Blasphemy
by Douglas Preston
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Book Reviews of Blasphemy
Book Review: Horribly melodramatic
Summary: 2 Stars
Douglas Preston has really been on a roll with his last two solo novels. In "Tyrannosaur Canyon" he has this theory about how the dinosaurs had died...and then he proceeded to restate it a dozen times throughout the story to the point where it actually eclipsed anything happening in the book. In "Blasphemy", he suddenly gives us a glimpse into his theory of science as God.
We are treated to pages-long tirades about how faith and science cannot co-exist, one must destroy the other. About how science is the true religion and God has never spoken to man before. The villains of the story are Christians...but not like any you've ever met in real life. They are melodramatic caricatures of the real thing. They somehow manage to form a killing mob in the middle of the desert two hours after an email goes out...so ridiculously unrealistic I can't see how this made it past any sane editor. Christians will ignore every other End-Times prophecy in the world, but when a lone pastor in a tiny mission writes them about this dangerous new thing called a "kohm-pew-tur" using something called "ee-leck-tri-sit-ee" and how this has to be the Anti-Christ, they come out in droves to kill the demon machine and its creator? Yeah, that's realistic. And the ramblings of Isabella/whoever sound honestly like a physicist on an LSD trip just chattering away at every freaky theory he's ever had in his life. And yes, I got the little twist at the end that's supposed to explain the machine, but that still doesn't excuse the flat characters and ridiculously over-the-top plot. When Ford is in the control room looking at the faces of these stoic atheist scientists who are suddenly becoming converted by this computer, it's like something out of a bad movie. They ridicule the "crutch" of religion throughout the story, but then wholly embrace their own version of it without batting an eye later? Sure.
I think Preston really needs to treat Lincoln Child well, because it appears Child is the one in the writing duo who keeps the Pendergast stories sane and interesting. It's really a shame that his solo work has gone so downhill lately, because I thought "The Codex" was amazing. Hopefully Preston will approach his next solo novel with the idea to tell a good story, not write a scientific theory with a few characters thrown in to call it a novel.
Book Review: Wow. Just wow.
Summary: 2 Stars
For years I have been one of Preston's most avid fans, affording him status as one of my rare "Automatic Authors," writers whose books I automatically buy without even reading the description, so I take no pleasure in writing this review.
The overall story is the only reason the book gets even two stars. It's an interesting overall premise with abysmal execution. The characters are hackneyed caricatures, and the plot is as predictable as the sunrise. I literally figured out "whodunnit" a third of the way through the book.
Extremely disturbing is the seething hatred of Christianity that boils just below the surface throughout the book. In an interview at the end of the audiobook version, Preston states that (paraphrased), "Science has come along and proven religion wrong." Take that statement, wrap in the veneer of a novel, and BLASPHEMY is the sad result. Atheistic fervor = good. Navajo mysticism = good. Politicians = good. Then there are those dang old evil Christians. WARNING: SPOILER INFO FOLLOWS.
Excepting the character Wyman Ford (who has so little conviction that he does nothing while a new "religion" that he knows to be utterly false, replaces God and storms the world), every single Christian is portrayed as a charlatan, simpleton nut job, murderer, terrorist, or some combination thereof.
No matter what you think of Christianity, for Preston to portray such a massive group of his fellow citizens in this way is absurd and totally lacking in believability. It's so over the top as to make obvious the fact that he did zero research aimed at creating believable Christian characters.
As a Christian myself, I found Blasphemy to be utterly offensive, but I also am extremely dismayed to see such poor craft of writing from one of my favorite writers. I read many many novels that have characters and story elements I may disagree with, yet I can still appreciate the quality of craft. This one is a sad failure on virtually every front. It fails to be an engaging novel, and it fails to be the enlightening social commentary that the author apparently intended. It just fails.
Book Review: A Ripping Good Fiction
Summary: 5 Stars
I was never a reader of Douglas Preston until I came across his novel, Tyrannosaur Canyon, by mistake. I read it and, I have to say, I wasn't all that impressed. So, when I saw this one, I hesitated. Still, as I read the dust jacket, the idea sounded so fascinating that I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did because this is a fun, interesting novel.
