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In 2074, inhabitants of Earth are thoroughly interconnected with cyber devices, including online “personalities” that “chat” with them as well as providing instantaneous, encyclopedic facts. The Moon is colonized, and a newly discovered planet, Yahire, is a popular vacation spot. But Tommy Russell, a devout believer in God, is concerned about recent developments, mainly the Mantle Project, a scientific plan to break open the earth’s core and force hidden mineral resources to the surface. When the project fails, there are cataclysmic earthquakes and billions of deaths. Soon Earth will break apart, and all will die. Russell’s old friend, Dr. Jonathan Bailey, is in charge of Mantle and must somehow avert this doomsday scenario. Meanwhile, Russell, who has always felt he had a special spiritual destiny, leaves his wife and children in search of a reclusive guru who may be able to offer a very different sort of solution.
Author Ishaq, whose career in finance and business strategy has taken him deep into the Internet realm, has created a complex work of science fiction that incorporates his sincere religious beliefs. Its title is a subtle pun, and the book’s vision of our future is believable: widespread dependence on Internet-based technologies and a grasping lust for material goods that largely ignore the pursuit of spiritual values. His central character, Russell, is unusual, striking a contrast to the majority because of his strong faith-based convictions.
Ishaq writes confidently, having adroitly structured his novel with numerous flashbacks and differing viewpoints. Sci-fi buffs will find a comfort zone in his speculative vision of the near future, which is based on a familiar premise about the depletion of natural resources. A brief, earnest afterword from the author invites readers to consider and share the universalist view of God that pervades the plot of this well-crafted tale.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review of Books