Thursday, July 19, 2012

Book #54 - Triggers

This sounded interesting at the library, so I grabbed Triggers, but didn't take it with me to London. I was looking for something else last night and picked it up. It's written by the guy that wrote FlashForward (which became a TV show). I noticed that near the end, and it made sense with the strange sci-fi nature of the book.

The President is shot at a speech. He's brought to a hospital where they try to save his life. At the same time a scientist is working on a laser treatment to erase memory from a PWSD patient, a veteran of the Afghanistan war. A bomb explodes, destroying the White House, emitting an EMP, and causing power to fade in the hospital briefly as the President's heart stops. When he awakes, he realizes he can read someone else's thoughts. Actually, there are 21 people within 32 feet of the scientist's machine (in all directions) that are affected. They form a chain of people reading each other's memories.

It's a neat idea, one that makes you think. It's a story not to far in the future, where terrorist acts have taken place all over, including the US where the Sears Tower, Golden Gate bridge, and Liberty Bell have fallen victim before the White House. That's important as it colors some of what happens in the story. It's a very neat look at a possible future, one that I hope doesn't come true.

Worth reading. I want to find a few more of his books.

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