The Third Lynx

By Timothy Zahn

Former government agent Frank Compton foiled a plot to enslave the galaxy in Night Train to Rigel. But the Modhri, an ancient telepathically linked intelligence, has walkers, unwilling hosts that can be anywhere, anything…and anyone. And Compton is the only man who knows how to fight them, as they wage a secret war against the galactic civilizations linked by the Quadrail, the only means of intra-galactic transit.
 
Accompanied by Bayta, a woman with strange ties to the robot-like Spiders who run the Quadrail, and dogged by special agent Morse who suspects him of murder, Compton races the Modhri from station to station to acquire a set of valuable sculptures from a long-dead civilization. What the Modhri wants with them is anybody’s guess, but if Compton can’t outwit it, the whole galaxy will find out the hard way.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Jul 29, 2008
• ISBN: 9781429996617

Timothy Zahn

Timothy Zahn is the author of more than forty science fiction novels. He has also written many short stories, as well as Cascade Point, which won the Hugo Award for best novella. His other works include the Dragonback series, of which Dragon and Thief was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and the bestselling Star Wars™ novel, Heir to the Empire. Zahn lives in Oregon.

Reviews for The Third Lynx

[librisissimo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Nice action-suspense-adventure but not a "keeper".

[gregandlarry · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Compelling light reading.

[bespen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This cover is my favorite of the whole series. The first volume I bought was a reprint in ebook form; it has a stylized cover with a man carrying an MP5K, or something much like it. It could easily be the cover for a Tom Clancy-style espionage action book. It isn't bad, but I don't love it as much as I do Mark Zug's cover art for The Third Lynx.Frank Compton looks wily and self-assured here. I feel like Zug nailed his personality. Bayta, his assistant and liaison with the Spiders who run the interstellar Quadrail service, looks pensive, but nonetheless determined. Rarely do I see a book's characters captured so well in a single image. The Quadrail station itself even gets a nod, at once otherworldly and familiar.Mark Zug has a website you should check out, he does a lot of art in this style.Back to Zahn's work, The Third Lynx follows closely on the heels of Night Train to Rigel. Even down to how Frank immediately finds himself in the company of recently murdered man who wanted to send him on a quest. The way in which Zahn departs from the pattern is that he subtly ratchets up the stakes, and the tension. The first time Frank found a dead man, he rifled through his pockets, found a ticket with his own face on it, and scooted off without getting identified. This time, a former colleague with an axe to grind spots Frank and raises the kind of fuss that isn't helpful to a railroad detective attempting to be low-key. Frank of course uses his Poirot-like investigative skills to unravel the mystery of the dead man and his connection to the eponymous statue, which is not really a Maltese Falcon reference since it turns out to not be a MacGuffin. What I like most about Frank Compton is that his real superpower in the Quadrail dominated galaxy is that he is a barracks lawyer, always using the many bureaucratic regulations of a post-modern galaxy as his true weapons. Every one of the cultures Zahn created to populate his fictional universe has both its own typical personality, and a need to implement mechanisms of social and legal regulation. Frank is a master of arbitrage between the legal systems of different cultures, and he'll use any leverage he can get.Anonymity was a useful tool for Frank, but that is the first thing he loses in The Third Lynx. This makes the games he plays more interesting, because he needs to attempt misdirection in plain sight. And his opponent is doing the same thing, at the same time, which you sometimes can only see in retrospect. It isn't just Frank that figures it all out at the end.

[aarondesk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pros: Author writes with a fast-paced, easy to read style. Not too much sitting around in this book.Cons: Much of the book is a little too contrived. The main hero always seems to figure things out just at the right moment, or by connecting a bunch of loose dots.

[snownsew · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a re-read for me. I am re-reading books 1-4 in preparation for reading the 5th and final book in the series.

I have really enjoyed most Timothy Zahn books I have read. They tend to be fast paced and constantly twisting. Yet, this book really frustrated me. Even though this story starts with a bang, I still struggled to get into the story.

There were several twists and turns and you never really knew which way the story was going. However, here it felt as though the twists and turns were thrown in just for the sake of twisting and turning. And, there was just so much of it, I got motion sickness! Ok, not really, but even when the book was completed, I wasn't really sure which twist was the right turn.

In my opinion, Mr. Zahn writes better than this.

[bryanthomass · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this thoroughly. Full of tension and suspense like its' predecessor, Lynx finds Frank Compton chasing another mystery involving the Modhri group mind, the Spiders and the Chahwyn. In the midst of it, he falls in love with the woman he's struggling to protect, comes into conflict with a federal agent, and finds his life once again on the line.These books are Timothy Zahn at his best: fast-paced action, political intrigue, well drawn characters, and interesting science. Here he's created a fascinating world full of interesting humans and interesting aliens.I'd recommend this to anyone who likes good space opera. The uniqueness is no laser gun fights and no space battles. These are replaced by battles of the mind, different dangerous weapons, and a constant running to and from danger. It's a thoroughly enjoyable ride.

[saintbrevity · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A sequel to Night Train to Rigel, this book is another train mystery/action book that turns pages quickly. A little bit too proud of its ability to play games with the reader, it can be a little unclear as to what exactly is going on, and as always, Timothy Zahn likes to suggest that the character's motivations are more complex than what they actually are.It's a nice sequel, though, and while it's not a life changing book, that's not always a bad thing. Not quite as good as the first one, though.