Blasphemy

De: Douglas Preston

Narrado por: Scott Sowers

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

Reseñas de la Crítica

“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

Once again I wasted money

Would you try another book from Douglas Preston and/or Scott Sowers?

The story starts very promising and plunges into cliché characters and story lines just after the first chapter.

There is no character development that will make a serious reader appreciate any of the characters. Most of the character descriptions are borrowed and superficial, as if to guarantee that the villains and the heroes fit the familiar and politically correct mold of our today’s society. Of course there is one innovation that for me at least was cringe worthy. The most advanced super computer speaks like a rap singer. Really Mr. Preston, what was your point?

I think for me at least this is the last time I will pay for content with a well-established author’s name on it. What a waste of money.

Good Idea - Poor Execution

I liked the premise of the book but found the execution lacking.

Claptrap

I have read all or nearly all of Douglas’ work as well as his work with Lincoln Child. I have enjoyed every book except for this one. After re-reading Tyrannosaur Canyon I wanted more Wynn’s Ford. Somehow, I had never read Blasphemy.
I loathed all the rubbish spouted by the two-faced, duplicitous preachers! What a waste of time. At the end a good horse dies and Pastor Eddie was not publicly humiliated or put to death for his crimes. Wyman was not very heroic in this book.
It was an ugly book with horrible people letting themselves be inflamed by a ridiculous louse of a man and perpetrating murders in the name of Christ. Yes it was blasphemous and I’m not even religious. Hideous and ugly.

What a disappointment.

For years I have been one of Preston's most avid fans, affording him status as one of my rare "Automatic Authors," writers whose books I automatically buy without even reading the description, so I take no pleasure in writing this review.

First, the narrator is terrible at everything except the narrative. Character voices sound like something out of a low budget teen movie.

As for content, the overall story is the only reason the book gets even two stars. It's an interesting overall premise with abysmal execution. The characters are hackneyed caricatures.

Most disturbing is the seething hatred of Christianity that boils just below the surface throughout the book. Atheistic fervor = good. Navajo mysticism = good. Politicians = good. Then there are those dang old evil Christians. Aside from a casual Catholic who in the end doesn't have conviction enough to challenge an all-out attack on the core of Christianity, every single Christian is depicted as either a fraud, a whack-job, a murderer, or a terrorist. No matter what you think of Christianity, for Preston to portray such a massive group of his fellow citizens in this way is absurd and totally lacking in believability. It's so over the top as to make obvious the fact that he did zero research aimed at creating believable Christian characters.

As a Christian myself, I found Blasphemy to be utterly offensive, but I also am extremely dismayed to see such poor craft of writing from one of my favorite writers. I read many many novels that have characters and story elements I may disagree with, yet I can still appreciate the quality of craft. This one is a sad failure on virtually every front.

Blasphemy about Blasphemy

I didn't think this was a great book. A loose story line and the writing was poor. Not a bad read (listen) but also not worthy of being a best seller.

Snore ...

I had to FORCE myself to keep listening. After all, I used a credit for it didn't I?

You're kidding, right?

After 8 years of listening to audio books, this is the worst I have ever heard. The book itself might have been interesting, but the reader's style is inappropriate and offensive. I stopped listening after about 90 minutes. I'll definitely avoid any other book read by Scott Sowers.

Horrible book...

This was probably the worst book I have ever listen too. Either the narrator was horrible, or he was hindered by poor writing or some combination of the two. The author attempt to put every recent colloquialism imaginable in to this book which just ruined it. The plot was decent, I just spent most of my time shaking my head in disgust.

a jumbled mess

This is my first and last book by this author. Preston's narrative is predictable, to say the least. His characters are not interesting and it's hard to care. I find myself wanting to fast forward.

I have read all of Preston's books and without a doubt this is the worst

I didn't like the ridiculous physics, the unbelievable characters and the depiction of Christians. He used this book as a cheap shot against everyone who believes in a supreme being. It's obvious that he doesn't know any real Christians.