Raymond Hawkey (1930–2010)

Den här boken publicerades 1975 och är en near future science fiction, eller möjligen en technothriller. Eftersom det har gått ett tag sedan den skrevs har den numera blivit alternativ historia. Idén är i alla fall att USA är på gränsen att slitas sönder av interna konflikter och presidenten inser att det behövs något drastiskt för att ena nationen och man beslutar sig för att fejka en utomjordisk invasion.
De tekniska bitarna verkar, såvitt jag kan bedöma, hyggligt trovärdiga.Författarna lyckas också få till en spännande handling och lyckas på det hela taget med att ge tillräckligt med info utan alltför mycket infodumping.

Skulle jag rekommendera boken? Jo, om man står ut med att den på många sätt är föråldrad så.… (mere)

Twaddle. Readable twaddle, but twaddle all the same. If Nelson DeMille had got hold of this plotline it would have been another three or four hundred pages long (so I'm thankful for small mercies). It would have been more readable, but no more believable.

The United States is in factional anarchy - a Presidential aid comes up with a plan to unite the country by presenting it with an external threat - a group of super scientists are pulled together to realise the threat - the scientists aren't told the whole of the details - the threat is delivered - the President is a hero and the country pulls together. The twist lies in a couple of the scientists finding out what they weren't supposed to know, and their attempts to make this knowledge available to the wider world.

I have to admit to finishing it off in a single sitting because of an interest in finding out the twist, but it still left me pretty cold. The book was written by a couple of Brits - they claim to have been mentored by Len Deighton - and that showed in a few places. However, this is the sort of book that you pick up in an airport lounge while waiting for a flight, and then throw away at the end of the journey without making any attempt to pass the book on to another reader.

The newspaper clippings on the back cover are wildly enthusiastic. In my opinion, they must all have been written about some other book. It's humdrum - I wouldn't dissuade anyone from reading it, but don't expect too much.… (mere)