Customer Reviews

Denial of Sunlight

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Katherine Murkowitz had difficulties in her former job and took the blame for something that wasn't her fault. As a result she has been unemployed for longer than she'd like. She is flattered at the job offer from a small electronics firm and accepts a job with them.

Two scientists run the firm. They had worked at a university lab and discovered a way to solve the word's energy needs. They understand that if they announce their discovery, the university will get the rights and money. As a result, they keep the discovery a secret unitl it is proven and they find the right bidder.

The high bidder is a Chinese corporation. It would seem that they sould be aware that China is a repressive society so they might be putting themselves at risk in selling to this company. However, the promise of riches blinds them. When the company states that the payment they promise is based on the employees coming to China to perfect their discovery, warning bells should have gone off.

Katherine is a pleasant character and one of the few characters with a sense of morality, questioning the ethics of keeping the discovery a secret.

The Americans learn of what is going on then they hatch their own scheme to stop the Chinese.

A most original and interesting plot. I did have difficulty that scientists who discover something that could change the world wouldn't have been rewarded if they did the right thing and made their discovery public in the United States. However, the author is a physics instructor and would know more than this reader.

The tension could have been increased toward the conclusion of the novel but for a first novel, Robert Troy did a fine job and it goes to show what someone can do if they self-publish. It is a good example of what publishers and agents are missing.

As anybody who is into eco-technology knows, solar energy is not very efficient as it exists today. But what would happen if a scientist invented a solar cell that was 70% efficient? It would be a major breakthrough as important as the microchip! One might think this would convert the world to an infinite supply of free, renewable energy, right? Save the earth and all that. But what if the technology was owned by only one country, a dictatorship that not only did not want to share it, but planned to exploit their monopoly to dominate the entire planet? This is the premise upon which Robert Troy builds this eco-thriller.

The plot begins this way: Back in 1987, Dr. Keith Sutter does indeed discover a principle that would allow the cheap manufacture of super-efficent solar cells. But Dr. Sutter is also very greedy. He knows that if he reports his discovery now, while he is working for the university, then the university will own the patent and he will get nothing but his regular salary. So Sutter decides not to publish his discovery and keeps it for himself. Of course, he has now broken his contract with the university (and their government funding agencies) by doing so. This means that, if he is going to market his find in the private sector, it can't be in the USA, where he could be prosecuted and sent to prison. But he figures if he bides his time, he might be able to market it overseas somewhere.

Twenty years later, Sutter is no longer in the academic world and free to negotiate a private deal. He does -- with China. It seems like a deal made in heaven that will make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. Sutter assembles his ideal team of scientists and technicans who, along with their wives and children, go on a trip to China that is only supposed to be for six weeks in order to train the Chinese technicians. But the trip soon turns into a nightmare, with intrigue, treachery, deceit and murder at every turn. Any more would be a spoiler.

One thing that did bother me, though -- Mr. Troy needs a better proofreader. The review copy I got was hardcover and not marked as an advanced uncorrected proof, so I assume this is what went to market. There are numerous places where grammar and sentence structure could be improved. For example, to indicate an interruption in someone's speech during a dialogue, you don't just end with nothing and then a quotation mark. You need something BEFORE the end quotes to indicate a pause -- a dash, an elipses [...] or something. I found this error numerous times, so I doubt it was a mere typo. However, since this is a first novel, I'm sure Mr. Troy will improve such minor details in his next novel -- which I do look forward to reading!

Sino-American tensions, avant-garde science, a heroine as sympathetic as she is ultra-smart - here's a sharp, idiosyncratic must-read, sort of a thinking person's Tom Clancy. Troy's dialogue is swift, his plotting consistently inventive. This first-time author has come up with action-adventure that rivals even that of many seasoned pros. This summer's great thriller!

When it comes to the next big source of energy, whoever finds it will have a huge edge on the rest of the world. "Denial of Sunlight" tells of a tactical CIA operation where one scientist has made the discovery and advances needed to end the world's dependence on fossil fuels, but his technology finds itself split between China and the United States. Whoever masters this technology controls the world's energy, and Jim Newberry is the CIA agent to make sure it's America. "Denial of Sunlight" is a riveting and highly recommended read that should not be missed.

