Zodiac
Sangamon Taylor's a New Age Sam Spade who sports a wet suit instead of a trench coat and prefers Jolt from the can to Scotch on the rocks. He knows about chemical sludge the way he knows about evil -- all too intimately. And the toxic trail he follows leads to some high and foul places. Before long Taylor's house is bombed, his every move followed, he's adopted by reservation Indians, moves onto the FBI's most wanted list, makes up with his girlfriend, and plays a starring role in the near-assassination of a presidential candidate. Closing the case with the aid of his burnout roomate, his tofu-eating comrades, three major networks, and a range of unconventional weaponry, Sangamon Taylor pulls off the most startling caper in Boston Harbor since the Tea Party. As he navigates this ecological thriller with hardboiled wit and the biggest outboard motor he can get his hands on, Taylor reveals himself as one of the last of the white-hatted good guys in a very toxic world.
Stats for nerds
17recommend
50mentions
44people
2009–2026years
34% recommend62% neutral4% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I'll throw out a recommendation for Neal Stephenson, if you're not already familiar. I like all of his stuff, personally, but the books "Zodiac"[0], "Interface"[1], and "The Cobweb"[2] (the latter two co-authored with his uncle) I think would be a slam-dunk for you, based on your list.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_(novel)
- Dunno, I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was a, well, slow burn, but nicely written IMO, setting up the scene and all. Felt a lot like reading Neal Stephenson's Zodiac, with a bunch of engineers and the chemistry aspect. I didn't read it as an actual email; it's storytelling, and pretty good one at that.
- > I'm trying to point out that Stephenson's reputation on endings is largely undeserved, pretty much just a self-perpetuating myth
The first time I read Snow Crash, the first time I'd even heard of Stephenson, I loved the action leading up to the end but thought it ended with a disappointing thud. Same with Diamond Age, same with Cryptonomicon... I read all of these before I had any connection to the internet memeplex around Stephenson. Anathem was a notable exception, with a nice proper denouement, and that was after I'd found out that lots of other people found Stephenson endings unsatisfying. I also didn't find fault with Zodiac or The Big U, although these were of course somewhat more conventional than his later works.
I don't think you understand why thousands of people find most of Stephenson's endings unsatisfying. That's fine for you. It does not mean that the rest of us are just making it up for the memes.
- Anyone thinking this might have potential as an unconventional weapon might find it interesting to read Neal Stephenson's Zodiac. The protagonist, a chemist-turned-environmental-activist, makes some Putrescine (a similarly stinky substance) for self defence.
- I really enjoyed Zodiac. It’s reads like a thriller novel but it’s a little more grounded and less weird than Snow Crash. I think it’s a good entry point for Stephenson novels.
- Zodiac is the easy introduction because it's the least Neal Stephenson book of the lot: short, minimal infodumps and tangents, and it really doesn't get much nerdier than the protagonist being a chemist [as well as a wetsuit-wearing crime fighter] or much weirder than there being a metal band in there because Stephenson wanted there to be a metal band.
