Triggers (novel)

Triggers

First edition cover
Author Robert J. Sawyer
Cover artist Stephan Martiniere
Language English
Genre Science fiction novel
Publisher Viking (publisher)
Publication date
 2012
Media type Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages 342 pp
ISBN 978-0-670-06576-9
OCLC 767940725

Triggers is a science fiction novel by Canadian writer Robert J. Sawyer.[1][2][3][4][5][6] It was originally serialized in Analog. Sawyer has been commissioned to adapt Triggers for the screen.[7]

Plot summary

In the near future, a war veteran named Kadeem Adams, is about to undergo a highly experimental memory editing treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder at Luther Terry hospital in Washington DC. Seth Jerrison, the President of the United States, is rushed to the same hospital after being shot. The treatment goes awry due to the electromagnetic pulse from an atomic bomb planted by terrorists, which has just blown up the White House. It becomes clear that terrorists have infiltrated the Secret Service.

When president Jerrison recovers consciousness, he can remember Kadeem Adams' life as well as his own. Kadeem Adams finds himself able to remember the life of someone else who was nearby in the hospital. This raises the possibility that someone in the vicinity has access to president Jerrison's memories, some of which are extremely secret; these include plans for a major, and morally more than questionable, antiterrorist action.

In large part, the book has a thriller type plot. Learning how the memories of many of the characters were intertwined is a key to such things as finding who has the president's memories and who the terrorists are. However, much of the book is about the characters and interactions of the people whose minds have been subjected to what is suggested to be quantum entanglement. Not all of them are good people. After one of them dies, the quantum entanglement gets stronger rather than weaker.

Critical reaction

Critical reaction varied, especially regarding the book's ending. Writing in the Globe and Mail, Michael Matheson simultaneously criticized the ending as utopian and described it as "chilling".[2] Leo Graziani considered it optimistic.[6] Alex Good called it "cybertopian" In the Toronto Star.[1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Good, Alex (April 28, 2012). "Triggers by Robert J. Sawyer, The Games by Ted Kosmatka, Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway, The Man from Primrose Lane by James Renner: Reviews". The Toronto Star. Toronto, Canada. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  2. 1 2 Matheson, Michael (April 2, 2012). "Robert Sawyer's Triggers: Too much utopia". The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Canada. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  3. ↑ "Robert J. Sawyer pulls the trigger on his latest novel". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. April 13, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  4. ↑ Lovegrove, James (May 26, 2012). "Web of minds". The Financial Times. London, England. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  5. ↑ Shippey, Tom (March 30, 2012). "Magicians, Golems and a Telepathic President". The Wall Street Journal. New York City. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  6. 1 2 Graziani, Leo (March 20, 2012), "Book Review: Triggers, by Robert J. Sawyer", Mississauga Life
  7. ↑ Adams, John Joseph; Kirtley, David Barr (March 25, 2013). "Robert J. Sawyer to Adapt His Novel Triggers for the Big Screen". Wired. Condé Nast Publishing. Retrieved 2014-02-03.


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