Evesham Givt was making a living by freelancing for Earth corporations (and diverting a portion of the corporate funds into his pockets) when he learned of the colony world of Tupelo, settled by five different alien species, where he and his girlfriend Rina could get a new start. When he and Rina arrived on Tupelo, and he almost immediately was elected mayor of the human colonists, it seemed too good to be true. Of course, it was. But Evesham’s Earth-honed skills at computer hacking and skimming money without anyone realizing that it had been skimmed stood him in good stead as he discovered that the colony’s books had been cooked as part of a gigantic con game.

“SF grand master Pohl brings the high-action, no-frills appeal of pulp SF to . . . [this] satire of human foibles.” —Booklist