Artifact by Gregory Benford

Gregory Benford has written a number of bestselling SF books. However, his latest work, Artifact is definitely not SF. It is a thriller set in the near future on an archaeological dig at Mycenae, in a Greece which has turned belligerently right wing. The one SF related idea in the book is the actual Artifact that is unearthed. It is a cube of rock with a strange metal horn on top, and turns out to contain a pair of singularities. The heroine of the book is an American, Claire Anderson who works with a mathematician, John Bishop to solve the problems of, and understand the Artifact. Opposing them is Doctor Alexandros Kontos the Greek co-director of the dig who is also a Colonel in the Greek Army. And he wants all foreigners, especially Americans out of his country. In attempting to hide the Artifact from Kontos, it is dropped and unknown to anyone, one of the singularities escapes the confines of its container. What follows is a tale of intrigue, espionage and theft. Countries pushed to the brink of War. And the Earth to the brink of destruction. In this book, Benford has very cleverly illustrated one aspect of theoretical Physics and the science of Quantum Mechanics - and for those of us who are interested, there is a useful explanatory Afterword. The book is also a plausible description of the paranoia that can be generated in one country by the over-bearing size and influence of another country. One of my faults is that I am a fast reader, and I occasionally miss a key part of the plot. I may have missed it, but I did not see a satisfactory explanation of where the Artifact came from - why and how it was made. Setting this aside, Artifact is a readable modern-day thriller. If you are interested in another book tackling the same genre, try Earth by David Brin.

Publisher: Orbit Date: 2001 Pages: 416 Pages Price: £6.99 Format: Paperback Reviewed by: Rod Cameron Date Reviewed: July 2001