Just Finished Reading: Quantico by Greg Bear

In the second decade of the War on Terror things are not going well. A plot to release deadly Anthrax on US soil has been uncovered but political interference is hampering the investigation. Before long the identity of the terrorist is uncovered – one of the FBI’s own, scared by 9/11 and the even more devastating 10/4 he vows to wipe the slate clean by threatening to touch off a viral Armageddon. On his trail are three agents fresh out of the Academy each one with something to prove both to themselves and their superiors, but can they stop a madman who knows them better than they know themselves?

Although readable enough I did find myself struggling with this near-future political techno-thriller. Despite being based only 10 or so years ahead I found the technology used to be just too far fetched. I did find the characterisation to be fairly good though mostly two dimensional and too stereotypical to feel any emotional connection with. The plot was pretty straight forward yet gripping enough to keep me turning pages. Saying that I didn’t feel overly interested in what was going on most of the time. This was certainly not one of Bears best books by a long way and was probably the source of much of my disappointment with it. I know that he is much more capable than this book would suggest. All in all a rather dull and uninspired (and uninspiring) thriller that was rather short on thrills.