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Following the events of TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY, Sarah and John Conner fled to Paraguay to disappear. But one day Sarah spots an 'Arnold' Terminator unit in the town square. A cat-and-mouse game ensues before she realises he is not a Terminator but the actual man -- an ex-counter-terrorist named Dieter, whom the Terminators were modelled on. After Sarah shares her story with him, Dieter tells her that Cyberdyne (the company which will build the computers that will destroy civilization and create the Terminators) is up and running again, thanks to its backup systems. So she, John and Dieter set off to finish the job. But standing in their way is the most dangerous Terminator unit yet. It can easily pass as human, it has all the resources of Cyberdyne, as well as several 'Arnold' Terminators at its command, and it's in the guise of a woman.

T2: Infiltrator was a forerunner to T3: ROTM as the previous owners of the franchise tried desperately to hype one of their biggest brands. This novel was the first in a series designed to rekindle that old familiar flame.

For six long years Sarah and John Connor have been in hiding since the fateful events of T2: Judgment Day. Now living in Paraguay, Sarah owns a trucking/smuggling business and John is away at a military academy. With new identities and new lives which are described by Sarah as "boring", they live a fairly quiet and comfortable existence. Until one day a brickwall of a man (Dieter Von Rossbach) bearing a striking resemblance to the Terminator, arrives at Sarah's company to collect a delivery...

Meanwhile back in California... The evil beginnings of Cyberdyne (later to become Skynet) has retarted its programme to create artificially intelligent technology for warfare.
Miles Dyson's work, though destroyed by the Connor's, Uncle Bob and Dyson himself,- was backed-up and stored on an external site without the late scientist's knowledge.
Under the watchful eyes of a government liason, the research is about to make progress with the aid of a Nazi elitist scientist with a penchant for propaganda.

In the future created by Skynet, John Connor's Resistance are finally gaining ground and victories against the army of Cyborg soldiers. Following the failures of previous Terminators to kill John Connor and his mother, Skynet determines to activate the Infiltrator programme. After capturing and artificially inseminating a pretty blonde resistance fighter they modify the baby from birth and terminate the mother. A complete indoctrination of hate and a bit of wiring plus some physical training and whammo! Beautiful young woman named Serena with a killer competitive edge, who's sent back in time to aid SkyNet in bringing about a rather terrifying future.

And then there's Jordan Dyson, brother to Miles, FBI trained, Jordan uses all of the tools at his disposal to capture and bring to justice the killers of his brother,- who the authorities claim are Sarah and John Connor. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presents Jordan with a chance to investigate things on the inside,- he becomes part of the security for Cyberdyne Systems under Chief of Security Serena Burns...

T2: Infiltrator flits from scene to scene, giving the reader the different perspectives of John, Sarah, Dieter, Serena, Tarissa, Jordan, and the several Terminators whose names vary from Tom, Dick and Harris to simple numbers like those of products coming off a conveyorbelt and being quality controlled.

The author underplayed Sarah Connor in this book beautifully, not only were the brief glimpses of the woman we remembered from T2 rather fascinating but the restrained and champing-at-the-bit Sarah added a newer facet. We get to see Sarah Connor at her most vulnerable, after years of silence and near complacency. Still haunted by terrible nightmares and memories of Kyle, she is a woman still suffering loss and who has never truly been allowed to grieve for anything.

Serena the half human half terminator is brilliantly written and a much better idea for a female terminator than the T-X in Terminator 3: ROTM, the sexuality of the young blonde killing machine in this story wasn't too bold or brassy, it was subtle and calculated, as a machine should be. If SkyNet runs purely by logic and effectiveness then the almost brash sexuality embued by Kristanna Loken in T3 really didn't add up.
I rather oddly liked Serena, her amusement at the human idiosyncrasies surrounding her actually managed to send the very clear message that ALL humans must die, not just the majority. Nobody's to be spared unless they can be terminated at a later date after helping SkyNet's cause in some ingenious manner.

John's growing into a man, even in his teen years here, the author has captured the legend in transition. Again subtley played, the reader is lulled into the idea that John is just another teenager on a break from school. You're fully allowed to forget who he really is. Then when the action kicks in and the two Connor's re-emerge from incognito the change of pace and the polish to the writing is smooth and seamless making the sudden upward punch an easy read.

There's a love connection which is both intriquing anf bewildering all at once but since this is a Terminator novel, well, suffice to say you get used to the swift emotional and physical adjustments.

The action scenes are awesome (I don't think I'm exaggerating), the sheer number of Terminators facing the Connor's, Von Rossbach and Jordan Dyson are a wee bit full-force nose-bleed-inducing tension-headache. I was called upon to stop reading at times when I could almost have screamed "bloody leave me alone!", this book needs time and a place of complete silence because, if you're anything like me you'll want to cut out all but the most necessary bodily functions to focus on it.

The moment when all is revealed to Dieter Von Rossbach is totally hell for leather, the sheer force of fire power in evidence was like some kind of fourth of July fireworks display on the front lawn. I did wonder how they could possibly get away with such percussion, not to mention all that sulphur but... TERMINATOR!... as I was saying...

There's so much that's great about this book, so much that could have really blown fans away if this had been the script for T3: ROTM, as a book it's bloody marvellous and actually very satisfying as an installment of Terminator.
The author captures the spirit of Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day with such awe inspiring ease. If you look for flaws then you'll probably find them but I found myself just wanting to know how it ended and the showdown between SkyNet's saboteurs and the hybrid Serena is all you could dream of. Explosions. Walking corpses. Spine-chilling moments. Fear. Unstoppable madness and sadness at having to leave someone behind.

I'm just sorry it took me this long to read it.

Reviewed by Endo Morgan on 21/04/2010

Terminator 2 Infiltrator Novel S.M Stirling