Pretty good book. Douglas Preston is a really good thriller/science fiction writer that really keeps you on the edge of your seat. I never thought I would like science fiction, but this is more technological sci-fi, rather than aliens and space travel. The reason I only gave it 3 stars was because it was on the jumpy side and I sometimes had trouble following the story and sometimes it was a little over my head with the details. ( )

A techno-thriller in the Michael Creighton vein, Blasphemy combines science (a particle accelerator designed to be larger than CERN) with political asshattery and religious nutjobbery. Built with a price tag of $40 billion, the purpose of the accelerator is to research particles that haven't existed since the big bang. However, software glitches prevent it from going on-line, and the DOE sends a former CIA agent and scientist to investigate. Meanwhile, the Navajo tribal counsel fires their lobbyist, content that the project is complete and nothing will interfere with the stream of government rent checks for using their land. The lobbyist warns that the project is still under heavy pressure from groups who think it is a sink hole and wish to stop funding it all together, but he cannot get them to keep him on retainer. A discredited televangelist on the verge of cancellation declares that the project is trying to disprove Genesis and is a direct affront to god, and all of the nutjobs start coming out of the woodwork, sending email to Washington in unprecedented numbers. Then a local preacher on the Navajo reservation falls under the spell, goes to accelerator to voice concerns and get information, and is dismissed by the lead scientist as a "germ" and ejected from the premises. When the televangelist refers to the information he gathered on his increasingly popular broadcast, the preacher takes it upon himself to declare a holy war against the accelerator (and the scientist, who he dubs the Antichrist). His email campaign goes viral, and soon a veritable army assembles outside the gates of the compound. Meanwhile, when the accelerator is powered to near 100%, it begins to talk to the scientists. First dismissed as a hack that needed rooting out, it claims that it is god. After an extended conversation, the mostly Atheistic group of scientists actually start to believe that maybe it is. ( )

This is one of the scariest books I've ever read. Seriously. It's up there with "The Stand". What starts out as a pretty standard techno-thriller rapidly warps into one of the most chilling horror adventures I've ever read. What makes it so terrifying is how utterly plausible it is -- Preston's keen grasp of mob psychology (particularly fundamentalist religious mobs) makes the last third of this book horrifying beyond all description. It's a true masterwork -- genius, absolutely gripping from start to finish. Highly recommended. ( )

I really try to like religious based fiction (read as much of the Left Behind series as I could manage ~8 of them or so)... but they all seem to go down the same path, dividing the world into two, equally insane, factions - those who believe and those who do not.

I think, in reality, people are not so diametrically opposed, or at least not in such great numbers. Of course, there are freaks in every group, but not so many that you can paint the whole group with that brush.

Anyway... it's an ok book. Not particularly suspenseful, not particularly engaging, but enough so that I could finish reading it. ( )

As a fan of Douglas Preston, I had high expectations for Blasphemy. The Navajo Nation setting and focus on science immediately drew my interest. Although the story dealt with an interesting premise, I quickly figured out the motives of each character and raced through the book to see if I'd made the right guess. I did. Although I enjoyed the book, it read more as a classic mystery rather than an intriguing thriller. Although I found the religious issues interesting, I thought the role of the stereotypical government officials, tv evangelist, fundamentalist preacher and his followers was predictable. I'm a huge fan of Preston, but I hope his next novel will dig deeper and provide more surprises. ( )