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The God Particle    by Richard Cox Amazon.com order for
God Particle
by Richard Cox
Order:  USA  Can
Del Rey, 2005 (2005)
Softcover, e-Book
* *   Reviewed by Serge Fournier

Steve Keeley is a young, successful business executive. While in Zurich, he meets the wrong kind of people and ends up falling from a third floor hotel window onto hard pavement. Thanks to the careful ministrations of Doctor Dobbelfeld, he more than survives the ordeal. Afterwards, Steve seems to have acquired special capabilities, which he does not comprehend and cannot control. But are these just hallucinations? The facts do not quite match. Steve's challenge is to discover what is happening to him.

Meanwhile in Olney, Texas, Mike McNair is chief physicist and director of the recently built Superconducting Super Collider. Very powerful private interests are behind the revival of this colossal project, aimed primarily at discovering the Higgs boson. This particle is said to be responsible for the formation of the universe, thus its name, the 'God particle'. In Olney, we encounter many strong characters: a multi-billionaire entrepreneur who vested his fortune in this project, a friend with a secret, a beautiful anchorwoman from Dallas, a mysterious investor with a knack for wielding power and several others. It seems that not all interests are focused on the primary project goal.

These two storylines collide head-on two-thirds of the way into the book in an apotheosis that truly make sparks. But don't expect magical scientific discoveries; this is a people story, focused on character interactions, rather than on the science of the Higgs. In some sense, I felt disappointed missing out on one of the great possible scientific outcomes the author could have concocted - but that's just me. I did however enjoy this book to the end, the way its characters interplay and the storylines intertwine. Overall, The God Particle is a good read.

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