- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Macmillan; 1st Edition edition (4 July 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 023070364X
- ISBN-13: 978-0230703643
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.4 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 801,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Blasphemy
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
From the bestselling author of THE CODEX and TYRANNOSAUR CANYON
Book Description
Think of the greatest possible scientific discovery . . . they made one even greater. The world's biggest supercollider, hidden in an Arizona mountain, was built to unlock the secrets of the very moment of creation: the Big Bang itself. Isabella is the most expensive machine ever created by humankind, run by the world's most powerful supercomputer. It is the brainchild of Nobel Laureate William North Hazelius. Will Isabella divulge the mysteries of the creation of the universe? Or will it, as some predict, suck the earth into a mini black hole? Or is Isabella a Satanic attempt, as a powerful televangelist decries, to challenge God Almighty on the very throne of heaven? Twelve scientists are sent to the remote mountain to turn it on . . . and what they discover must be hidden from the world at all costs. Wyman Ford, ex-monk and CIA operative, is tapped to wrest from the team their secret, a secret that will either destroy the world . . . or save it. The countdown to midnight begins . . . Acclaim for TYRANNOSAUR CANYON: 'If John Grisham had written Jurassic Park, he couldn't do better than Tyrannosaur Canyon' Stephen Coonts
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is a good yarn. You have to suspend disbelief and 'just go with it'. If you can do that, and you like thriller type books with a scientific and religious twist you will just find it enjoyable.
A group of scientists have built a massive supercollider (atom smasher) underground in the middle of the Arizona desert which by accelerating atomic particles close to the speed of light and smashing them together (they are trying to do this at CERN, Switzerland in real life) are creating conditions similar to those at the Big Bang which created our Universe. They are on the frontiers of science investigation and have the chance to 'look into the eyes of God'.
They find an amazing secret that they try to hide from the Authorities whilst they investigate further and ex CIA man Wyman Ford is sent in (ostensibly to liaise with the locals -Navajo Indians- who are unhappy and unsettled by the whole thing), but actually to find out what is going on. Of course, to add some sexual chemistry, one of the scientists just happens to be Ford's ex lover (huge coincidence I know, but just go with it).
Pretty soon a group of religious fundamentalists springs up and they see the scientists as Antichrist blasphemers who, by probing the 'beginning of the Universe' are denying God's existence and questionning all they have come to accept about God, religion and mankinds place in the cosmos.
Anyway, a tense thriller follows, with Politicians trying to find out what is going on, religious nutters who take up arms, locals who are protesting, scientists who lock down the facility to probe their amazing secret and our hero guy, Wyman Ford who is in the midst of it all.
It could be argued that what the book is missing is good characterisation and that the whole premise is a bit far-fetched. Also you could question whether people would behave in the way the plot dictates. Also the idea of only 12 or so people running this massive scientific facility seems contrived to make the plot work.
However, I put those things aside and just enjoyed the story as it unfolded. Plenty of tension, smatterings of science laced with religion and a pretty good yarn.
I think the author does a good job in making us think about religion and does God exist. If he does, is he the God of the scriptures or is he something else? I think he is also rebelling against religious indoctrination (which I totally agree with). Religion was invented by man to give him something to believe in - some meaning and purpose to his life. What good has it done? Maybe we dont need that kind of religion at all any more, perhaps we need a new meaning.
All in all a good thriller, thought provoking and interesting. Not perfect, but I think it must be hard to build up sufficiently deep characters and at the same time keep a pacy thriller motoring along.
I would definitely recommend this book.
A group of scientists have built a massive supercollider (atom smasher) underground in the middle of the Arizona desert which by accelerating atomic particles close to the speed of light and smashing them together (they are trying to do this at CERN, Switzerland in real life) are creating conditions similar to those at the Big Bang which created our Universe. They are on the frontiers of science investigation and have the chance to 'look into the eyes of God'.
They find an amazing secret that they try to hide from the Authorities whilst they investigate further and ex CIA man Wyman Ford is sent in (ostensibly to liaise with the locals -Navajo Indians- who are unhappy and unsettled by the whole thing), but actually to find out what is going on. Of course, to add some sexual chemistry, one of the scientists just happens to be Ford's ex lover (huge coincidence I know, but just go with it).
Pretty soon a group of religious fundamentalists springs up and they see the scientists as Antichrist blasphemers who, by probing the 'beginning of the Universe' are denying God's existence and questionning all they have come to accept about God, religion and mankinds place in the cosmos.
