Blasphemy by Douglas Preston

Blasphemy is a new solo novel by Douglas Preston, a “what if” scenario where religion and science collide headlong with the U.S. Government stuck somewhere in the middle. Of course this has happened before when the courts got involved in the creationism versus evolution argument and this novel builds on that precedent with an even bigger and messier case. Gregory Hazelius is a Novel Prize winning researcher in charge of a 40 billion dollar supercollider known as Isabella, technology that should give him and his team of scientists insight into the nature of the big bang. In the other corner is a disgraced televangelist looking for a good story to deflect attention from a sex scandal, so when a lobbyist informs him that the researchers are trying to discredit the book of Genesis well he’s got a great sermon on his hands.

And while both sides of the conflict are well represented most of the story follows Wyman Ford, an ex-CIA agent turned private investigator that has been recruited to keep tabs on the project posing as an anthropologist. His job is supposed to be as a project liaison with the Native American locals but his rusty Navajo and lack of security clearance makes him mostly useless. Instead he spends his time trying to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend from college who is now the assistant director of the project. While all this sounds like a slow start the book really picks up after the apparent suicide of the teams resident computer expert. Poking around Wyman discovers that the researchers have successfully contacted God using the supercollider and this supreme intelligence seems to be dictating a new religion to them. When word gets out a local pastor sends out a chain e-mail inviting the faithful for a final apocalyptic battle against the forces of evil and guess what? A whole lot of well-armed Christians show up.

This is when the novel morphs into a thriller with some serious Hollywood aspirations. With a generous serving of action, romance and plot twists it drops its facade of plausible science fiction and becomes a highly entertaining page turner.  I’m reluctant to point this out as a flaw though; the book does accomplish its goals of telling a good morally complicated story while providing big explosions as well. If anything I was just a little put off by the Watchmen style ending but I rather not get into too much detail in case somebody reading this review is interested in picking up the novel. Let’s just say that it serves as a biting criticism against scientology and most other religions but at the same time its feels too much like a punch line rather than a proper epilogue. Either way that’s a minor complaint given just how much I enjoyed this book and its diverse cast of well written characters.