On a dare, grad student Jessica Evans writes a thriller, creating a nightmare scenario based upon the theory that the speed of light is not a constant--one that has a dark application. Her protagonist (the fiancE of a scientist killed in a car crash) is pursued by those who want to use the theory to create the world's most powerful weapon.
Jessica's research into the science stirs up concern from an extremist group intending to use it for evil. Before long, Jessica's life mimics that of her protagonist, as she runs from terrorist conspirators who suspect she may try to stop them from causing a major disaster. As the clock ticks down, Jessica must put the pieces together and avert a global catastrophe.
*****
“Suppose powerful accelerators managed to produce large numbers of Planck mass particles and that somehow a bomb was made with them. According to our theory, such a bomb would release exactly half the energy released by a conventional nuclear weapon with the same overall mass. In other words, such an expensive quantum gravitational weapon would be precisely half as powerful as a much cheaper conventional nuclear weapon. For more massive particles (say with masses equal to two or three times the Planck mass), the result would be even worse. I was pleased to find that even generals would probably not be dumb enough to hire Lee or me.”*
*Unfortunately, the possibility that Eρ might be negative reverses this argument, as explained in our paper. – João Magueijo, Faster Than the Speed of Light (Perseus Publishing, 2003), pp. 252-253.
*****
Since the novel is about a character writing a novel about a character who is writing a novel, another interesting feature is that the novelist(s) sometimes discuss their own creative process and, in doing so, make critical comments about the very writing that we are reading. The story, in fact, introduces the phenomenological question of who is actually speaking to us as we read a book.
The central characters, Jessica and Alexia, are clever and daring without being unrealistically heroic. Their actions, for the most part, are believable. The prose is straightforward and polished. This is overall a very enjoyable book. http://www.realnicebooks.com
sharp, current and witty” — Terry Tyler (GoodReads Review)
On a dare, grad student Jessica Evans writes a thriller, creating a nightmare scenario based upon the theory that the speed of light is not a constant—one that has a dark application. Her protagonist (the fiancé of a scientist killed in a car crash) is pursued by those who want to use the theory to create the world’s most powerful weapon.
However, Jessica is soon running for her life when events mimic that of her protagonist. She’s threatened by terrorist conspirators who intend to use the knowledge to create an event that causes mass destruction. As the clock ticks down, Jessica must put the pieces together and avert a global catastrophe.
Inspired by a true story about a scientific challenge to Einstein’s theory of relativity.
“Thoroughly intriguing! A real page-turner.” - Zoë Sharp, author of the best-selling Charlie Fox series
“Does art hold a mirror to life? Or does life mirror art? New York Times best-selling author Debbi Mack builds this surprising thriller layer upon layer with an ending that will make you want to read it all over again.” - Donna Fletcher Crow, author of An All-Consuming Fire, The Monastery Murders
“Mack takes her reader on a roller-coaster ride with science, imagination, and a terrible possibility.” - Peg Brantley, author of the Aspen Falls Thriller series
“[A] sleek tour-de-force exercise in Hitchcockian suspense about domestic terrorism, in which the McGuffin is a novel-within-the-novel and the novelist and her work intersect in unpredictable ways. Reality and fiction clash and spar for supremacy until the final paragraph.” - W.D. Gagliani, author of Wolf’s Blind (The Nick Lupo Series) and Savage Nights
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