Review 720: Interference

Interference by Brad Parks
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Matt Bronik is a quantum physicist; his wife Brigid is nearly deaf. They have a son together living near Dartmouth where they work. Brigid works in the library, Matt as a professor and researcher. Their life is unremarkable until Matt starts having a weird medical condition. It came on all suddenly, he passed out and was in a coma like state for several hours.

This happened twice. Brigid was on edge about her husband’s problems. What was going on? Perhaps it was his lab experiments, with a virus that he was working on. It sounded plausible. Matt was also stressed out since he couldn’t seem to get further in his research. He hadn’t published in a while; he needed to publish. Then a ultra rich businessman approached Matt with a crazy job offer. $1 million a year to work in his own lab, only doing research, no teaching, he could focus on research. When Matt refused, he upped the amount.

Then Matt had a third episode. This time it turns out that he was kidnapped. The rest of the book is about what happened to Matt. Naturally, a veteran detective gets involved and we get his POV. Through most of the book it switches between Brigid and the detective.

Brigid becomes way more involved in trying to find her husband than would happen in real life, her sister helps out with the son. A few of Matts colleagues become involved. All these people pose lengthy theories of what happen and how. Then a new fact arises and they switch the theories around and discuss at length. All of this with the how involved the wife is and all the discussions kinda bugged me. I know its fiction, but it was so far off from what would really happen. Brigid goes on scene to a spot they think Matt is being held. No police would allow the wife to wander around while they collect evidence.

Anyway, the book was okay. There are some twists, of course, and at least one, the most crucial seemed forced. The science was minimal I had hoped for more.