By: Greg Bear Publisher: Vanguard Press Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Format: Bargain Price Label: Vanguard Press Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 326 Publication Date: April 16, 2007
It’s the second decade of the twenty-first century, and terrorism has escalated almost beyond control. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem has been blown to bits by extremists and, in retaliation, thousands have died in another major attack on the United States. New weapons are being spawned in remote basement labs. No one feels safe. In North America, the FBI uses cutting-edge technology to thwart domestic terrorists. Sat-linked engine blockers stop drug-traffickers cold; devices the size of Magic Markers test for bio-hazards on the spot; 3-D projectors reconstruct crime scenes from hours-old evidence; and sophisticated bomb suits protect against all but the most savage forces. Despite all this, the War on Terror has reached a deadly stalemate. Now the FBI has been dispatched to deal with a new menace. Like the Anthrax threat of 2001, a plague targeted to ethnic groups-Jews or Muslims or both-has the potential to wipe out entire populations. But the FBI itself is under political assault. There’s a good chance agents William Griffin, Fouad Al-Husam, and Jane Rowland will be part of the last class at Quantico. As the young agents hunt a brilliant homegrown terrorist, they join forces with veteran bio-terror expert Rebecca Rose. But the plot they uncover-and the man they chase-proves far more complex than anyone expects.
Yawn ... Things move VERY slowly in this book. A lot of wasted space spent on FBI training missions and pointless dialogue, not to mention loads of description and backstory of virtually every environment, person, and object we encounter. The weather and scenery are favorite subjects for endless elicudation, and one will quickly learn to skip about 70% of the pages to glean plot-moving material. I enjoyed his sci-fi, but here he's out of his element.
Not to mention, this book redefines PC stereotyping to new levels.
The "Christians" we meet at first are either polygamous abortion-clinic bombers out to kill the Jews, or slutty women. Or, best case - an ignorant, bigoted FBI agent or two. Of course, Bear has tossed in a Muslim FBI agent, who is a model of quiet tolerance, patience, and wisdom. To be fair, later we find that abortion-bomber guy is out to wipe out "mainstream" Christians as well, so ... he's not totally deranged as, say, Dan Brown seems to be.
I'm on chapter 50-something now, and so far, let's see what has happened. One murder of a police officer, one breaching of abortion-guy's house, one big explosion, one training mission, one hostage situation, a decapitation or two, ... a lot of dead air in between. I'm told that it heats up at the end, so I'm hopeful.
Just Ok. It is a near-future thriller about Bioterror and hints around the edges at the future events in the Mideast, terrorism, the US Intelligence Community and hi-tech National Security gadgets.
It was just okay.
It was really about hi-tech bioterror. Secondary themes were about how the USGOV and the IC isn't doing enough...and is doing too much. And of course, the villain can't be a Muslim.
While some of the gadgetry (Bear is a Science Fiction writer) was interesting (stuff like in this post), most of the characters are cardboard. There is no sense of the importance and scope of 4GW with the importance of messages, information and perceptions.
Confusing, ragged plot, all over the place I read a book per week and if you like Balducci, Flynn, Frey, Grisham Deaver dont buy this book. I picked it up because I had nothing to read until the next book of my favorite authors came out. Totally confusing book and really could not wait to finish it.
Average Sci-Fi This author has definitely done his research. It was paced slowly. It had my interest in the beginning and at the end, however, the middle dragged on and on. The ending was anticlimactic. I wish it had gone into greater depth regarding the villians personality and history. This book can barely be classified as Sci-Fi in my opinion. I did enjoy parts of it but would probably not read it if I had to do it over again. That being said, if you are really into terrorism, it would be worth your reading.
Terrifying Thrillers are one of my staple diet of mind candy & I grew up reading the hard core, science-oriented SF of the 1960's/70's. Mr. Bear has here combined the two with a fast-paced SF police procedural that I picked up on a Friday night and literally did not set down until I had finished it.
Bear's writing is unmuddied, and his plot is clipped to the exact pace of law enforcement officers under the gun (of time). His characters are amazingly well-fleshed for such a novel. In a political thriller, it is often difficult to let the reader know which characters are trustworthy, which not, and which are conflicted without stirring so many red herrings into the mix that the reader is unable to enjoy the unfolding of the tale. There is no such problem here. I also give him credit for his several allusions to the SF masters (for whom such times as ours would undoubtedly have produced many novels like this)and for maintaining the correct balance between too much and not enough science background. He makes the probability of bioterrorism seem too real and too possible and too terrifying to ignore--which is just what a near-future thriller ought to do. A very good job overall.