The God Wave. By Patrick
Hemstreet. Harper Voyager. $24.99.
This could be happening right
now. Patrick Hemstreet’s debut novel, the first book of a trilogy, starts with
a title clearly taken from the biggest news in science in decades: the
discovery of the Higgs boson, the so-called “god particle.” And if a particle,
why not a wave? But this is a story of biology, not physics, its intriguing title
being only the first of many twists and turns, some of them remarkably subtle,
in a tale made chilling primarily by the distinct possibility that if it is not
happening yet, someone just might use the precepts of The God Wave to make it happen mighty soon. It’s that realistic.
The wave of the title is a
brain wave, so far undiscovered (as far as we ordinary humans know), that
operates above the measurable frequencies of alpha, beta and gamma waves and
that can lead to manifestation of superhuman abilities (which Hemstreet says
are really human abilities) in the
90% of the brain that generally goes unused (that is a fiction, but one of such
long standing that Hemstreet’s employment of it is not too big a strain on
one’s credulity).
The primary characters here
are well-meaning, if flawed, scientists, and yes, they are types to some
extent; but Hemstreet does a good job of humanizing them. One is idealistic Chuck Brenton, a neuroscience researcher at Johns Hopkins. He is
looking for real-world applications of brain waves. After all, if they can move
the needle during an electroencephalogram, why not use them to drive cars or
paint pictures? In today’s real world, there are already experimental systems
that let quadriplegics and other severely physically limited people use their
brains for certain types of functionality. Hemstreet’s creation of a desire by
Brenton to go just a bit beyond that readily passes the believability test. The
problem for Brenton is that math is not his expertise, and he needs help using
very complex aspects of it to turn brain waves into commands and actions.
That is
where MIT professor Matt Streegman comes in. A borderline misanthrope who is a
genius in his own field, Streegman hears an interview with Benton and thinks immediately
of how Brenton’s research, if pushed just a bit farther, could benefit
Streegman’s wife, Lucy. She is hospitalized and comatose, but has active brain
waves. Perhaps Brenton’s findings – aided by Streegman’s math expertise – could
let Streegman communicate with Lucy. Besides – and this plot point does strain
credulity a bit – it just so happens that Streegman works not only in higher
mathematics but also in robotics. Anyone who remembers Edgar Allan Poe’s deeply
chilling “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” will see just how wrong things
could go in this scenario, although that is not quite the way they actually do
go wrong. (In fact, Lucy more or less disappears from the story after being
used to set up Streegman’s background. A little more attention to her would
better have humanized her husband.)
It is
the partnership of Brenton and Streegman that gets the book going (the
scene-setting is a touch on the slow side, but after all, this is the start of
a trilogy). The two form Advanced Kinetics, gather the usual variegated mixture
of subjects – gamer, artist, martial-arts specialist, construction worker – and
engage in intense research. And fault lines between the men develop soon
enough. Brenton’s goal is to aid the handicapped and make sea and space
exploration easier and safer. Streegman, far less altruistic and more focused
on a big financial payoff, is quite willing to get military rather than medical
backing for their lab, and his stronger personality soon leads to the
involvement of one General Howard, who really is a cardboard character: he gets
the lab working on complex research, for military purposes, with the super-secret
Deep Shield, and Brenton does not realize what is happening until there is no
turning back. But the test subjects themselves (Lanfen, Mike, Mini, Sara and
Tim) know that military control of their growing abilities can lead to
disaster, and those newly developed capabilities give them powers of which even
Brenton and Streegman are unaware. No, this is no Frankenstein or R.U.R.,
but Hemstreet calls up elements of those tales as the plot of The God Wave enmeshes the characters
more and more tightly. The book fits firmly in the SF/action genre while
raising the sorts of questions that only the greats in that field raise
consistently: philosophical queries about individuality, creativity, and what
it means to be fully human. Hemstreet also manages to employ some sly humor
from time to time, with references to films ranging from The Matrix to Independence
Day to Transformers. The result
is a provocative novel that is not only fast-paced and fun to read but also
unusually thoughtful and involving. And its cliffhanger ending, which is quite
well done, promises more of the same when the series continues.
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