Robert Troy's first novel, Denial of Sunlight, is 333 pages of mystery, shock and awe. Beginning with a life changing discovery made by two brilliant, yet greedy, post-doctoral candidates on Christmas eve 1987, the story hooks the reader into a world of chemistry and physics leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The independent story lines and their characters are woven together to create an explosion of strong characters driven by a cohesive plot. While much of the mystery is based on an engineering project with details only a physics professor would be familiar with, Troy explains just enough of the science to allow the lay man to understand its importance to the plot.

The heroine of Denial of Sunlight, Katherine Murkowitz, is an engineer at a professional crossroads due to an unexplained accident at her previous employer. With her tail between her legs, she moves back to her hometown, depressed and financially unstable. Once Pittsburgh Power Pegs, "PPP," offers her a position that seems too good to be true, the action begins to heat up. Katherine finds herself and the small staff of PPP transferred to a production facility in China, working on a secretive project. Censorship, espionage and terror ensue.

Fans of medical mystery writers Michael Palmer and Robin Cook will most likely enjoy Denial of Sunlight, as the book is a provocative peak into the world of physics and its applications, twisted into a thrilling dooms day scenario. The element of political corruption heightens the thrill. An unexpected surprise awaits the reader as the book draws to a close. Denial of Sunlight certainly has me curious to read the next book by Robert Troy.

What a fun book - easy read and great premise. Especially for a first time author, Denial of Sunlight is a delight. Good length - I was able to read it in two sittings, much better than so called thrillers that go on for 600 pages and you lose the story line or just tire of it. This would be great on a cross country flight or a weekend getaway. Good stuff.

Great book for a first time author. With my technical background, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can easily see how this novel is not too far divorced from a reality we would not like to witness. Just read behind what the major news networks feed us and see how a riveting novel of this nature appears more real than fiction....frightening. Solar electric cells have been successfully developed at Pittsburgh Power Pegs (PPP), an electronics laboratory in Pittsburgh. The cells have the potential to displace fossil fuels and offer tremendous economic benefits to whatever nation controls their production.

The quality of the writing is excellent. Mr. Troy thrives on details as evidenced in his descriptions of the mundane family gatherings in Pittsburgh, to the deceitful scientific plotting at PPP, to the unbelievably complex secret laboratory in China that is manufacturing the cells, to the ceremonial tea encounters at Mama Rose's Tea House and to the Special Forces operation to dismantle the Chinese laboratory. Woven throughout this plausible fiction novel are a continuing series of unexpected turn of events that will have you on are the edge of your seat.

I am anticipating the next book, Emergence, in this series so I can continue the fascinating journey with Katherine Murkowitz, the emerging Pittsburgh scientist and her acquaintances. The characters seem to change in character and loyalty with each chapter.

In 1987 Keith Sutter, age 27, was working on high temperature super conductors knowing he had discovered a new source of energy that would revolutionize the worlds power supply and reduce the dependence on current sources such as coal, oil, and nuclear methods that have been strangling the worlds population. Keith decided he would keep this new source to himself. He did not want to have to share this great energy source at this time since all his work and the income from it would have to be shared with the government and the university that they backed. He wanted all the credit and income for himself. He would wait until he was free of all that bound him to his current employer.

Twenty years later in 2007, all the plans that Keith had been mulling over started to take shape. He had brought Phil into his plans even though Keith felt he was running the show. They started advertising for employees to work in a new factory working on electrical semi-conductors. The old factory they bought was in a bad section of town and they re-configured the insides to their needs. No one but Keith and Phil knew what the factory was researching and physically working to produce.

Katherine Murkowitz needed a job. She had experience in the electrical field so she applied when Keith and Phil advertised for a person with such experience. She was so tired of applying for jobs but with the economy being so terrible, the jobs in most fields were non-existent. When she was called back for a second interview she was elated and then was finally hired to a job description she didn't know much about but Keith and Phil were happy with her interviews.

Keith had sold the company to China figuring that he could get the best financial advantage with them rather than try to sell this amazing discovery to his own country, the United States. The Chinese arranged for the main employees to come to China for several weeks to further the research and production. When they arrived in China they were shown around a new huge factory built deep underground, completely shut off from the rest of the world. It was self-contained as far as energy, climate, and especially secrecy. Each of the company workers from the United States were paired up with a counterpart Chinese worker so they could learn from each other. Katherine was paired with Sun Xing. They had guards outside their rooms and were accompanied everywhere they went even when they took the few allowed outside visits elsewhere in China. When the group learned they had to stay in China for two years, not the several weeks promised originally, they all got very wary of what was going on and were not sure they wanted to commit to that long a time.

