The Cobweb

An under-estimated Iowan deputy Sherrif, a Vakhan Turk terrorist and a junior CIA analyst attempt to save the world from botulism in this heavily satirical thriller. Stephenson's usual jaunts into expositional territory are kept to a minimum and are always relevant which makes this much more taut than most of his work and allows for a tense ending. Only Zodiac is leaner and faster paced, I suspect.

The most alarming aspect of the book is that the way that the government of the USA, the CIA, FBI, Universities and local Sherrif's departments are portrayed as operating is completely convincing and not in the least over-the-top.

This is good mind-candy reading - a great beach book. It's suspenseful, the characters are engaging, the plot is pretty unpredictable, and although it is well-written, it's not at all intellectually challenging. I listened to the audiobook, and it's exactly how I like audiobooks, because I listen to them while I'm doing housework - engaging, but not demanding.

The book centers on events leading up to the First Gulf War. There are two main plotlines: one follows a low-level FBI analyst who uncovers some information that leads her to suspect Iraqis are developing biological weapons with American funding. The other plotline follows a sheriff in small-town Iowa who discovers connections between strange events in his university town, and also show more comes to suspect that people are developing biological weapons.

This is definitely Neal Stephenson light, or Tom Clancy meets Neal Stephenson. But Stephenson's fingerprints are all over it, especially in the witty writing and the engaging characters. show less

This is described on the front cover as “A wickedly satirical thriller of modern America”. I didn’t see much satire in it: appropriate cynicism, yes, but satire, no.

The story is about the problems of bureaucracies and how demarcation lines and internal politics driven by personal ambition can lead to major mess-ups and the failure of the entire system to accomplish its primary objective.

Set during the run up to the first Gulf war the novel deals with events in the US involving the CIA, the FBI and the NSA. Published in 1997 the tale describes a situation where the various elements of the US security establishment are more involved in fulfilling their individual missions and activities than in sharing intelligence about the show more activities of foreign operatives in Continental United States, something that was to be highlighted by investigations held after the events of the nine-eleven attacks in the US.

One element of this book that worked well was its portrayal of the impact on people remaining at home while their loved ones in the military go off to war. This was made all the more poignant in Cobweb as it involved a reservist who is called up to serve.

This book is not a regular Stephenson novel. It is an easy to read thriller but it is not a book I would recommend strongly. show less

Thought this was extremely well-written, wonderfully cynical and a rattling good story too. So far, I've definitely preferred the books that Stephenson co-writes with J. Frederick George over those just written by Stephenson on his own. Finished this one in about 24 hours.

Slowly but surely Neal Stephenson is creeping up my favourite author list. He has a eclectic genre list that he writes, from modern thriller, cyber books to fantasy.

Cobweb is set in the time of the first Gulf War, when Iraq have invaded Kuwait. In small town America a body of an Arab student turns up following a boating accident; but this student has been consuming alcohol. The local deputy sheriff suspects something fishy and starts to dig around the local university where the student was from.

In the meantime a low level CIA analyst is starting to get wind of an Iraqi plot happening on American soil. As she is CIA she cannot investigate, but she become the centre of a power play between two powerful men close to the president. One had show more been a supporter of Saddam, and is hastily re-aligning his loyalties; the other is a big chief in the CIA who also suspects that the Iraqis are up to something, but he is restricted in his capacity to deal with it. Lots of digging by the two main characters start to make them suspect that there is a potentially deadly biochemical plant in operation, and the body count starts to climb. Cue the big showdown.

Really enjoyed this in the end. It took a while to get going, but made up for it in the end. Stephenson manages to convey the vested interests in high placed officials well, the cobweb being the way that they stifle each other with officialdom. show less

Part political thriller, part detective story, this novel tells the (fictional) story of where the Iraqis got their biological weapons during the Gulf war and how a midwest sheriff's deputy and a Washington civil servant got caught up in it.

The plot builds up very traditionally. The cast and setting are introduced carefully and through various occurrences they somehow find themselves involved in events relating to the Gulf war.
Caught up in a web of bureaucracy and conflicting interests, the US government fails to react to the threat that these individuals start puzzling together.
There are unexpected deaths, sudden insights and dramatic moments and it all culminates in a spectacular action-packed finale.

What makes this novel rise above show more the level of the mediocre thriller are its well-crafted plot, excellent pacing (a slow buildup that steadily turns into a page-turner) and rich characters.

So to conclude, while this is definitely not a typical Stephenson novel, it is a very well written genre piece that I would heartily recommend to anyone looking for an entertaining romp. show less

Ok, you got me. Red-handed. I surrender. I admit it. I am one of the foreign students that the authors are talking about, who came into this country on the merit of just my brains, who went through the grist mill of a post-graduate program, who found a job below my qualifications, worked at it until something better came along. Yes, all true. And the wonderful thing that happened along the way was ...

... the melting pot, where:
cultures change, society adopts, people transform, foreign to local to native! What does all this have to do with the book, you ask? Well, that. The writers do great, ignoring the above. And i mean it, too. Excellent detail and character development. A slow burn intensity towards the climax. Good stuff.