Anyway, a tense thriller follows, with Politicians trying to find out what is going on, religious nutters who take up arms, locals who are protesting, scientists who lock down the facility to probe their amazing secret and our hero guy, Wyman Ford who is in the midst of it all.
It could be argued that what the book is missing is good characterisation and that the whole premise is a bit far-fetched. Also you could question whether people would behave in the way the plot dictates. Also the idea of only 12 or so people running this massive scientific facility seems contrived to make the plot work.
However, I put those things aside and just enjoyed the story as it unfolded. Plenty of tension, smatterings of science laced with religion and a pretty good yarn.
I think the author does a good job in making us think about religion and does God exist. If he does, is he the God of the scriptures or is he something else? I think he is also rebelling against religious indoctrination (which I totally agree with). Religion was invented by man to give him something to believe in - some meaning and purpose to his life. What good has it done? Maybe we dont need that kind of religion at all any more, perhaps we need a new meaning.
All in all a good thriller, thought provoking and interesting. Not perfect, but I think it must be hard to build up sufficiently deep characters and at the same time keep a pacy thriller motoring along.
I would definitely recommend this book.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
On thing you can never accuse Douglas Preston of is writing books that lack ideas. As with his previous works such as Tyranosaur Canyon or the novels he writes with Lincoln Child, Blasphemy weaves a large number of pretty complex concepts, issues and and ideas into an accessible techno-thriller. In this specific case its concepts such as the nature of faith, issues such as the place of science and religion in modern western society and ideas such as how humankind would react when faced with possibility of direct communication with God.
All of which should make for a read that is both facinating and exciting. Unfortunately as a book Blasphemy doesn't really work. It nothing do with the writing style or the central concept of the book per se. The prose is good, dialogue feels real and the structure is sound. Preston is too experienced an author to produce a badly written novel.
The flaws, and to my mind they are pretty big ones, are the characters on display and the events that they cause to unfold as the story progresses. Put simply I found that I could not believe that the characters on display would a.) be placed in the positions they were given, b.) would react to events the way they did or c.) that events would spiral out of control in the fashion that they do.
Without giving away the plot Blasphemy relies far too much on hapenstance, coincidence and irrational human behaviours for it to really be believable. It feels as if the author has crafted people and events purely to service the ideas and issues he wishes to address, rather than creating an organic plot that develops naturally and feels believable. Blasphemy is like a functional, precise machine; it does what it is designed to do, but it lacks real emotion and soul in the way it does it.
This fatally wounds the book, since the ideas it tries to deal with are very much tied in with human emotion and behaviour. Since the actions and emotions on display don't feel real the ideas Preston puts forward lose their power. You find yourself thinking 'nah, that could never happen because people don't behave that way' rather than 'gosh, could that really happen? Scary!' as the author would seemingly like you to do.
Furthermore, with the characters on display behaving in ways that just don't feel believable it becomes very hard to invest emotionally in the book. This just makes it feel even more like an intellectual exercise rather than something intended to entertain and inform.
As I said at the beginning, Douglas Preston does not write bad books that lack ideas. With Blasphemy however, his desire to address many quite complex ideas has lead him to forget what makes an entertaining thriller, namely characters and events we can believe and invest in.
All of which should make for a read that is both facinating and exciting. Unfortunately as a book Blasphemy doesn't really work. It nothing do with the writing style or the central concept of the book per se. The prose is good, dialogue feels real and the structure is sound. Preston is too experienced an author to produce a badly written novel.
The flaws, and to my mind they are pretty big ones, are the characters on display and the events that they cause to unfold as the story progresses. Put simply I found that I could not believe that the characters on display would a.) be placed in the positions they were given, b.) would react to events the way they did or c.) that events would spiral out of control in the fashion that they do.
Without giving away the plot Blasphemy relies far too much on hapenstance, coincidence and irrational human behaviours for it to really be believable. It feels as if the author has crafted people and events purely to service the ideas and issues he wishes to address, rather than creating an organic plot that develops naturally and feels believable. Blasphemy is like a functional, precise machine; it does what it is designed to do, but it lacks real emotion and soul in the way it does it.
This fatally wounds the book, since the ideas it tries to deal with are very much tied in with human emotion and behaviour. Since the actions and emotions on display don't feel real the ideas Preston puts forward lose their power. You find yourself thinking 'nah, that could never happen because people don't behave that way' rather than 'gosh, could that really happen? Scary!' as the author would seemingly like you to do.
