9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An absolute page-turner!, April 3, 2007
It is always a wonderful feeling knowing you are reading a book without even thinking about the actual reading. You feel immersed in the book. You're standing there alongside the characters, contemplating the issues at hand. Waiting, wondering, hoping that they succeed in their tasks. Zig Zag will have you forgetting where all the pages went.
A non-stop, adrenaline-rushing novel from start to finish. The book gravitates around physics, but does not require any knowledge of supersymmetry, branes, or any other terms you are probably not accustomed with. The details are in the book, and the details are mouth-watering. The implications the characters face are serious. Extraordinary, even. Zig Zag is translated from the Spanish, but you would not guess it. The writing is superb and spot on. The suspense is mind-numbing. The 500+ pages are gone before you know it. Fortunately, it's a novel that will stay with you. Once you close the book, you'll smile knowing that Zig Zag is one you're going to be recommending.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Part thriller, part science fiction and part horror novel,, May 29, 2007
ZIG ZAG by Jose Carlos Somoza is one of the most unusual works I've read this year. Part thriller, part science fiction and part horror novel, it dips and swirls through and around these genres, creating a modern morality and cautionary tale.
Though in his acknowledgments Somoza denies wanting to write a scholarly work on string theory, he does such an excellent job of explaining this fascinating branch of physics that even someone like me, whose knowledge of that science is limited to the effects of gravity, can understand what's happening. What kept me reading, even through the occasional and relatively rare obtuse periods that run through the book, was the fact that, almost from the beginning, it scared the pants off me without producing a real live bogeyman until close to two-thirds of the way through.
ZIG ZAG moves back and forth in time, covering a 10-year period beginning in 2005 and ending in 2015. The focal point of the novel consists of a complicated but intriguing physics experiment dealing with time. Time travel to the past, at least at this point, is considered to be impossible. What a team of scientists attempts to do is to view events of the past in real time rather than visit them, utilizing the string theory. The experiment, known as Zig Zag, is financed by a somewhat shadowy, not entirely benevolent child of the so-called military-industrial complex, which is interested in the results for possible national security applications.
There is also a strong interest in keeping the scientists under observation because of the concern that viewing the past in real time may well result in some sort of unfortunate after-effect upon the observers. And indeed, that is exactly what happens, though not precisely for the reasons originally under consideration. The scientists implementing Zig Zag find themselves dealing with the sudden manifestation of a dark, deadly apparition of unknown origin.
Suffice to say that the members of the team suddenly and inexplicably find themselves marked for death. Over a 10-year period they are horrifically and, as we shall see, impossibly slaughtered one by one. Somoza perhaps is not a literary writer, but he is a riveting storyteller and his plot is the work of genius. Just when one thinks that things can't get worse, they do. And don't think for a minute that things are going to get better.
Somoza writes like the product of a mad collaboration between Shirley Jackson and Michael Crichton, with a bit of Thomas Harris thrown in for good measure. After reading ZIG ZAG, you won't know whether to sleep with the lights on or off. You won't know precisely what I mean by that until you read this tale of the ultimate fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still contemplating this story!, March 4, 2007
This book still has me contemplating the themes addressed. It is very fast-paced with plenty of mystery and thrilling situations! I highly recommend this book. Jose Carlos Somoza has you wondering at every turn of the page how the story could unfold. At each turn you find the story unfolding in unexpected and delightful ways! This is a must-read for anyone who enjoys astrophysics, science fiction, mystery and thrillers.
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