« Aftershocks » Harry Turtledove

Colonel Sam Yeager has a terrible secret that he can share with only one person — and no humans. The former shiplord Straha, a lizard now exiled to L.A,, is willing to keep the army officer’s secret as a protective measure for Yeager and his family. But when Yeager goes missing, and Straha decides to take his secret to the colonization fleetlord, the outcome shocks everyone, from the crew of the American spaceship *Lewis and Clark* to the ginger dealers in Marseille. Turtledove concludes his highly entertaining Worldwar alternate–history saga with a series of deadly nuclear confrontations and happier, more intimate encounters between lizards and humans. Characters once mired in the struggles between the doomed Reich and the Race are now free to travel, and Cockney Jew David Goldfarb finds himself in Edmonton, inventing a caller ID system, while Rance Auerbach moves from South Africa to the south of France. Mao and Molotov remain in power, but new humans and lizards are climbing the ranks to challenge the old guard. Turtledove explores ethics, vengeance, and the duties of familial love versus those of friendship with his trademark wry humor — for instance, the Warren Commission turns out to be a loose gathering of lizards intent on understanding the death of President Earl Warren. If only there were another five books in the series to look forward to! *Roberta Johnson*