Blasphemy

By: Douglas Preston

Narrated by: Scott Sowers

Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

In Douglas Preston's Blasphemy, the world's biggest supercollider, locked in an Arizona mountain, was built to reveal the secrets of the very moment of creation: the Big Bang itself.

The Torus is the most expensive machine ever created by humankind, run by the world's most powerful supercomputer. It is the brainchild of Nobel Laureate William North Hazelius. Will the Torus divulge the mysteries of the creation of the universe? Or will it, as some predict, suck the earth into a mini black hole? Or is the Torus a Satanic attempt, as a powerful televangelist decries, to challenge God Almighty on the very throne of Heaven?

Twelve scientists under the leadership of Hazelius are sent to the remote mountain to turn it on, and what they discover must be hidden from the world at all costs. Wyman Ford, ex-monk and CIA operative, is tapped to wrest their secret, a secret that will either destroy the world…or save it.

The countdown begins…

©2007 Splendide Mendax, Inc. (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Listeners are in exceedingly capable hands - Sowers never lets us down. He weaves together the complex subplots of what happens when science and religion collide.” —AudioFile

“When a talented reader narrates a spellbinding story by a consistently powerful author, great things happen in the audio world. Scott Sowers nails the suspense of Preston's latest novel; listeners will be grabbed from the very first line of this 'ripped from the headlines' story of science and religion clashing, with tragic results...Preston never fails to deliver a first-rate thriller, and with Sowers providing the outstanding narrative, listeners are in for a non-stop - and thought-provoking audio experience.” —Library Journal, starred review

I was making excuses to listen.

I liked the book, the narration and the story a lot. He drags you on a trip using the characters as mules. It's hard to stop listening and you just want to keep seeing what's around the next corner.

Preston has a way of writing that is similar in all of his books. I like his style a lot, however I begin to get board with it if I listen to a number of his books in a row, sometimes you just start to sense the cadence and it becomes more predictable.

Great story

Great story, fabulous author and great performance. Completely fiction even though the interview with the author will leave you to understand his personal atheistic views were an underpinning of his overall theme.

Another great Preston novel

I’m a huge fan of the techno-thrillers , so obviously Crichton is the pinnacle for this type of book. However DP is a clear 2nd! This book was a great page turner keeping you glued. Would high recommend his wyman ford series

This makes

I'm not a fan of most of Preston's novels, Tyrannosaurus Rex being a notable exception. But I had a great time with this book. It is both a ripping good yarn and a thoughtful exploration of the old science-versus-religion debate.

Preston's long list of compelling caricatures and characters includes televangelist preachers, former Green Berets-turned-jesus-freaks, aloof brilliant scientists, sleazy inside-the-beltway politicians, an oddly prescient Russian computer nerd, an itinerant mad pastor, a Navajo shaman, steely-eyed FBI agents, a Jack Abramoff clone, an emotionally shattered ex-CIA agent, and talking computer connected to an artificial singularity. Hell, even L. Ron Hubbard makes an appearance. With a cast like that, how can you go wrong?

And at the center of it all, Preston poses questions: Was religion an evolutionary necessity? Can we reach adulthood as a species without leaving revealed religion behind? Are the paths of religion and science converging? Is science not really religion in the end?

Good stuff.

Mixed success

I gave this five stars just to offset the hypersensitive types who over-reacted to the message about uninformed zealots. It also takes on megachurches and some of their less well-behaved and thoughtful preachers,members and hangers-on.

This book is actually quite pro-religion; it's got a problem with mindless fundamentalism of all stripes. And sorry, it's no "homage to L. Ron Hubbard."

There are many intriguing ideas in the book, and that makes it well worth the time. I urge you to seriously consider it.

Here are some of the problems...

As for the story: yep, too many stereotypes. This could have been a better book given more time, care and editing. The writing is fine, but too many plots twists are telegraphed("Hey, I just noticed this cliff...").

It took me an hour to get past the sub-par narration. There's at least one jarring mispronunciation ("mantilla" like "ill" rather than "tree") and some of the voice characterizations might have been done differently. They served to emphasize the stereotypical nature of the characters rather than deflect that feeling.

fascinating

Extreme Christians will be offended, but I thought the book was unique and exciting. I listened for many hours as a I wanted to know if the ending would have a twist. I guessed some, but not all of the outcome. All in all it was a great read

Much better than indicated by reviews

I passed this book off for a while because of the many poor reviews, but the subject kept drawing me back, and I am really glad I purchased this audiobook. I have to say, it kept me listening. I really liked the narrator. The most important thing to keep in mind is that this is fiction. The story was very unique and very engaging.

A Little Too Predicatable For My Taste

There were very few plots and twists in this book. Not like I'm used to from Doug Preston anyway. A few of the characters did develop into something more like Eddie the Preacher, but for the most part I found this book not as exciting as some of the author's other works.

enjoyed this story..

not one of my favorites of Prestonsburg books but a good story.. personally didn't like the narration

Terrible Narration

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The Narrator had a terrible high nasal voice and did a terrible job of changing character voices.

What could Douglas Preston have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I enjoy this Author. This book had a good premise but wandered around a bit too much. Nothing was really happening for most of it.

What didn’t you like about Scott Sowers’s performance?

I wouldn't listen to another book he narrated.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Possibly