Poisonous Reptiles: The Second Sputteridge Chronicle - Paperback

by Rose Mandelson (Author)

Science Fiction / Humour. Should appeal to fans of Terry Pratchett, Discworld, Ernest Cline, Jodi Taylor, Douglas Adams.

Age range: Teen to adult. Female protagonist.

This is the second book in the Sputteridge Chronicles and picks up the story from the bestselling Dangerous Physics: Adventures in Sputteridge.

Hugo Crean has made a mind-boggling leap across realities. Using a stolen Transition Vehicle he has jumped from a dysfunctional society ruled by a corrupt elite called the Regency, to Abbuth, a world whose fair-minded if rather naïve and party-loving occupants have made remarkable scientific progress. Hugo's mission was to consolidate the Regency's grip on Abbuth and to help pervert their science to advance the Regency's military power. Hugo has no such plans. He intends to warn the Abbuthians of their peril, and also to meet Bettony Gullivant, the feisty hero whose journal forms the major part of book one of this series - Dangerous Physics: Adventures in Sputteridge.

Unknown to anyone, Hugo's contact on Abbuth - TMB - is a psychotic killer who is pursuing a private vendetta against Bettony. TMB hunts Bettony across realities but completely underestimates her. Pretty soon, the hunter becomes the hunted.

The fast-paced story moves across different variations of Earth including one populated by a lethal cross between a turtle and a snake, and a world which seems to be centred around celebrity game shows and nostalgia tourism. Along the way, Bettony meets up with old friends and discovers how Bob has had his own mission sidetracked by the opportunity to appear in a holiday theatre production.