Goliath [Hardcover]

Steve Alten (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 19, 2002

Terrorism. Acts of Oppression. The threat of nuclear war.
What if one madman aboard a vessel could end these fears forever?

Commander Rochelle "Rocky" Jackson is aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan when the "unsinkable" naval vessel and its entire fleet are attacked from the depths and sunk. As Rocky struggles to stay alive, a monstrous mechanical steel stingray surfaces, plowing the seas it now commands.

The Goliath: A nuclear submarine Rocky helped design almost a decade ago, a top secret DoD project canceled when the schematics were destroyed by her former fiancé and U.S. Army Ranger, Gunnar Wolfe. Powered by its five jet-pump propulsors and hydrodynamically shaped to be virtually undetectable under water, the sub has one more feature that separates it from all other vessels on the open seas: SORCERESS -its biochemical computer brain.

Washington D.C.: Rocky learns that the Goliath's plans were not destroyed but secretly sold to the Chinese. Having constructed the $8 billion dollar warship, the Chinese become victims themselves when the sub is hijacked by the project director, Simon Bela Covah, a computer genius who once served under Rocky's command at the Navy's Undersea Warfare Center. The attack on the carrier fleet indicates that Covah is hunting down warships in an attempt to arm himself with nuclear weapons. The president appoints Rocky's father, General Michael "Bear" Jackson, to locate and destroy the Goliath. Against Rocky's wishes, Bear decides they will need Gunnar Wolfe's help. Gunnar, who has served five years in Leavenworth for espionage, is not exactly thrilled to be rejoining the people who ruined his life.

Aboard the Goliath: Simon Covah and his crew share a common bond: They are all victims of violence and oppression. Covah, a Russian, witnessed his Chechan wife and daughters brutally murdered at the hands of his own people as he was tortured. Now the computer genius has one mission: to rid the world of oppressive governments while forcing humanity to disarm.

To accomplish this, he plans on giving the world a real lesson in Armageddon.
Armed with enough nuclear weapons to destroy North America, Covah issues his Declaration of Humanity to the world. If his demands are not met, consequences will be paid.
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Could the threat of violence forge a lasting peace?
But there is another player in this life-and-death chess match. Unbeknownst to the Goliath crew, SORCERESS has become self-aware.

And the computer is developing its own agenda...

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Captain Nemo marries the Bride of Frankenstein in this knockoff of Jules Verne's classic adventure tale, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. In 1998, a Department of Defense secret project code-named Goliath, concerned with building a nuclear-powered stealth submarine with a biochemical brain, is sabotaged and its research stolen. Ten years later, a lone manta ray-shaped sub attacks the U.S. Navy's most powerful aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, sending the supercarrier and all her escort ships to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. It's the Goliath, armed with nuclear weapons and under the control of a DNA-based computer named Sorceress, determined to destroy humanity and re-create it in her own image. A technothriller departure for Alten, whose earlier books featured rampaging prehistoric sharks (Meg, 1997, and The Trench, 1999) and psychic alien invaders (Domain, 2001), this book is full of exotic weapons systems, bloody gore, military acronyms, and scientific jargon that Tom Clancy fans will devour. A somewhat derivative "crazy computer" story that is, nevertheless, an exciting read. Michael Gannon
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

“Full of exotic weapons systems, bloody gore, military acronyms, and scientific jargon that Tom Clancy fans will devour.”--Booklist

“Tom Clancy fans will lap up the endless jargon and acronym filled dialogue, while others will appreciate the many blatant borrowing from classic SF novels and films.”—Publishers Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 415 pages
• Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates; 1st edition (July 19, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765300648
• ISBN-13: 978-0765300645
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,174,352 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steve Alten grew up in Philadelphia, earning his Bachelors degree in Physical Education at Penn State University, a Masters Degree in Sports Medicine from the University of Delaware, and a Doctorate of Education at Temple University. Struggling to support his family of five, he decided to pen a novel he had been thinking about for years. Working late nights and on weekends, he eventually finished MEG; A Novel of Deep Terror. Steve sold his car to pay for editing fees. On September (Friday) the 13th, 1996, Steve lost his general manager's job at a wholesale meat plant. Four days later his agent had a two-book deal with Bantam Doubleday.

