The Babel Effect

by Daniel Hecht

With all the imaginative depth and narrative power of Michael Crichton's Timeline or Jurassic Park, The Babel Effect is an electrifying, thinking person's thriller based on cutting-edge neurological and genetic research. From the author of the widely acclaimed Skull Session , The Babel Effect artfully brings the speculative thriller to new literary heights.

Is violence a virus? Can your genes make you a killer? Why are we so willing to hurt each other? In The Babel Effect , the brilliant husband-and-wife research team of Ryan and Jessamine McCloud are charged with answering these urgent questions. Beginning as a neurological study of murderers on death row, their research explodes into an investigation into the biomedical foundations of human history. The quest takes them from prison cells to research labs to war zones throughout the world and forces them to doubt their most  basic assumptions about the human species, about themselves, and about their marriage.

Combining systems theory with modern epidemiology, they soon learn that our propensity for violence resembles a contagious disease. But is the human carnage of the last hundred years an ancient plague or a new nightmare? Can they identify the cause and find a cure? As their discoveries reveal frightening secrets about multinational corporations, clandestine military programs, and millennial religious cults, they realize that finding the answers depends on a still more urgent and terrifying Can they survive the search?

When an unknown enemy steals their data and abducts Jessamine, the FBI investigation stalls, and Ryan realizes that it is up to him alone to find his pregnant wife. He soon finds that to learn where she is, he must discover who she is -- and confront the question of whether we can ever really know the one we love.

As real as the astonishing and disquieting news coming out of today's biotechnology revolution and as disturbing as our suspicions of global conspiracy, The Babel Effect provokes us with an astonishing perspective on human nature as it brings us face-to-face with our most unspeakable fears -- and our brightest hopes. Though The Babel Effect is part thriller, part mystery, it is at its core the very human tale of one man who simply seeks to know his wife -- to find her and love her again.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Horror, Crime, Suspense, Science Fiction

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

I was born into an artist's community founded in 1946 by my parents and their friends in the wilds of Westchester County, N.Y. Surrounded by these individualistic yet communalistic bohemians, I saw artists in every discipline working their magic, and could not help but follow in their footsteps.

I've lived all over the U.S. and have worked at every kind of job to make ends meet, and I enjoy the labor of body and hands as much as the effort of the mind. Mailman, logger, carpenter, musician, musical instrument builder, graphic designer, apple picker, farmhand, nonprofit organizational director, college administrator, educator -- the great thing about a checkered past is that you see the world from a lot of perspectives. This is the best education for a writer!

I have lived in Vermont for many years, have three kids and several cats, am active on behalf of environmental causes, and am highly reclusive.

Reviews

[Hannah Berendsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

'Meh' is het juiste woord voor dit boek. Het plot was opzich goed genoeg en zorgde er wel voor dat ik door wilde lezen, maar de schrijfstijl van deze schrijver was gewoon te traag en te wollig. Er werd teveel context gegeven naar mijn smaak en het duurde te lang voordat er weer iets gebeurde wat de aandacht van de lezer triggerde. Ik heb meer boeken van deze schrijver gelezen en ik denk ook dat dat gewoon zijn schrijfstijl is, maar ik weet in ieder geval zeker dat ik niet weer een van zijn boeken hoef te lezen.

[Manaudou · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is ridiculous. I really hate when an author creates characters that the subsequent writing fails to support. He claims something to the effect that the husband and wife team the book follows are essentially the smartest people on the planet. However, the couple does nothing at all over the course of the story to make this seem one bit believable. In situations like this, I believe it is the author's inflated sense of his own abilities that makes him feel confident enough to direct the thought processes of a super-genius (two in this case). Needless to say the author fails miserably at this. The science and logic in the novel are also utterly ridiculous although you'll get the feeling that while the author was writing it he believed he was being very clever.

This is the worse book I have read in the past year. IMO this book is a total disaster.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I really enjoyed the Cree Black books, I couldn't really get into this one as much. While the premise was intriguing, I found the main character's emotional struggles a bit distracting and could not get into the flow of the story.

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

I held off rating this because I wanted so bad to love it as much as I loved Skull Session.
The premise is fantastic, and I was so intrugied at the idea of studying the world's worst serial killers in the hopes of unraveling their behaviours as a sort of mental pandemic?!
But alas, the pages involving the interviews with murderers on death row was about 10% of the book...
The rest was deeense scientific jargon that went on for, in my opinion, way too long. I get that we needed an insight into what they were doing and I was interested in that, but I ended up skim reading a lot of it.

