The Trigger - Softcover

Clarke, Arthur C.; Kube-McDowell, Michael P.

3.76

982 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553576208 ISBN 13: 9780553576207

Publisher: Spectra, 2000

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From Arthur C. Clarke, bestselling author of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Creator Of The Rama Series, and Michael Kube-Mcdowell comes a breathtaking new novel of bold scientific speculation and edge-of-your-seat suspense: a riveting thriller in which the fate of humanity depends on whose finger is on...The Trigger

It is the ultimate anti-weapon. A device that can render guns and bombs virtually harmless. At least that is how Dr. Jeffrey Horton, the brilliant young physicist who developed the Trigger, hopes his discovery will be used. Yet, like the scientists who first believed nuclear weapons would be the ultimate deterrent to war, could Horton and his colleagues be wrong? Will this new technology bring peace, or chaos? Will it be used to protect people, or control them? Will it mean the end of war, or a whole new kind of war? Not even Horton could have foreseen the fierce power struggle emerging for control of the Trigger. Soon it becomes clear that no one can be trusted. Not even those closest to him. Someone has already betrayed the project. Others will do anything to stop it--or co-opt it for their own ends. And the greatest enemy may be those with the best intentions.

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Review:

Set in a future of in which virtual trials are a reality, and when a "Windows era" PC can be bought for 25 US dollars, The Trigger is a hi-tech science-fiction thriller which follows a discovery by physicist Jeffrey Horton which can render weaponry harmless. The promise is an end to warfare, and to the arms industry. Vested interests are not about to allow this to happen, and Horton finds himself caught in a deadly, escalating crisis, as the world spirals towards war and expediency comes face to face with morality. Horton's breakthrough offers a last chance for peace, but once the genie has been let out of the bottle, can it ever be contained again?

On the surface this is a most unusual book for Arthur C. Clarke. There is none of the interplanetary questing of 2001: A Space Odyssey, or Rendezvous With Rama, and while in the past Clarke's books have been almost totally devoid of violence, here is a direct confrontation with the subject. As such The Trigger reads less like Clarke's previous fiction than a liberal answer to the blockbusting adventure novels of Tom Clancy. Likewise, the flashes of humour, the sharp dialogue and the political intrigue will be more familiar to readers of Michael Kube-McDowell's Alternities and the Trigon Disunity. However, the result of this collaboration is an epic thriller, as well as a surprising change of direction for Arthur C. Clarke, undoubtedly the most famous science fiction writer in the world. --Gary S. Dalkin

Review:

"[Clarke And Kube-Mcdowell] skillfully assess the tricky territory between individualism and collective trust."
-- Publishers Weekly

Also by Arthur C. Clarke

The Rama books
Rendezvous With Rama
Rama II With Gentry Lee
The Garden Of Rama With Gentry Lee
Rama Revealed With Gentry Lee
The Fountains Of Paradise
The City And The Stars
Imperial Earth
Glide Path
The Deep Range
A Fall Of Moondust
The Sands Of Mars

More than one universe: the collected stories of Arthur C. Clarke

Astounding Days
Tales From Planet Earth
Richter 10 with Mike McQuay

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