Furthermore, with the characters on display behaving in ways that just don't feel believable it becomes very hard to invest emotionally in the book. This just makes it feel even more like an intellectual exercise rather than something intended to entertain and inform.
As I said at the beginning, Douglas Preston does not write bad books that lack ideas. With Blasphemy however, his desire to address many quite complex ideas has lead him to forget what makes an entertaining thriller, namely characters and events we can believe and invest in.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Writing is a lonely endeavor, yet Preston is one of those rare writers who thrive in collaboration but straggle when writing alone. When writing in tandem with Lincoln Child more often than not lightening strikes (THE RELIC, THE RELIQUARY, THE ICE LIMIT to name a few). In contrast, his previous solo efforts (THE CODEX, TYRANNOSAUR CANYON) fall just short of their mark. BLASPHEMY goes a bit further.
Isabella is the supercollider that American particle and high-energy physicists dreamed about (but congress killed in 1993). In this novel it is actually built, not in Texas but in Arizona. In an abandoned coal mine, under a Native American burial grounds. And if these were not ominous enough, when it is run at full power, all heavens seem to break loose.
Navajo medicine men and frothing tele-evangelists; a lonely pastor driven over the edge and a cynic ex-monk turned deniable-PI for the government; a president risking riots only to protect his legacy and a Nobel-prize winner scientist with a severe Messianic fixation. The science may be half-baked and the characters underdeveloped and monochromatic but the story will keep you turning pages well into the night.
A particle beam worth a ride.
RECOMMENDED.
Isabella is the supercollider that American particle and high-energy physicists dreamed about (but congress killed in 1993). In this novel it is actually built, not in Texas but in Arizona. In an abandoned coal mine, under a Native American burial grounds. And if these were not ominous enough, when it is run at full power, all heavens seem to break loose.
Navajo medicine men and frothing tele-evangelists; a lonely pastor driven over the edge and a cynic ex-monk turned deniable-PI for the government; a president risking riots only to protect his legacy and a Nobel-prize winner scientist with a severe Messianic fixation. The science may be half-baked and the characters underdeveloped and monochromatic but the story will keep you turning pages well into the night.
A particle beam worth a ride.
RECOMMENDED.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A real page turner
Using some of the most recent debates about the existence of G-d, Douglas Preston succeeded to build a story I just kept reverting to whenever I had a few minutes, in-between... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Xavier Alexandre
Thought provoking scientific thriller
At the core of Preston's novel is a fictional version of the Large Hadron Collider (the scientific experiment that recreates the conditions of the Big Bang in order to unravel the... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Iain Edward Henn
A great thriller, which probes uncomfortable ideas at the boundaries...
Basically, this is an adventure thriller set against a "big science" background, with Whyman Ford sent to investigate problems at what's effectively the US version of CERN, albeit... Read more
Published 13 months ago by A. K. Johnston
Exciting read
I am really enjoying this book and was surprised at the negative reviews. It is a well written, thought-provoking and exciting story and rattles along at a good pace. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Demonica
Enjoyable
This is a fun book, perfect for a summer read. It combines the right amount of action and mystery to make it worth buying. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Ioannis Glinavos
not a disappointment at all!
The plot is outlined above so there is no need to get into details. The book presents some really contraversial thinking (hence th title), I am sure that anyone with serious... Read more
Published on 20 May 2010 by rhosymynydd
Cutting edge thrills
Blasphemy uses the succesful Chrichton-esque blueprint with great effect. It's clear that Preston has conducted his research with a story that follows a team of brilliant... Read more
Published on 28 April 2010 by Mr. G. Battle
Cracking read
My first read of a Douglas Preston book and I thouroughly enjoyed it. Terrific imagination with a unique storyline combining science and fiction in a way that you could really... Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2010 by Sean Derby
the word of GOD
When DP writes alone, i suspect some of the chemistry already lost. I find this story on a slow path although very clear what is the main plot and the outcome. Read more
Published on 4 Feb 2010 by SKYW4LKER
Cheap Trick downgrades starring
A modern day Prometheus Man is born within this tale where Science and Religion clash on an epic scale as this fast moving story unveils. Read more
Published on 17 Oct 2008 by Gareth Wilson - Falcata Times Blog
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