Blasphemy
by Douglas Preston
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Book Reviews of Blasphemy
Book Review: Pageturner with flaws
Summary: 3 Stars
I have enjoyed reading a couple other Douglas Preston works so I read Blasphemy a couple days ago for entertainment and really that was all I was looking for. I found it to be a good read IF one can suspend disbelief throughout much of the book. The plausability of some aspects and details and plotlines are nearly comical and I do hate to say that. Lets just take the premise of a 40 Billion Dollar government Particle Supercollider (the Presidents pet project) beneath a mesa in Arizona and the sole staff is 12 scientists and 1 security guard. One security guard? This is akin to an aircraft carrier with a crew 12 with 1 security guard? Implausible? Sure. And that is just the beginning of the holes in this novel if one actually thinks about what one is reading.
Many of the characters are very thin and some of the stereotypes are far to wooden with some clunky dialogue. The rabid-murderous Christians are God, how do I say it...out of a bad comic book.
This could have been a very good read or even a great read, but it was entertaining like some horror films can be. It is far superior entertainment compared to most TV shows or movies so I got to give it a "3" because it was otherwise a good fast pageturner of a read. And because writing a pageturner novel is a lot of work and if you can get past the flaws it is a Ok read. But, not much meat on the bones.
I am confident that Preston will do better next time since he is a very talented writer.
Oh! The GOD thing, while cute in it's own little way it is shallow water.
Book Review: Making Contact
Summary: 4 Stars
In a remote Arizona laboratory, in the dead of night, an anxious scientific team activates a huge computer system and aims it at the farthest reaches of the universe. Their mission: to recreate the circumstances of the "Big Bang" theory and see if it is a plausible explanation of how the world came to be. On the big screen above them they begin to see flashing lights and beautiful colors, accompanied by a high-pitched singing sound. They increase the power, pushing their beam farther and farther out into space. The lights get brighter, the noise gets louder, louder. Then...nothing. Blank screen. A silent pause. Suddenly, the screen comes to life again. The scientists stare in wonder as one word in English arrives there: "Greetings."
That's Chapter One of Douglas Preston's fascinating new novel, BLASPHEMY, and, believe me, it just gets more exciting from there. The bestselling author (RELIC, THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, etc.) may not seem to be the most likely one to give us a gripping thriller that is also a careful consideration of what might be "out there" and what might happen if we could communicate with it. But Preston balances it all very well, and if you're like me, you'll be up all night reading it. There's a race-against-time story, interesting characters, and plenty of food for thought.
My advice to everyone who thinks they might be offended by this subject matter: Just keep repeating to yourselves, "It's only a novel!" A nifty, intelligent, imaginative novel about the ultimate mystery. Recommended.
Book Review: Preston's Best Solo Effort
Summary: 5 Stars
Usually I'm not wild about the solo efforts of either Preston or Childs when they go out on their own. This broke the mold. Incredibly gutsy to take on a subject like this in popular fiction. The rabid fringe of the U.S. right wing must be up in arms over this since they are the villians. A nice change from all middle east "jihad all the time" themes in so many current thrillers. But this is an interesting take as our own fringies in the extreme right wing have the desire to be the new Ayatollas as they wait for the end of times and the so called rapture and some would actually like to accelerate it. The 99% of the rest of us, even committed Christians, would't go to the lengths of those portrayed here, but there are indeed some in this country capable of this and it is best that we don't forget about them. I hope that Preston has not upset enough of the true nut cases from the fringe groups enough for them to make his life miserable or even hazardous.
With respect to the actual book, I thought the first third really dragged as Preston established the characters. I almost put it down out of boredom. But then it really took off in full thriller acceleration to a satisfying conclusion.
Bottom line: Don't read this if you are a true evangelistic Christian, because it has the definite potential to really upset you. For those who can tolerate a treatment of combining sci fi religious speculation with truly frightening right wing Christian villians, it's quite a ride.
Book Review: Good enough to finish, not profound enough to please...
Summary: 3 Stars
This was an interesting idea for an intellectual suspense novel, but the execution deteriorates into far, far too many...executions. A kind of Battle of Armageddon in the Arizona high desert is the climax, and it was just totally unbelievable to me, ruining what until then was a pleasant, but not compelling read. Who leads the battle, who joins the fight, who dies, who lives, and who comes off as heroic...all those answers are unsatisfying. Can "Big Science" figure out a way to contact "Big Bang's Prime Mover"? That is the intriguing setup. Then, however, the dozen brains working the super-colliding superconductor are revealed as cliched personalities. The opponents of the project are ludicrous: two sleazy preachers, one slimy lobbyist, and hundreds of gullible people of faith. I have to say that this is a "borderline book"---if you are interested in the clash (or apparent clash) between science and religion, you might be glad you read it, but what I kept thinking as I was progressing in it was "This seems like a first, and very flawed attempt, to do a good novel about this subject." Remember the Steven Spielberg movie many years ago when Richard Dryfuss gets to fly off in a UFO? And the best thing about it was the musical score? And then, years later, the basic idea turns up in the masterpiece called "E.T."? That's how this book feels. Someone else will come along in ten years and alter the situation, introduce more complex characters, and slap a happy ending on the tale instead of a holocaust.Book Review: `It seems that both of our creator stories have origin problems'
Summary: 3 Stars
The world's most powerful particle accelerator, Isabella, buried deep in an Arizona mountain is the most expensive machine ever built. The purpose of the machine is to explore what happened at the moment of creation, but there is a fear that it may suck the earth into a miniature black hole.
Against a backdrop of rising concern about the money spent, the team of 12 scientists led by Gregory North Hazelius is under increasing pressure to demonstrate the value of the project. In addition there are rising Christian fundamentalist views that the plan is a satanic attempt to disprove the book of Genesis, as well as concerns about the project by the Navajo people (on whose reservation the site is located). There seem to be problems in getting Isabella on line and Wyman Ford is implanted within the team to report back to government about what is really happening.
This novel is marketed as thriller about religion and science. It could also be marketed as an illustration of a triad of hubristic cynicism: government, science and religion all seeking to manipulate public opinion. What makes the novel work, on one level, for me is that none of the players demonstrate superiority and while each fail in different ways the end result demonstrates that nothing substantive has been learned.
I found this an interesting way to spend a few hours on a rainy afternoon: plenty of action, albeit with predictable outcomes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith