The Trigger

Clarke, Arthur C. and Kube-McDowell, Michael

ISBN 10: 0002247119 / ISBN 13: 9780002247115

Published by Voyager/Harper Collins, London, 1999

About this Item

Large octavo size [16x24cm approx]. Near Fine copy in Very Good dustjacket. Dustjacket is now protected in our purpose-made clear archival plastic sleeve. A nice copy. 550 pages. A day-after-tomorrow thriller from Arthur C. Clarke and Michael Kube-McDowell of 'Star Wars' fame. Robust, professional packaging and tracking provided for all parcels. Seller Inventory # 307645

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Trigger

Publisher: Voyager/Harper Collins, London

Publication Date: 1999

Binding: Hardback

Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

Edition: 1st Edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

1999, British hardcover edition, Harper Collins / Voyager, London, UK. 550 pages, science fiction. Novel by a fine writing team.

Review:

The early 21st century ushers in a revolution in unified field theory, and free-thinking physicist Jeffrey Horton and his team are pushing the cutting edge. Sequestered on a maximum-security research campus, the scientists are testing "Baby," a device they hope will create "a laser for gravity," a tractor beam. But during an early run, every gun in the area (and even a secret stash of fireworks) simultaneously explodes. Follow-up tests soon prove their device was responsible--that it can in fact neutralize every conventional gun, bomb, and explosive--and that's when Baby becomes the "Trigger."

This speculative novel by sci-fi legend Arthur C. Clarke and genre workman Michael Kube-McDowell follows the vast sea changes such an invention would bring, reading as part thriller, part social tract. Horton and his Trigger follow a course not unlike that of Einstein and the A-bomb, but ratcheted up by an order of magnitude--idealistic scientists, overwhelmed politicians, rabid lobbyists, and entrenched generals must deal with the device's deployment and consequences, both political and social, in a gun-rich, gun-dependent culture. A well-researched, plausible plot line keeps The Trigger not just readable but downright engrossing, despite its sometimes distracting lack of subtlety. All in all, a worthwhile, entertaining meditation on how technological progress always proves as unpredictable as it is inevitable. --Paul Hughes