FLASH POINT

In Darst’s SF novel, a former special ops soldier and his research assistant find that they have targets on their backs after proving the existence of the multiverse.

In April 2046, at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, special forces operative turned particle physicist Grayson Maddox conducts classified, government-funded research using the Spallation Neutron Source. One night, when he and his research assistant, Mari Harte, are running the SNS, the neutrons that would typically be released are instead sent into a “pocket universe,” leaving mirror-neutrons in their place and proving the existence of the multiverse. The breakthrough, dubbed Resonance-Induced Frame Transport, or RIFT, is profound; scaled up, the possibilities could reshape reality as humans know it. Shortly after Grayson presents his findings to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (the backers of the research) in Maryland, the building is bombed, with Grayson narrowly escaping with his life. Back at Oak Ridge, the lab is ransacked by a masked intruder, who attempts to kill Mari when she walks in on him. Grayson enlists the help of his friends and former teammates Ben Hightower, Julie Opako, and Rob Davenport as he and Mari go on the run from competing forces fixated on RIFT. Darst’s debut is a fast-paced SF thriller that will keep readers on the edges of their seats. Both the plot and characters are well developed, and the prose is engaging throughout, especially in passages that explain multiverse theory: “This topic…was so specialized, few could fully grasp it. Worse, it had been a pop culture darling for nearly a century, right up there with Area 51.” Readers may be particularly intrigued by the futuristic technology the author details, including augmented reality contact lenses, reliable autonomous vehicles, “self-healing bioglass,” and virtual medics.

A breathless tech thriller that will excite SF fans.