Robert Sawyer isn’t a great writer, but he usually writes about great ideas. His WWW series dealt with an emerging AI, while Flashforward dealt with seeing into the future (and how that affects free will). His newest book, Triggers, deals with memory at the quantum level and an accident that links people’s memories together. It’s an interesting concept inside a mediocre story. So, let’s find out what happens.
In the near future, the terrorist group al-Sajada, a splinter group from al Queda, has been setting off bombs all over the United States. While President Jerrison is giving a speech, an assassin’s bullet strikes him from behind and almost kills him. He’s rushed into the hospital where the surgical team work to save him. Close by in the hospital, memory researcher Dr. Singh is working on a way to block memories in a soldier with post-traumatic stress. Just then a bomb goes off that destroys the White House. The resulting EMP causes a power outage at the hospital, but the Secret Service has made sure that everyone is safe.
Very quickly a group of people start realizing that they are linked to the memories of other people. The President is linked to the PTSD patient, while Dr. Singh is linked to another person. All the linkages are one way (not reciprocal) and with that limited group of people. The memories are open without anyway to hide them from the person. Secret Service Agent Susan Dawson quickly locks down the hospital because she realizes that someone is linked to the President. And that is a national security issue. The issue is critical, because the President has authorized a secret plan to strike back against the terrorists. Whoever is linked to the President knows everything that the President knows and if the details of the plan get out, the plan is doomed.
The book follows our group of people as they deal with their new capabilities and the Secret Service’s attempt to find out who is linked to the President. Once the linked person is discovered, the group starts having to deal with the mystery of how to break the linkages (and those who don’t want it linked).
Overall, it’s a really wonderful idea. The implications of quantum linkages of memory is a great topic and Sawyer does a wonderful job of explaining it and dealing with various implications. Unfortunately the story surrounding the science is mediocre at best. There are some decent characters, but the plot just plods along. I truly wish that there was a much better story associated with this idea. I would recommend Triggers to people due to the ideas, but if you’re looking for something more, it’s not there. Mildly recommended.