Veteran science fiction writer Ben Bova has answered this question with an intense, almost surreal novel about a trip to the surface of our other neighboring planet. Grounded in current science and set in a realistic near-future world, Venus (Tor Books, $24.95) is both an action-packed page-turner and an innovative theoretical exercise on what might lie beneath the planet's concealing clouds.

Van isn't all that likeable -- he's a self-involved rich kid whose real reason for going to Venus is to collect on the ten billion dollar reward his father offers for the recovery of his brother's remains. He's been "encouraged" in this by his father, who has cut off Van's expense account for reasons we learn later.

So much for Van's rich jet-setting lifestyle. In a mix of shame and machismo, Van accepts his father's challenge -- he'd rather risk a violent death on Venus than be penniless.

Dealing with insecurities and low self-esteem, Van is thrust into the role of the leader of Earth's second expedition to Venus. While he gets little respect from his hastily assembled crew -- who see Van as the insecure cushy rich kid he is -- Van finds himself taking a bold risk for the first time in his life.

Despite the rich-kid veneer, Bova finds a sympathetic core to Van's inner self. He's driven by deep-rooted feelings of inadequacy and cowardice, and has never done much in life because he's been afraid.

Van may have been pampered his whole life, but on the harsh surface of Venus that's all about to change -- and he knows it.

Bova adds some needed complexity to the generic conflicting-personalities cast, weaving a twisting plot of betrayal and hidden motive that keeps you guessing. Not all the plot twists work, however.

There's a somewhat maudlin love story between Van and biologist Marguerite Duchamp, which is complicated when the crew experiences a disaster on Venus and Van's arch-rival Lars Fuchs comes to the rescue. Fuchs is out for the ten billion dollar reward, but he and Van are soon in competition for Marguerite's affections as well.

Bova steers clear of most of the obvious problems the romantic triangle might cause, keeping the subplot engaging if melodramatic. The novel isn't improved, however, by a backstory involving an asteroid belt mining war that allowed Van's father to ruin Fuchs and steal his wife.

Fuchs' wife would ultimately marry Martin Humphries and become Van's mother, and Fuchs' hatred for Martin threatens to send the story pot Bova is stirring boiling over.

Despite these somewhat forced character elements, the action sequences in Venus are taut and exciting. There's space ships attacked by strange creatures, eroding spacesuits, all told with the fast-paced populist style that's been Bova's specialty for decades.

While nothing groundbreaking, Venus is a captivating Sunday read -- the kind of classic SF adventure story that makes us want to run out of our fifth grade class and build a rocket ship.