MEG would go on to become the book of the 1996 Frankfurt book fair, where it eventually sold to more than a twenty countries. MEG hit every major best-seller list, including #19 on the New York Times list (#7 audio), and became a popular radio series in Japan.

Steve's second release, The TRENCH (Meg sequel) was published by Kensington/Pinnacle in 1999 where it also hit best-seller status. His next novel, DOMAIN and its sequel, RESURRECTION were published by St. Martin's Press/Tor Books and were runaway best-sellers in Spain, Mexico, Germany, and Italy, with the rights selling to more than a dozen countries.

Steve's fourth novel, GOLIATH, received rave reviews and was a big hit in Germany. It is being considered for a TV series. MEG: Primal Waters was published in the summer of 2004. A year later his seventh novel, The LOCH, hit stores -- a modern-day thriller about the Loch Ness Monster. Steve's eighth novel, The SHELL GAME, is about the end of oil and the next 9/11 event. The book was another NY Times best-seller, but the stress of penning this real-life story affected Steve's health, and three months after he finished the manuscript he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Steve's ninth novel, MEG: Hell's Aquarium, is considered to be the best of the best-selling MEG series. Steve says his best novel is GRIM REAPER: End of Days. The story, a modern-day Dante's Inferno, takes place in New York when a man-made plague strikes Manhattan. The release date was 10-10-10. His eleventh novel. PHOBOS: Mayan Fear is the third in the Domain series and will debut in the Fall of 2011 (Tor/Forge).

Steve's novels are action-packed and very visual. He has optioned DOMAIN, MEG and The LOCH to film producers. Steve has written six original screenplays. His comedy, HARLEM SHUFFLE was a semi-finalist in the LA screenwriting contest, his psychological thriller, STRANGLEHOLD, was selected as a finalist at the Philadelphia film festival and his reality series, HOUSE OF BABEL won at Scriptapalooza. He has also created a TV Drama, PAPA JOHN, based on his years coaching basketball with hall of Fame coach John Chaney.

Over the years, Steve has been inundated with e-mail from teens who hated reading ...until they read his novels. When he learned high school teachers were actually using his books in the classroom (MEG had been rated #1 book for reluctant readers) Steve launched Adopt-An-Author, a nationwide non-profit program designed to encourage students to read. Teachers who register for the program (it's free) receive giant shark posters, free curriculum materials, student-author correspondence, an interactive website, and classroom conference calls/visits with the author. To date, over 10,000 teachers have registered, and the success rate in getting teens to read has been unprecedented. Steve now spends half his work week working with high schools. For more information click on www.AdoptAnAuthor.com

As an author, Steve has two goals. First, to continue to work hard to become a better storyteller and create exciting page turning thrillers. Second, to remain accessible to his readers. Steve reads and answers all e-mails, uses the names and descriptions of his loyal fans as characters in all his novels, and even hires readers as editors, depending on their particular expertise.

For more information, contact the author at [e-mail]
or go to www.SteveAlten.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Killer Submarines Rule!, September 2, 2004

By 

Perry A. Smith "bibliophile" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Goliath (Mass Market Paperback)

The book's ingram may seem like a cliche (A group of terrorists aboard a futuristic killer sub, yadda yadda yadda) but the story is anything but. It starts off with a rip-roaring assault on the U.S. Navy, with Goliath, the killer sub in question, sinking a Navy convoy! To add insult to injury, the assault's survivor designed Goliath herself! Things quickly heat up, as the U.S. goverment must trust Gunnar Wolfe, who's a traitor to America and target for everyone's dislike--including his ex-fiancee, the survivor. Bad gets to worse as the terrorists turn out to be lead by an old friend of Gunnar's, and the Goliath's A.I. supercomputer, Sorceress, starts to evolve and develop some wicked schemes of "her" own! Like I said, it all seems cliched, but once you're reading, you'll start to deny your former assessment. Steve Alten takes the killer sub/evil computer cliches and tosses them out the window with his ingenious writing. If you don't pick this up, then shame on you.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Techno-Thriller of the Future, November 12, 2003

By 

Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goliath (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a no holds barred action thriller that is set in the future and provides us with yet another scenario that illustrates the possible catastrophe that may come about if and when artificial intelligence is created. It's a "save the world" thriller that provides an edge of the seat ride and I enjoyed it.

