The Rock Rats

Amazon.comBen Bova's second installment in the Asteroid Wars series continues his trademark style, with caricatured characters in a classic Greek dramatic structure duking it out against a high-tech, Libertarian-influenced, future-history backdrop. Billionaire jerk and womanizer Martin Humphries stirs the pot again, overcoming attempts to oust him from the Selene moon base. His grip on Humphries Space Systems and its economic scheming remains as tight as ever, but he still desires two things: control of the asteroid belt's rich resources and, of course, possession of the ever-elusive Amanda What's-her-name at the expense of likeable alpha male number two, gruff prospector Lars Fuchs. (One look at Amanda's innocent blue eyes and full-bosomed figure and any man would be wild to have her. We're left to guess as to whether the wide-eyed, lusciously curved Amanda has any other qualities, desirable or otherwise.)
For Bova fans, Rock Rats has it all--cool technology, whip-fast action, and choreographed intrigue--and this installment certainly ups the ante in the series. As Bova gravely notes, [T]he Belt became the region where prospectors and miners could make fortunes for themselves, or die in the effort. Many of them died. More than a few were killed. --Paul Hughes Book Description
Book Two in the Asteroid Wars, continuing the saga of the struggle for the wealth of the Solar System
Visionary space industrialist Dan Randolph is dead, but his protégé, pilot Pancho Barnes, now sits on the board of his conglomerate. She has her work cut out for her, for Randolph's rival, Martin Humphries, still wants to control Astro and still wants to drive independent asteroid miners like Lars Fuchs out of business. Humphries wants revenge against Pancho, and, most of all, he wants his old flame, Amanda, who has become Lars Fuchs's wife. Before it ends, many will die, and many will achieve more than they ever dreamed was possible.