Unlike Snowcrash and Diamond Age, but like Interface, Zodiac is set in the 1990's in Boston. It is subtitled as an Eco-Thriller and has become something of a cult book among envrionmentalists, which was why I tracked it down, though I have enjoyed all his other books. This book does have an element of science or speculative fiction in it though, because of the discovery made around the middle of the book.
The main character of Zodiac is environmentalist and professional-pain-in-the-ass Sangaman Taylor (known as S.T. to his friends or the 'granola James Bond' to the media), a member of GEE (Group of Environmental Extremists). S.T. is bright and technologically literate, but has lost a succession of girlfriends and is a bit of an asshole. I've known people like S.T., middle aged men who still live with roommates, in a house with a crazy landlord as they have done since they were students. S.T. packed in his corporate job, and joined GEE to track down and expose corporate criminal behaviour, which he does with a real passion from a 40-horsepower Zodiac raft.
Two centuries after the Tea Party, harbour dumping is still a favourite sport, only these days it is major corporations like Basco piping toxic wastes into the water. Embarrasing powerful corporations in highly telegenic ways is the perfect method of making enemies, and Taylor has a collection he is proud of.
After his latest exploit, he's wanted by the FBI, possibly by the Mafia, and definitely by a group of Satanist angel-dust head, heavy metal fans, who think he is looking for their PCP factory, not PCB contamination. S.T. finds a major source of pollution off an island of old garbage and junk in the middle of Boston Harbor. But something doesn't add up.
Pretty soon anyone close to him is dodging bullets, and that's the least of his problems, because somewhere out there are an unhinged genetic engineer with a grudge, and several lab-concocted bacteria that could destroy all ocean life.
Don't eat Lobster after reading this book!
The main character of Zodiac is environmentalist and professional-pain-in-the-ass Sangaman Taylor (known as S.T. to his friends or the 'granola James Bond' to the media), a member of GEE (Group of Environmental Extremists). S.T. is bright and technologically literate, but has lost a succession of girlfriends and is a bit of an asshole. I've known people like S.T., middle aged men who still live with roommates, in a house with a crazy landlord as they have done since they were students. S.T. packed in his corporate job, and joined GEE to track down and expose corporate criminal behaviour, which he does with a real passion from a 40-horsepower Zodiac raft.
Two centuries after the Tea Party, harbour dumping is still a favourite sport, only these days it is major corporations like Basco piping toxic wastes into the water. Embarrasing powerful corporations in highly telegenic ways is the perfect method of making enemies, and Taylor has a collection he is proud of.
After his latest exploit, he's wanted by the FBI, possibly by the Mafia, and definitely by a group of Satanist angel-dust head, heavy metal fans, who think he is looking for their PCP factory, not PCB contamination. S.T. finds a major source of pollution off an island of old garbage and junk in the middle of Boston Harbor. But something doesn't add up.
Pretty soon anyone close to him is dodging bullets, and that's the least of his problems, because somewhere out there are an unhinged genetic engineer with a grudge, and several lab-concocted bacteria that could destroy all ocean life.
Don't eat Lobster after reading this book!
