A genius inventor, Marc Mathieu, created a device that traps energy released when a person dies. It provides a great amount of power without ever getting exhausted. Scientist call it exhaust or yield. Despite not exactly knowing what it is, they try to assure people that it is definitely not a soul, just a leftover energy. Certain properties of the contained energy lead some to believe otherwise.
While the debate goes on as to the morality of the Gasp, the climate of cold war leads to a race between nations on conquering this mysterious energy.

"If ever the world is destroyed, it will be by a creator."

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. The exploration of the invention and its yet unknown consequences. The author writes about quite a serious matter with a great dose of humor.

"Marc... don't you ever think of God?"
He tried to behave, but then despair always took the form of irony with him.
"Darling, you're pushing us poor scientists too hard. Give us time. We can't discover everything at once. Right now, we were able to isolate a new, cheap-the cheapest- source of energy. We haven't got to discovering God yet. In the last forty years, science's made a fantastic leap forward, but we haven't got that far yet. Progress always slows down before picking up again. Besides, this is a matter of funds, of government subsidies. We can't both land on the moon and discover God, there's simply not enough money for that kind of advance on all fronts."

We follow many points of view: the scientist, the church, the country leaders and their agents. With that, of course, come many opinions and goals.

The second half wasn't as interesting as it is more concentrated on the political consequences. It still does some exploration into the invention and its relation to humanity's nature.

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