Deadfall (novel)

Publisher's Summary
We've a killer brain-eater on board, half of us are dead, and all you want to do is discuss your wretched fish. Do you sense a problem with your priorities?

Jason Kane is out to impress his ex-wife, Bernice, and he has found the perfect way of doing it. He's convinced she knows the location of the legendary planet of Ardethe - a site of untold riches and forbidden knowledge So, after riffling through her bag for information, he sets off with his trusty crewman Emile to a barren and isolated rock.

As usual, Jason's plans go awry. Very soon people begin to die - and die quite horribly. They have awakened something beneath the planet's surface that's feasting on human brains. And when a ship full of hard-bitten female convicts arrives in the skies above the desolate world, the situation becomes even more complicated.

Someone is pulling the strings and watching the carnage. It could be any of the desperate prisoners, the reclusive crew, or the suspicious governor. Not knowing who the true foe is, Jason calls for help. Assistance arrives in the form of his old companion Christopher Cwej - just the man you'd want by your side in a tricky situation. But something terrible has happened to Chris, and now he can't even remember his own name.

Characters
Bernice Summerfield
 * Benny is not sexually attracted to Irving Braxiatel and therefore can work easily with him.
 * Benny spends most of this novel in the Witch and Whirlwind drinking.
 * Benny is now calling her sequel to Down Among the Dead Men; Down Among the Dead Men – Slight Return.

Jason Kane
 * Owns a ship called the Mother Fist which he won in a game of Twister.

Emile Mars-Smith
 * Is Jason's 'companion' for the majority of this novel.

Chris Cwej
 * Still has Psi abilities.

Irving Braxiatel

Marianne Townsend

Charlene Connor
 * Jason marries Charlene, to help her get a new identity.

Continuity

 * Benny and Jason last saw Chris Cwej in Eternity Weeps.
 * Chris last appeared in the New Adventures in Lungbarrow.
 * Braxiatel still hasn’t attended Benny and Jason’s wedding (which is in Benny’s past but Braxiatel’s future) Happy Endings.