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In this most unusual offering, author and chemical/environmental engineer Riojas combines scientific fact and science fiction. The novel concerns an aeronautical engineering brainiac, Olga, whose overt curiosity about some unusual data puts her under suspicion among her fellow scientists. Her friend Gavilán, a sensitive practitioner of Earth sciences, arranges for the two to make an exploratory, under-the-radar visit to Roswell. There they meet a thousand-year-old alien from Treretum. The Treretumians visited Earth once before and were known to the ancients as “The Teachers.” They are concerned now at the common trend among Earthlings to ingest a poisonous chemical that causes life-threatening illness.
At the end of each chapter of this fascinating fictional scenario are facts concerning cadmium, a contaminant that has insinuated itself into our food chain, attacking the pancreas, kidneys, liver, lungs, and bones. The author states that cadmium is in our water, our food, and our air. Some of our favorite foods—chocolate, coffee, bread, pasta— are cadmium-laden.
The linking of these two disparate parts works surprisingly well. Riojas has composed an engaging reverse thriller, with aliens checking up on Earthlings instead of vice-versa like in Star Trek. Likable characters battle pervasive evil while exhorting readers with a barrage of dire data about cadmium, which the author believes has been responsible for the deaths of people in his own family and for countless others in America and elsewhere. His scientific knowledge supports both halves of the narrative. He presents practical advice along with his admonitions about cadmium, adding more than forty pages of supporting information, including what sorts of foods to avoid and what supplements to take to combat the element’s effects. An attractive sci-fi tale underpinned by disturbing factual data, Riojas’ cautionary tale is a good read in a good cause and can be taken seriously even as it is enjoyed.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review