deadly duplicate out into the galaxy on a dangerous mission. Nighthawk, who is awakened long enough to have this offer made to him, agrees, but can even the clone of the most deadly man to ever live survive impossible odds when his memories are all artificial and his own life experiences are only four months old?

The Widowmaker starts off with a lot of possibility only to falter and flounder as the book progresses. The main character, the clone of the Widowmaker, starts off as interesting, but soon develops into one of the biggest morons to ever find himself placed in print. Certainly this was at least partially intentional since the clone is, in terms of real life experiences, only four months old making it realistic to portray him as something of an overconfident, immature jerk, but while realistic, it wasn't fun. Outside of the clone's personality flaws the rest of the book was very good with colorful characters such as the Queen of Marquis and Father Christmas and planet names such as Tundra and Bluesky that were reminiscent of the works of Larry Niven or Jack London. Ultimately though these were not enough to keep the clone, along with one of the most unsatisfactory endings I've ever read in a novel, from making The Widowmaker tedious. Mike Resnick, a very talented writer, may have ended things so unpleasantly in order to set the stage for the other two books in the Widowmaker trilogy, but whatever his intent, both in making the clone so dumb and the ending so unpleasant, this book was a turn off.

Still, I'm going to try the second book in the series, if nothing else hoping it will redeem the weaknesses of the first book. So send in the clones!

Grade: C

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