Guy Carpenter is a physicist working at NASA.  He is happily married and has two children including a new baby.  Years ago, Guy was working on a project called the Superconducting Super Collider.  Its purpose was to detect a tiny particle called the Higgs boson.  In 1993, Congress withdrew financing for the project.

Now the Chinese claim to have found the boson.  How could this possibly have happened?  What does this mean for the military and what effect does this have on our nation?

Many years ago, Guy was involved with a Chinese researcher named Wren Mei Lee.  It just so happens that Ms. Lee is very important to this project.  Things really start to get interesting for Guy.  He is now at the center of everything.  Dr. Lee plans to visit the United States and investigators start to wonder about the connection between these two.  To make matters more interesting, there is a new romance with a beautiful congresswoman which threatens Guy's marriage. 

This is Herman Wouk's first novel in ten years.  This is a very clever book about Washington, the media and science all rolled into one.  Herman Wouk has a sense of humor that comes through in his writing.    There are many subplots that will keep you busy throughout the book.  Fans will be delighted to see Mr. Wouk is back after ten years.

REVIEWED BY NANCY EATON

DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR, NANCY EATON