In the middle of the 21st century, a team of scientists develops the ultimate protective weapon-a device that causes all nitrate-based bombs and explosives nearby to detonate automatically. It seems like a benevolent invention-one that will protect mankind against weapons of mass destruction. But as the scientists struggle to ensure their invention is used only for peaceful purposes, it becomes increasingly clear that even protective weaponry comes with its own moral trade-offs.

Dr. Jeffrey Horton, the device's lead inventor, must fight to keep the weapon out of violent hands-and soon finds that not even those with the best intentions can be trusted. This riveting story of action, suspense, and science is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat-and turning the page.

**

Amazon.com Review

The early 21st century ushers in a revolution in unified field theory, and free-thinking physicist Jeffrey Horton and his team are pushing the cutting edge. Sequestered on a maximum-security research campus, the scientists are testing "Baby," a device they hope will create "a laser for gravity," a tractor beam. But during an early run, every gun in the area (and even a secret stash of fireworks) simultaneously explodes. Follow-up tests soon prove their device was responsible--that it can in fact neutralize every conventional gun, bomb, and explosive--and that's when Baby becomes the "Trigger."

This speculative novel by sci-fi legend Arthur C. Clarke and genre workman Michael Kube-McDowell follows the vast sea changes such an invention would bring, reading as part thriller, part social tract. Horton and his Trigger follow a course not unlike that of Einstein and the A-bomb, but ratcheted up by an order of magnitude--idealistic scientists, overwhelmed politicians, rabid lobbyists, and entrenched generals must deal with the device's deployment and consequences, both political and social, in a gun-rich, gun-dependent culture. A well-researched, plausible plot line keeps The Trigger not just readable but downright engrossing, despite its sometimes distracting lack of subtlety. All in all, a worthwhile, entertaining meditation on how technological progress always proves as unpredictable as it is inevitable. --Paul Hughes

From Publishers Weekly

The Trigger (Arthur C. Clarke Collection)

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