Title: HAL SPACEJOCK SECOND COURSE
Author: Simon Hayes
ISBN: 9781921064661
Publisher: Fremantle Arts Centre Press
Pages: 364
Reviewed By: Adam Donnison

In the second book in the Hal Spacejock series, Hal has a new ship, the Volante, and is on route to Ullimo when a new job comes in from Central Bank. Jumping at the chance to improve his clientele, Hal takes the job, which may prove to be his last.

Rex Curtis, the bombastic and ruthless owner of Curtis Freightlines, immediately contacts Hal to inform him he will take a dim view of Hal taking one of his best clients. Rex will go to any length to stop losing the Central Bank contract, as it is all that is keeping his company afloat.

As usual Hal's gung-ho approach gets him into endless scrapes that Clunk, his pre-loved robot companion, ends up either paying for, or saving Hal from. It starts with Clunk being loaned to a museum as a result of Hal's ham-fisted attempts to avoid custom duty, and continues to get worse.

Things get interesting when Rex gets his beautiful and capable Outsider employee, Sonya Polarov, to stall Hal so he breaks his contract with the bank in return for a full employment certificate which will secure her residency in the Union.

This book is just as funny as the first, with a meatier story line and better developed characters. Simon's programmer background starts to show with the hilarious interactions between Sonya and Bobby the briefcase computer. The none too subtle digs at the software industry pepper the book, making the situations familiar and all the more funny for it.

The twists and turns in Second Course keep you turning the pages, and the humour is the icing on the cake. The dynamic between Hal, Clunk and Navcom, the ship's computer, is better developed and offers great scope for humour and compassion.

Anyone who has ever had a frustrating run-in with a computer, or had to suffer bureaucratic thuggery, or who just wants a great story that will keep you smiling, this book is for you.