Set just after the civil war in Boston, Daniel Pearl's ​The Technologists​ follows the adventures of several students at the recently-founded Massachusetts Institute of Technology as they grapple with a madman attacking with plagues of science. Pearl does a great job building a convincing environment for his story, using both real and fictional figures throughout his story. A few thoughts:

- Pearl constructs a solid mystery built on convincing and realistic characters. We get reasonable sketches of their motivations and enjoy the interplay between them. The four main characters, Marcus, Edwin, Bob, and Ellen, each have their own quirks, and these play off one another nicely when they get together.
- The environment of Boston itself comes alive in the story, from the bustling financial district where the second attack occurs (early in the book) to the undeveloped "Back Bay" where M.I.T.'s new building stood among the mudflats and undeveloped space newly claimed from the water.
- I love the history of M.I.T. itself -- the conflict between science and people was really ramping up after the Civil War, and Pearl captures perfectly the divided perspective people have about science--they're suspicious of the technology they don't know, and blissfully blind to how much they depend on the rest of it. I couldn't help but think of recent developments, particularly in terms of medicine, where people trumpet both advancement in biological sciences and then scorn the basis of those advancements (Evolutionary theory).
- ​Very Minor Spoiler: The terror attacks are carefully researched and creative. I have no idea how technically accurate they are, but given the care with which Pearl crafts the rest of his narrative, I can't imagine that he'd propose implausible technologies for the attacks. The villain does have a touch too much mobility/reach for a single person (along the lines of the Joker in ​The Dark Knight​), but otherwise the story works pretty well.
- I also appreciated Pearl's careful use of class conflict throughout the novel. We Americans like to imagine ourselves part of an classless society, at least in terms of people "knowing their station," but Pearl reminds us that we haven't always been so opposed to the idea that people should stay where they were. The novel also broaches the question of technological knowledge as power -- if just anyone can get access to science, then undesirable types, with low moral character, would get too much power. We have, of course, come to see the value of widespread education as a positive thing, but Pearl grapples with the essential question of the power technology gives us over one another. As we become ever-more-interconnected, we become more interdependent, and more vulnerable to one another. (I'd argue we become stronger together too, but there it is.)

Pearl also discusses the relationship between technological innovation, science, education, and capitalism. To whit, one rant from a character:

How long before all industry finds itself bankrupt? 10 years from now, it will not be a question of how many men you employ, but only how many ideas you own. With the inventions to come the railroad and the telegraph will seem as silly and prosaic to your sons as stagecoaches do to you.... Imagine the public in control of the railroad. Imagine each citizen with a steam engine of his own. A telegraph wire at his disposal at his parlor table. A vast Pandora's box that would be opened by the destructive decisions and incompetence. Corporations manage the forces of science for the benefit, for the ​safety​ of all. To grant free access to technology? That is the fatal danger.

Such has long been the worry of most or many technologies, no? Technology is power, and providing access to it takes power away from those who'd formerly held that power. Pearl constructs the build-up to this discussion well, so it doesn't feel forced or heavy-handed.

Stephen Hoye does a fine job throughout the novel, using East Coast accents where applicable without overdoing it, developing easily-distinguished voices to use. ​The Technologists​ isn't an amazing book -- it's not quite as good, in my thinking, Pearl's ​The Dante Club​, but it's darn impressive nonetheless.