Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #755899 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 528 pages

Synopsis
A stunning post-millennial thriller from the author of PUPPETS. Genius husband-and-wife team Ryan and Jessamine McCloud are founders of Genesis, an unorthodox problem-solving think tank. Commissioned by a billionaire corporate chief to study the causes of the rising tide of global violence and social unrest, they begin to fear that a kind of disease is behind it all. They christen this the Babel Effect. Could there be a biomedical explanation for a kind of global insanity? Or is something else at the root of the problem? The investigation is brutally interrupted when Jessamine is kidnapped, and in the face of opposition from sinister and powerful organisations, Ryan McCloud grows increasingly desperate to find a way of halting the contagion of the Babel Effect, before it's too late for his family - before it's too late for mankind.

Customer Reviews

a search for the roots of evil...
A dark thriller about a group of scientists searching for the causes of evil. Well writen with a strong scientific grounding to make the story plausable, but don't let that put you off, this is deffinatly a crime thriller rather than scifi and you don't need a masters in neuroscience to get whats going on.

My book of the year
The Babel Effect is the best book I have read this year. It is not just a great thriller. Reading the book was actually a learning experience for me - clearly the author has researched what he writes about in great depth, and has managed to convey what are complex scientific arguments in a way that is accessible without making the reader feel like they are being talked down to. Without giving anything away, the way the book addresses what is going on in the world around us is insightful, imaginative and plausible, and it combines these ideas effectively with a well-developed plot and interesting characters. If you want something a bit more cerebral than your average run-of the-mill thriller, do not hesitate to buy this book.

If you like Skull Session... don't hesitate
This one's more realistic than Skull Session, which I also loved ;-) It's basically a search for the origin of good (& evil) in mankind. Hecht uses scientific data & research to make the plot believable. There are some weaker points, though not enough to keep me from rating this 5 stars.