The Footprints of God : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A Bit of a Disappointment
Review: The Footprints of God is a story about a secret government funded, project to create artificial intelligence (AI) in a computer called Project Trinity.

The main characters of The Footprints of God are:

Dr. David Tennant - Project ethicist
Dr. Rachael Weiss - Psychiatrist
Peter Godin - Project creator and administrator
John Skow - Project Manager
Geli Bauer - Project security chief

PLOT

The Project creator Peter Godin, a long time supercomputer mogul, had an idea to circumnavigate the barriers others were discovering in trying to create Artificial Intelligence. Only his idea wasn't really artificial. He proposed to the President his concept, where he would develop a super powerful MRI machine and use it to map the human brain and insert it as the controling device in a new ultra powerful computer. It was sold to the President as a new super weapon which would make our forces invincible and that other countries were working on AI and we had better be the first. (I never could figure out how this would fit in as a weapon) The President authorized the project but seeing a potential conflict with the creation of Artificial Life insisted on placing an Ethicist (Tennant)on the project.

THE STORY

The Chief Physicist Andrew Fielding died in minutes of a massive stroke. Dr Tennant, also an Internist, witnessed his friend Fielding's death and knew it was murder and if it was, he was next. Together they had made the powers that be unhappy.

He was in his office making a video recording to give to his attorney, to be released in case of his death, when Rachael Weiss came to his office. He had missed several appointments, so she came to his office to find out why.

Fearing for both of them, he implored her to leave with him so he could explain but they have to be very careful, the walls and virtually everything else has ears.

Geli Bauer is disgusted that Godin and Skow did not let her kill Tennant as well as Fielding. As she saw it there were two distinct threats to the Project and gettng rid of one leaves one and now he's left with his shrink. She would have to increase surveillance on him and as soon as she gets the word she would send her favorite pit bull, a German named Ritter, who was also her lover after them.

It should be explained that Dr Weiss was treating Dr Tennant for Narcolepsy, a condition he inherited after being scanned by the new super MRI. Accompanying these bouts are dreams, sometimes prescient and sometimes memories from a distant past. Tennant and the four other major researchers have been scanned and all have received some form of side effects, though each has a different side effect.

After Dr. Tennant wakes up after one of his episodes and finds Ritter about to shoot Dr. Weiss, he shoots and kills Ritter. Dr. Weiss who thought Tennant's story was insane now must give credulity to their predicament.

Hence we enter a period or hide and chase across the East coast, even going to Israel and ending in White Sands, New Mexico.

CONCLUSION

If you have never heard of Greg Iles or read one of his books, I find him to be one of the best novelists around. His writing style is fluid and direct with an economy of words which is good, as Ile's plots tend to be involved and lengthly. Even so his books tend to run between five and seven hundred pages. This book at 578 pages is one of his average length novels.

With that said, I did not find this book to be up to his high standards. As usual the structure and delivery of the story were fine. Also I had no problem with character development, though it could have been done better.

The problem I had was with the premise of the book. I thought it was a little contrived and simple, not well thought out. I thought the idea of being able to recreate ones brain with the use or even a super Magnetic Resonating Machine a bit absurd. MRI's take pictures. Even in layers as the indicated way it was done, I don't see how it could transfer the essence of thought. To me it would be like trying to clone a person from a photo.

I also thought the ending was weak if not silly, plus some really weird scientific concepts of the Universe and God are put forth in the story.

That being said if you are willing to go along with the things that were a problem for me, you may find the book enjoyable. Heck, I found the book enjoyable for it does keep you guessing and the action is fast and furious. (where did I hear that?)


Rating:
Summary: Crichton Lite
Review: I picked up this book after a long break from the techno-thriller genre and now I find myself inclined to take another long one. At first, there seemed to be a lot of promise in the premise. The summary on the back cover and the initial chapters promise a clash between science and religion, technology and faith. It's a promise that it is never fulfilled in any satisfying way.

See, unfortunately this novel is lacking the primary ingredient in any good fiction: realistic and interesting characters. You can write a novel centered around anything at all... needlepoint... birdwatching... whatever. If you have good, interesting characters, it can work. This novel has none of that. I found myself not caring whether armageddon was averted or not... it was all so dull.

The plot leaves much to be desired as well. It has its interesting moments, especially in the middle chapters when Dr. Tennant goes to Israel searching for the meaning of his visions, but it all culminates in a climax that is so convoluted it's almost parodical. The seams are showing everywhere and nowhere are they more apparent than in Mr. Iles' main hook: the aforementioned clash between science and religion.

The technology here is also suspect. Unlike the masters of the genre, Iles never manages to fully suspend your disbelief. I just didn't buy the technology behind Trinity.

So what do we have? A techno-thriller with suspect techno, minimal thrills, and a plot and characters that will ultimately have you rolling your eyes.

Rating:
Summary: very entertaining
Review: Great summer read! I finished it in a day - quick, but lots of fun. More interesting if you have some background in science (particularly physics) and religion (particularly Protestant Christianity) but great book anyway. It also really makes you think about artificial intelligence and the future of computers. I wouldn't call it a literary classic by any means, but if you're looking for an entertaining and thought-provoking adventure, read this book.