Ok, first of all, it's way too early for me to be trying to write a book review but, since I finished this at stupid-o'clock last night, I want to get my thoughts out while it's still fresh in my head. I picked this book up in the DOLLAR STORE of all places and paid a whoppin' $1.25 for it. I thought, this is probably gonna suck, why else would it be in the dollar store?Well, it didn't suck. At first I thought oh no, I'm not gonna be able to read this. The beginning was a bit slow. I didn't really find myself involved with the characters until at least halfway through. but, once I hit that halfway mark, I just couldn't wait to turn the page.The story is centered around science. Microbiology to be exact and deals with the conspiracy world of government and big oil. It depicts corruption and what I think is closer to the truth than fiction. i really enjoyed the fact that the science wasn't so complicated that it was mind boggling. It was described in a way that even the dullest witted person could understand. The story had so much more than I thought it would have, murder, mystery, conspiracy theory, love, betrayal....it was a nice surprise and I'm glad I spent that whoppin $1.25! I'd have paid more for this read!
In the end, I thought this was a sorta-passable thriller. The characters, especially the narrator, to me never quite felt like a real person. The novel makes some mention of two significant deaths in his life, but then sort of papers over any real grief. It introduces a strong female character, only to mostly relegate her to damsel in distress status, and the sexual pawn of the male characters in their face off.I did like the formal invention on display when Bova inserts news stories (or fake news stories) between chapters. It was an interesting effort to make this story seem relevant, which it kind of already did, but it was bold and I liked it for that.I felt the very ending, the one blurbed as being shocking, was instead cynical and kind of misguided-- like Bova really wanted to make us think that he didn't write the book, inhuman forces of capital did. The book, earlier, made much of Gould's physical condition, suggesting he could die, upsetting the apple cart of this book with its stark oppositions-- imagine what would happen if Cochrane had to take over Gould Energy, for example? But of course we never quite get there because of the "shock end"-- this was a little too didactic for me.
What do You think about The Green Trap (2007)?
This is another of Author Ben Bova's scientifically-based thrillers, and it's a good one. When a San Francisco microbiologist is found dead, his brother, Paul Cochrane, and Elena Sandoval, a beautiful industrial spy, join forces to try to get to the bottom of it all. Gradually the truth comes out: Michael Cochrane had discovered a revolutionary way to use cyanobacteria to separate hydrogen from water molecules, a process that could be easily industrialized. Imagine: virtually free fuel to power cars, planes, and other machines, all coming from one of the world's most abundant free resources: water. The world would be changed forever. As Paul and Elena struggle to find the formula, more and more people want to either buy them out or kill them, and more than a few want to suppress the information at any cost. The Green Trap takes the reader all over the country in a mad dash to literally change the world, and is an absorbing read on several levels.
—Barry Martin Vass
A microbiologist is killed, and his brother is left to pick up the pieces as to why his work on cyanobacteria might be have led industrialists or Middle East oil concerns to murder.A fun modern-day thriller based at least in part on actual science (given Bova's credentials as both an SF and science fact writer/editor), it ultimately fails because a lot of the cloak-and-dagger stuff relies on email working in a completely different way than it actually does. As the plot progressed I so hoped there was something I wasn't understanding, or that the characters tripping over each other was because only one of them didn't understand, but no.
—Andrew
