This is one funny book.
Think Terry Pratchett in space, and you've already got a good grasp of what to expect in this hilarious tale.
Cal is a grifter, a con artist who starts the book getting ready to serve time in a cushy jail, when all manner of things go wrong, including (but not limited to) most of the human race being killed and himself getting whisked off on an alien spaceship.
The rest of the story centres around Cal and a bunch of other intergalactic misfits being sent on a mission to retrieve valuable information about a vicious weapon. I won't mention any more as I don't want to give much away, but I can heartily say they have lots of scrapes together.
Cal does a great job of being cool whilst having absolutely no idea what he is doing. The rest of the crew are a rag-tag bunch who are just as likely to attack each other as work together, but they do it all in such a style that you can't help but laugh along with them.
The book does have some darker moments, such as talking about cannibalistic murderers, but even that is done in such an irreverent style as to make it entertaining.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, found by chance at the author's local bookstore (I was on holiday and spotted a book that was signed by the author on the shelf). If I have a complaint about it, is that it's a bit short; the adventure ended too quickly for me. But, there are another eleven books in the series, so I guess I need to read some more.
