(2005)Disjointed story about a terrorist threat in the near future that involves wiping people's memories by the use of a strain of yeast. (PW)This thought-provoking near-future thriller from bestseller Bear (Dead Lines) focuses on two young FBI agents: William Griffin, the son of a legendary FBI lawman, struggles through training; Fouad Al-Husam, who expects suspicion for his heritage and Muslim faith, finds himself instead sent on super-secret missions to the Middle East. Playing a minor supporting role is their Quantico classmate, Jane Rowland. When a quiet man with mismatched eyes starts telling certain fanatics that he can make gene-keyed anthrax to destroy their hereditary enemies, Griffin and Al-Husam form an unlikely team, headed by veteran agent Rebecca Rose, to handle the threat. Bear's near-future science is, as always, eerily plausible, and while he doesn't stint on sharp criticism of political infighting and its potential to hinder antiterrorism efforts, his would-be terrorists become surprisingly sympathetic as the complex details of their true plan are slowly (sometimes too slowly) revealed.

The first third of the book really had me wondering if the pages of my Greg Bear science fiction novel had been secretly replaced with the pages from some randomly average thriller about post-9/11 terrorism. Then the science started appearing and things got more interesting.

The structure of the book made it a bit difficult to always keep in mind what was happening to whom and what the reader was already supposed to know about each character. I think there were just too many of them. Some would be introduced early, only to disappear for a long time and then suddenly reappear when they were needed. Some would just appear and have a larger role than expected. This does not make a compelling thriller for me. I think it would have been better to stick, really stick to the three characters that really mattered.

As for the science, it's all near-future extrapolation of existing technology. Much of this is common to almost any futuristic film being made. Some of it was just plain fun. However, the realistic portrayal of the remote possibility of unknown parties acquiring and/or manipulating bio-terrorism materials is quite unsettling and thought provoking.

This is not a great book. But it was ultimately satisfying and I will probably give the next one in the series a try. ( )

So many tantalizing things here, technology, political intrigue, and back story untold. Very enjoyable. ( )

Ok, I've previously drawn parallels between Greg Bear's "Blood Music" & Michael Crichton's "Prey" that were unflattering to Crichton (see http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/341816.Prey) & then I HATED Crichton's "State of Fear" (see http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15860.State_of_Fear). SO, I credited Bear w/ being original & discredited Crichton w/ being a paltry 2nd (or 3rd or whatever). THEN Bear writes this - a novel not that dissimilar from Crichton's "State of Fear" but coming out a yr or 2 later.

NOW, to give Bear credit, I wdn't quite call this propaganda in the same way that I accused Crichton. It's nowhere near as simple-minded. It's acknowledged that the FBI has been culpable, Muslims are presented as a diverse batch of humans, the person(s) responsible for the diabolical plot are complex - they're not caricatures. That's all well & good. Nonetheless, there are parallels w/ Crichton: page 285:

""He was dealing with domestic and ecological terrorists - Animal Rescue, Earth Liberation Front, Gaia Brigade. Dangerous people. [..]"

Then I look at the author's foto on the back: this guy is straight, straight, STRAIGHTER - as is going, going, GONE. What I mean is that, ultimately, this guy buys the lies of "law & order" - in other words, he's naive as fuck(less). Sorry, Greg, I like yr novels but you're as clueless as James Gunn (see my review of "Kampus": http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2144066.Kampus). Bear gets the tech details down pretty well, has a solid wide vision, but ultimately misses out on the human stuff just a little too much. He's a wishful thinker: the American Dream, yeah, it's been a nightmare.. but, c'mon, we're really the good guys in the long run n'at.

AND I ALMOST AGREE - but only ALMOST. Ultimately, for me, there's a 'dream' of people, just PEOPLE, not just 'Americans', of justice - &, sorry, FBI agents (as heroicized in this bk) are not my idea of the ones who have this dream most firmly ensconced in their noggins. They're just too embedded in American historical lies & mythology. Has Bear forgotten exactly how fucked Hoover was? How fucked COINTELPRO was? I'll take the non-racist version of the Black Panthers over the FBI anyday - even if they 'lack' the technology. ( )

Not sci-fi as such, but a thrilling bio-hazard terrorist escapade, with the good guys and bad guys changing places as the story unfolds. What's also entertaining is that what's really happening is not discovered until near the end--just before the "other" good guys get in the way. ( )