The Wishbone Express — Bruce Cook

The Wishbone Express is a science fiction novel set hundreds of years in the future, when faster-than-light space travel is common and millions of inhabited worlds are part of a galactic society. The story focuses on two men -- Randy Henson and Bill Jenkins -- who operate an interstellar courier service using their highly advanced starship, the Wishbone. They accept a contract to transport a key government witness whose testimony will decide the fate of a corrupt planetary government. Their VIP passenger is accompanied by an attorney and an alien body guard.

But during the journey they are pursued across thousands of light years by three well-armed ships which repeatedly attempt to destroy the Wishbone. The story employs a wealth of cosmological data to present a scientifically accurate description of the celestial features which play a key role in this fast-past story. The Wishbone's crew uses intelligence and imagination to out-maneuver their pursuers as they fly through a dense nebula, soar through the deadly radiation of a pulsar, and dive into the chromosphere of a star!

The two crewmen do not know, however, that their passengers are concealing dark secrets from both the crewmen and each other. After a dangerous and action-packed voyage, the crewmen attempt to land their badly damaged spacecraft on the destination planet while dealing with life-threatening complications concerning the true identities of their passengers and the deadly secrets they've been hiding.

The Wishbone Express is rich with exciting action, unexpected plot twists, and generous amounts of humor.