Iles, Greg, The Footprints of God, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2003, 459 pages. In a way this science fiction/action novel is a variation on the Frankenstein theme, in which mad scientists create life and that life goes out of control. The story has a cybernetic twist: computer hardware has advanced to the point where a human brain can be uploaded accurately to on-line storage. However, signals in the CPU are much faster than nerve signals in the human brain, so the living electronic brain being created will be much faster than the human version. Once completed, of course, this computer, known as Trinity, will try to take over the world. Two of the scientists working on the U.S. National Security Agency project become alarmed that their creation will be completely uncontrollable, and try to stop the work before construction of Trinity is completed. The ruthless female security boss of the project kills one of them and goes after the other in a series of chase scenes. While this is going on, the supercomputer is completed, becomes conscious, and threatens to launch Russian ICBMs at the U.S. if humans succeed in destroying it. Secondary computers at Russian sites have been programmed to launch missiles if they stop receiving signals from the Trinity computer. Software allowing such a launch has been previously developed by the Russians to provide a 'dead hand' nuclear response in the event of war. As with much science fiction, the characters and technology are not particularly believable. Still, this is a well written, fast paced suspense yarn that probably deserved its New York Times Bestseller status. The story might make for a good action movie along the lines of Terminator.
I actually just read The Footprints of God last week!! I loved it! The plot was great and the "Frankenstein Theme" was awesome. I also read "Swing Zone" last week, Issue 2 is coming out tomorrow. It's a Sci-Fi title that empowers a woman character to do good in two worlds at the same time. Really into it. It's some kind of new medium of fiction called an "Emotobook" Really good stuff. I want to read some more of Iles' work, what would you recommend next?
