Radiance
By Carter Scholz
Picador, $25
ISBN 0312268939

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Blinded by the light

That pure scientific research is not as pure as we think it is probably shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone; no human endeavor remains untouched by human frailties. Carter Scholz knows this, and in his first novel the veteran science fiction writer focuses on the conflict between science for the sake of knowledge and the desire for marketable results. Scholz details the life of one Philip Quine, a researcher at a Utah scientific institute. Beginning in the early '90s, Quine is one of many delegated to work on the Radiance project, a part of Ronald Reagan's Star Wars missile defense initiative. He begins to question the damn-the-data attitude of those around him, including the institute's founder and its director, both of whom seem more concerned with selling a product than ensuring that it will actually work.

Quine's life is slowly coming unraveled around him, and it isn't a pretty sight. He is fighting a tidal wave of arrogance and greed, weighed down with a workload that encourages incompetence. Events come to a head when he is thrust into a position of leadership and must maintain a balance between scientific honesty and his corporate and governmental masters.

Radiance has characters that will make you seethe with rage or throw up your hands in dismay. Scholz's staccato prose style enhances the feeling of helplessness that Quine experiences and mirrors the craziness of everyday life. Radiance is compelling, enlightening and frightening fiction; there is much that will make you angry, and precious little that will give you hope. Don't expect your typical bestseller ending where everything gets resolved in the final chapter. Real life isn't like that, and Radiance is all too real.