Booklist

Nano by John Robert Marlow

"Nanotechnology promises all things: immortality, invincibility, wealth beyond imagination—and the utter destruction of Mankind. One man has it—and no one knows who... Mitchell Swain is the richest man in the world—until he announces "the ultimate technological breakthrough." The world stops for the press conference—and sees him assassinated. No one knows what he was going to say.Almost no one. Jennifer Rayne intends to find out. A leading high-tech journalist, she was scheduled to interview Swain after the press conference. Instead, she investigates his murder. What she finds is a scientist to whom Swain has funneled billions... A desperate U.S. government following the same clues... And a bizarre technology which promises invincibility, immortality, and the ability to destroy any enemy—or the earth itself. Mankind has entered the final arms race. It will last two days..."*

In the first pages of this book, Marlow states that, "nothing portrayed in this novel is impossible." For the next almost 400 pages I tried to believe it but it was difficult. It would take someone with a much more scientific mind and a finger on the pulse of nanotechnology to decide whether that statement is fact or fiction. Regardless, here's my review.

The book started very slow. At times I felt like putting it down. Perhaps this book just caught me at a bad time. We had just gotten back from Alaska and I was having a hard time getting back into the swing. After a while, however, the pace picked up. It wasn't too difficult to follow either. The action only followed two groups of individuals. The action picked up and I was full tilt into this nano adventure but I always had that "nothing is impossible" statement in the back of my head and I know it shaded my reading of this book.

Let me wrap up by saying this: if the events in the book never come to be, it's a pretty good adventure yarn and would make a great Bruckheimer film. If the events do come true, God help the human race. We're goners. If you read this book, let me know what you think.

*Source: www.johnrobertmarlow.com