This book fits nicely into the religion vs. science debate that continues to rage today. More like Dan Brown's Angels & Demons than The Da Vinci Code, Blasphemy pits a group of damaged scientists against a cadre of fundamentalist Christians. I don't want to give to much away for potential readers but let me just say that the basic premise is this: the world's biggest superconducting supercollider has been built on Native American land in Arizona where it is run in secret by a dozen scientists. In response to their secrecy, religious groups begin to questions what is going on out in the desert. Because the scientists have discovered something they did not expect, the tension is heightened, inevitably leading to a clash.
Once you've suspended your belief for the premise--that a group rather unstable scientists are left alone to run multi-billion dollar equipment with no oversight--the rest plays out rather nicely. The characters Mr. Preston develops are well-drawn and act as you would expect them to. No outrageous actions that kill the plot here. And, ultimately, Mr. Preston is trying to put to question the meaning of faith, both in science and religion, bringing out the similarities between the two modes of understanding. In this he succeeds rather nicely. Along the way, he illustrates the power of belief over the cynicism of knowing.
All in all, it is a twisting corkscrew that digs into the heart of both religion and science. On top of that, it's a ripping good story that Mr. Preston handles very well with none of the weaknesses of straining against reality that I saw in his previous novel. I highly recommend this one as tops in its genre.
Book Review: Guilty Pleasure for Amateur Science Nerds
Summary: 4 Stars
Blasphemy is a Douglas Preston novel that tells the tale of a group of scientists working on the Isabella, the newest and most powerful particle accelerator in the world. Along the way they encounter problems from the local Navajo, some Christian fundamentalists, and a machine that provides a great mystery.
With the excitement surrounding the new particle accelerator at CERN, this book caught my eye. It mixes a lot of up-to-date issues in our world. The constant moral and ideological struggle between science and religion. The politics of Washington from powerful lobbyists to shady backroom dealings. It finds a way to blend these cultural clashes that play out in our headlines everyday.
From a story perspective, I thought the first half was gripping. The characters were well developed (although heavily stereotyped) and the buildup toward the climax was great. Unfortunately, the second half of the book does "jump the shark" at times and gets really outlandish. I can give the book some leniency on the science issues as it is a thriller, but some of the personal relationships develop in a way that will have you rolling your eyes.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed it. It's an easy read that will keep you in suspense. The science in it isn't too deep and will surely peak the interest of any amateur physics fan. Most importantly though, it tells an interesting story of our cultural conflicts from the extreme perspectives of our society.
I'd also note that this book does not bash religion. I think it portrays scientists, politicians, and lobbyists in just as negative connotations. The book is about the extremes on each side of the ideological fence. It's about egotistical, greedy people poisoning their respected fields of study. But most of all, it's a fictional story with fictional characters. If every character in every book was toned down as to not offend a particular race, religion, ethnicity, etc; reading novels would be a bore.
Book Review: There's a (holy) Ghost in the machine
Summary: 4 Stars
Blasphemy is the story of a group of researchers at Isabella, the new US government financed $40 billion particle accelerator, located on an Arizona reservation leased from the Navajos. The main goal of the accelerator is to recreate conditions just after the Big Bang, to test modern theories of the creation of the universe. When the newly completed accelerator fails to get on-line as quickly as expected, the Feds send in an operative under cover as a Navajo liaison to find out what has gone wrong. Turns out a lot has, either as the result of deliberate sabotage, a bug in the software, or something really strange. Mix in a few thousand fundamentalist Christians who view the whole thing as an attempt by anti-religious atheistic scientists to disprove the existence of God and undermine the good book, incited to a frenzied pitch by a slick televangelist huckster and a well-meaning but psychotic and delusional fundamentalist minister on the Rez, season with elements of the AntiChrist, miniature black holes and the possibility of a really large explosion, and you have all the ingredients for a suspenseful and successful potboiler.
The writing is crisp and lean and everything moves very fast. The book is hard to put down as it is very much plot-driven and paced and parsed very well, and, well, you just have to find out what happens next. Do not read this if you contributed regularly to the ministries of Jerry Falwell or Jim Baker or if you disliked the Preston-Childs collaborative novels featuring the irrepressible Agent Pendergast. On the other hand, if you have recently finished and were impressed by "Letter to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris or "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins and/or their intellectual brethren, I predict you will find this novel very amusing. In spite of a hole in the plot big enough to land a 747 in (sorry - no spoilers here - if interested see my comment), this novel is great fun and highly recommended.