As days, weeks, and months went by, it was extremely hard for most of them, even the Chinese who also had to stay in the facility constantly. The only contact they had with their families in the United States was by email, and that only after being censored by the Chinese, incoming and outgoing. The only relief Katherine had was a trip several days a week that Xing had worked out for her to go to a tea house, again with another watcher so nothing could escape this secret facility.

Here I will stop with my review since you have the basic idea of what this wonderful fast action story is about and, as the reader, you must realize you will be going a mile a minute to settle your curiosity of what will occur next. Robert Troy has written a real thriller that is very plausible for our times. With the search for better and cleaner methods of energy to power our world, we can see how such a story could indeed be possible with just one single idea being successful.

In the modern world of conflict between large nations largely being carried out via industry, the premise of this book is a plausible one. Two American scientists working in a university laboratory discover a way to make solar cells that are extremely efficient. They could be used to provide the energy for almost any device operating in an environment where there is a lot of sunlight; they could easily power automobiles and electrify homes. The scientists believe that if they announce their discovery their rights will be stripped from them and they will receive almost nothing in royalties. Therefore, they agree to keep their discovery quiet and shop it internationally to the highest bidder once it has been perfected.
After some time, the People's Republic of China outbids everyone else and after the inventors hire a development team, it is transported to a remote laboratory/factory in the P. R. C. Once the group is established there, they are effectively prisoners and the leaders of the P. R. C. plan to use the discovery to dominate the world energy market and politically control all of Asia.
Analysts working for the U. S. government are able to mine the energy supply and consumption data to learn that China is up to something dramatic in the energy market and the response is to send an elite special operations team into China to disrupt it. There are some dark commentaries on the governments of both the P. R. C. and the United States, at the end it is clear that both are extremely Machiavellian, willing to violate citizen's rights and kill to preserve their positions.
This was an excellent thriller until the end, where the actions were a little too extreme to be believable. The President of the United States is portrayed as a man with little control of his own operatives and the consequences of their actions are far too extreme for what their actions actually were. A continuation of the process of subtlety would have made the conclusion more enjoyable. No matter how valuable the industrial prize, risking World War III and international condemnation would not be a sensible response.

An exciting and informative debut novel by this author. A very alarming story involving the chance for double-dealing and deceitful practices by powerful countries of the world who are looking for leadership over an alternative energy source.

Trying to come back from a professional failure in her job and her good life in Seattle, Katherine Murkowitz has come home to Pittsburgh to try to start over. She has depleted all her assets struggling to stay in Seattle to no avail. Her parents and siblings have always bragged about her successes and now she has to eat a little crow and listen to them give her a lot of unwanted advice. Things are looking up however, and Katherine has an interview scheduled with Pittsburgh Power Peggs who say they need a designer who is willing to take chances. This small electronic firm has built a solar cell or battery that changes solar radiation into electricity. This solar-electric cell might be able to assist the world to get away from dependence on fossil fuel such as gas or coal. All of a sudden this idea becomes the center of information for China and America to run the world's energy sources.

Katherine takes the job at PPP as a designer of circuit power supply. She is not aware of the people that are all of a sudden interested in this project that go all the way up to the Chinese Government and US Goverment in the form of the CIA. She begins to understand the reason for all the trickery and unscrupulous behavior that is being used to obtain this technology and is helped by a Chinese man who has the same duties as she does and the two want to do the honorable thing for all instead of just their own country. Along with Katherine you have her counterpart in China; the discoverer of the solar-electric cell, Keith Sutter, and also the CIA and a Special Forces Operation. So, there is something going on at all times.

I am probably not the best to review this book but, I asked to see it and felt that I owed the author and Outskirts Press the best that I could do. So, I broke out the encyclopedia, dictionary and, of course, wonderful [...] and went to work. I don't have a scientific background so I didn't understand some of the technical facts. But, I have to say that I did enjoy reading it as it is a powerful book, and can be very terrifying leaving the reader wondering if such things can happen. And, with the technology in the world today, I don't doubt it for a minute. The writing is A-One. Mr. Troy does a great job of fast-paced and smart prose. My apologies to Mr. Troy and his publisher for not being more savvy about the subject. But, I did enjoy the book very much and it certainly left me with something to think about.

Mary Lignor, reviewer for [...]