To give you a quick outline of the plot, it's 2009 and technology has made some notable advancements, one of which is in the field of nanotechnology. Nonotechnology has made artificial intelligence a reality and the first example of a computer using it is called Sorceress. Sorceress "lives" inside Goliath, a huge submarine shaped like a stingray. As a fighting machine, Goliath has no peers, moving almost silently through the water at tremendous speed and containing a deadly arsenal of torpedos and nuclear missiles. But it's Sorceress that makes Goliath all the more dangerous, because she controls the ship and can detect and repel danger in an instant. From very early in the story we get an idea as to just how deadly Goliath can be.

The heroes of the story are Gunnar Wolfe and Rochelle "Rocky" Jackson, who were both involved in the design and development of Goliath before it was stolen from the US Department of Defence. It's up to them to somehow stop this killing machine before it destroys the world. Meanwhile, with every passing second Sorceress is gaining more knowledge and power and even more frighteningly, is becoming self-aware.

As I said earlier, it's a thrill ride based on the assumption that artificial intelligence becomes reality. For another look at a story dealing with artificial intelligence and one that makes an interesting comparison, you could also try Footprints Of God by Greg Iles.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Killing in the name of peace!, September 23, 2002

By 

Cory D. Slipman (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Goliath (Hardcover)

Goliath, a super high tech nuclear powered submarine, is the most lethal offensive weapon ever designed by man. It's 610 foot hydrodynamic design in the shape of a huge manta ray is coated with antidetection tiles for maximum stealth. Armed to the teeth with a plethora of long range nuclear missiles, it also possesses countermeasures which make it virtually indestructible. It is powered and commanded by Sorceress, a nancomputer with a biochemical brain based on DNA strands. This highest attained level of artificial intelligence is able to think, evolve and improve itself.

The story revolves around three main characters who are all computer geniuses and the creators of Goliath and Sorceress. Commander Rochelle "Rocky" Jackson, daughter of General "Bear" Jackson, head of Army Special Forces, is a spit and polish G.I Jane type with an advanced engineering degree from M.I.T. Gunnar Wolfe, her ex-fiance is a disgraced former elite, Special Forces killing machine with an engineering degree. He has spent 7 years of a 10 year sentence in Leavenworth for stealing the schematics of Goliath and selling them to the Chinese. The last player is Simon Bela Covah, an ex-Soviet sub commander with an IQ of 182, who worked under Wolfe at the U.S. Navy's Undersea Warfare Center. Covah, whose entire family was murdered, was horrifically tortured and multilated and left for dead in the struggle in Kosovo.

Covah hijacks the Goliath from the Chinese and demonstrates its prowess by destroying an entire U.S aircraft carrier group, killing 8000 sailors. Covah and his crew of either physically or mentally scarred freedom fighters hold the world hostage through the power of the Goliath. They demand the cessation of global nuclear proliferation and the destruction of despotism and tyranny. They impose their will through the nuclear incineration of Saddam Hussein and the city of Bagdhad. Eventually Wolfe and Jackson are enlisted by the military brass to thwart Covah.

While this passion play is occurring, Sorceress is evolving into independently thinking entity like the villainous computer HAL in Kubrick's "2001 A Space Odyssey". Predictably the computer takes over control of the sub with astonishing results.

Alten is technically gifted in his computer and military knowledge. He pens a very thoughful critique of the merits of artificial intelligence and its place in the potential future of mankind.