JonA
05-16-2007, 11:34 PM
I've just finished Emergence and it was excellent.
The blurb:
It is 2015 and the world's richest man, Thomas Richmond Tye III, controls the world's largest corporation from a sovereign island in the Caribbean. His startling good looks, his concern for the environment and his massive acts of philanthropy have earned him worldwide fame. He has become the first businessman to acquire true superstar status.
But the monopolistic and increasingly bizarre activities of the mighty Tye Corporation have caught the attention of the UNISA - the United Nations' international security agency - and the World Bank is concerned that, unrestrained, the Tye Corporation activities could destabilize the world's financial markets.
Then Thomas Tye announces that using a wholly new, benign and sustainable satellite technology he can change the world's weather for the benefit of all. As a demonstration, he promises to bring rain to end decades of drought in Ethiopia and he asks the people of the world to join him in delivering the world's biggest act of philanthropy.
But the output from the satellite technology is disturbing the world's super-dense information networks in ways nobody could have foreseen and, as the UN closes in on a corporation with more power than any single nation, a new entity begins to emerge which changes everybody's plans.
The story is multi-layered though as it deals with one of Tye's head security chaps covertly helping the UN and a investigative author uncover the truth about the eternally young Thomas Tye and also how Tye happens to know everything about what is happening in the world - how there are no secrets from him and how he uses that information.
It is a wonderfully fast paced novel and fits nicely into the future techno-thriller mold.
Fantastic book. I've ordered Hammond's next two novels (Extinction and The Cloud) and I really do hope that they're just as good as this because this one was just superb.
The blurb:
It is 2015 and the world's richest man, Thomas Richmond Tye III, controls the world's largest corporation from a sovereign island in the Caribbean. His startling good looks, his concern for the environment and his massive acts of philanthropy have earned him worldwide fame. He has become the first businessman to acquire true superstar status.
But the monopolistic and increasingly bizarre activities of the mighty Tye Corporation have caught the attention of the UNISA - the United Nations' international security agency - and the World Bank is concerned that, unrestrained, the Tye Corporation activities could destabilize the world's financial markets.
Then Thomas Tye announces that using a wholly new, benign and sustainable satellite technology he can change the world's weather for the benefit of all. As a demonstration, he promises to bring rain to end decades of drought in Ethiopia and he asks the people of the world to join him in delivering the world's biggest act of philanthropy.
But the output from the satellite technology is disturbing the world's super-dense information networks in ways nobody could have foreseen and, as the UN closes in on a corporation with more power than any single nation, a new entity begins to emerge which changes everybody's plans.
The story is multi-layered though as it deals with one of Tye's head security chaps covertly helping the UN and a investigative author uncover the truth about the eternally young Thomas Tye and also how Tye happens to know everything about what is happening in the world - how there are no secrets from him and how he uses that information.
It is a wonderfully fast paced novel and fits nicely into the future techno-thriller mold.
Fantastic book. I've ordered Hammond's next two novels (Extinction and The Cloud) and I really do hope that they're just as good as this because this one was just superb.