Resumo de Acts Of The Apostles

Software developer Nick Aubrey turns down a job with
megalomaniacal computing billionaire Monty Meekman. And then a Gulf War
Syndrome conspiracy theorist sitting next to him on the plane commits suicide,
leaving him with an encrypted floppy. Nick finds himself on the run, not just
from the Salt Lake City Airport Police and the True Patriots of the Natural Law
militia but from nanotechnology that will change his DNA and reprogram his
brain. Meanwhile his estranged wife Bartlett is part of a biotech research
group mapping the human brain, his friend Casey is still grieving for a chip
designer shot five years ago and in a coma ever since, and a biologist at a
pharmaceutical company in Basel is beginning to have ethical doubts about his
work...

Now there''s nothing particularly novel about its plot, and Acts of the
Apostles has a common problem of mega-conspiracy thrillers, bringing in
elements that are never really resolved and sometimes stretching plausibility
too far. But the plot, while it holds everything together and keeps one turning
the pages, is actually the least interesting part of Acts. What sets
it apart is the sophistication with which it deals with ideas and technology
and the depth and interest of its characters.

Acts of the Apostles involves chip design and fabrication, the
human genome project, nanotechnology, Maslow, Vannevar Bush, the convergence of
the digital and the biological, and much more. Not all the science is plausible
of course ? at least not when set in 1999! ? But it''s easy to suspend disbelief
for a few big things when the details are convincing. And Sundman really knows
his stuff, whether it''s encrypted files, restoring a cracked UNIX machine, or
an attempt to reverse engineer a chip. The same is true of his characters:
though the dialog stumbles occasionally, Sundman convincingly portrays smart,
complex people ? he knows how geeks and techies and academics actually think
and talk, and is obviously familiar with the social life of academia and
high-powered IT corporations.

None of this is dumped on the reader in indigestible quantities, however,
and Sundman doesn''t push any of it too seriously. (What drivel is Nick''s
comment on the first quote from Maslow he comes across, for example.) The most
important thing is that Acts of the Apostles works as a novel ? not
one that will appeal to everyone, but an entertaining read for anyone after an InfoTech-thriller
with real information technology.

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