Also, the main character, Dr McCloud Man Genius... Very "all the girls want me and all the guys want to be me" type, but tries to play dumb about it???

[Beverly Fuqua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating, I had to suspend disbelief to enjoy it, I mean it's just a novel right? It just SEEMED so real, like what could be happening today. I had to keep looking at the publish date-2001-thinking this could have just been written. I may reread this some day, the plot is really involved, and I feel that I might have missed some details due to reading way too late into the night.

[Cayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well far out...I don't even know where to begin. The way of writing was absolute astonishing all throughout, and viewing the developing thesis was amazing. The development of the babel effect being weaved through the story continuously was done beautifully. An amazing read!

[Amie G · Rating 1 out of 5]

Probably the most boring book I've ever attempted to read. Got 100 pages in (of a very small print version) and couldn't do it anymore. Literally nothing had happened, not a thing. Not worth the paper it was printed on. Don't bother.

[Rashel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely enjoyed reading about the theories of violence. brilliant scientists establish links between cause and theories to find a way to stop what seems to be a growing rampage of violence. There are loose ends to the story. It drags in places and too pat in others. No resolution in the end.

[Ash · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow, would’ve read better as a non fiction book without the attempt of a narrative.

[Arne Patat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmm interesting. Definitively some interesting arguments made about why everyone is crazy. Some flavourful twists as well, I don't know what I expected but I can say that things changed and stuff

[Kristin Lundgren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book by Hecht that I have read, and it was as good or better than Skull Session. The story is about a group of geniuses, a think tank nominally pursuing neurological areas, but also working on the larger pictures that emerge - emergence, pattern recognition, etc. At the beginning of the book they were finishing off modeling computer software that, taking all the epidemiological and medical information about a disease outbreak, and being able to correctly and accurately predict when and where the disease would move, and also the ability to trace it back to the source, or patient zero. The leader of this group, Ryan McCloud, is approached about working on finding out what causes violence in killers, and other such types. He and his wife Jess and the group agree to do it, but as they look at it, and do some preliminary work with a bunch of guys on death row, they begin to see that the pattern of violence is much larger, and indeed, encompasses society as a whole, with staggering trends in the past century, and also, going back into history, waves of violence that would travel through populations, almost like a disease. Jess, several months pregnant, take this one to heart, as she is still grieving the murder of her sister two years ago. She wants to know why - to put things into perspective. Are we victims of our genes, of a disease vector that attacks the areas of the brain known to cause violence and aggression, or are we victims of environmental poisoning, etc. She begins to pull away, and since Ryan is working on concomitant projects and other areas of this one, he doesn't realize. He is called to Africa to study a new outbreak there, and while there, sees an opportunity to look at the people there for the new project, called the Babel Effect. He studies two groups of Congolese Africans, those who are prisoners, and were killers, and those who refused to get caught up in the killing and took refuge at a plantation nearby. As he is closing up that project, all hell breaks loose and he is captured by a new warlord, and imprisoned for several months. Meanwhile Jess is stateside, pursuing leads on this Babel Effect, where people loose their connections to others, both the kinship connection and the theory of mind, or the ability to relate to others. When Ryan gets back, he finds that his wife and their colleague who had been working with her have been kidnapped, and all traces of their work destroyed. So the group sets out to retrace her thoughts, her work, who she talked to, since the FBI is stymied. What follows is a blend of thriller, and thoughtful discussion of what it means to be good, is it because of our genes, or because we choose it, and what are we really made of. Lots of tough questions, and tons to think about, so this book took me longer, since every few pages, my thoughts would latch onto something and wander off on that tangent. I'd have to grab my mind and bring it back to the book - not because it was dull, but because there was so much of interest that you could study, follow up on. Hecht did 3 years of intensive research for this book, and most of the neurological and genetic stuff is real, as is the historical record. One fascinating book for me.

[Justin Sernal · Rating 3 out of 5]

SPOILERS AHEAD:

The premise of the novel is very intriguing. What if violence was a disease for which there is a pathology? However, the execution itself is lacking.

Negative Comments:

First, the theories of the scientists were presented to the reader heavy-handedly and redundantly. Especially to those with some background in sciences, the ideas in the novel were very redundant. There were only two main causes, presented early in the novel that were the cause of violence. Nothing more. Secondly, the plot was predictable, with the villain being a not-so-subtle Chekov's Gun. Last and worst of all, the romance between the protagonist and lead was quite grating. Those portions were particularly horrendous, because it reads less like a science fiction novel than it does romance.

Positive Comments:

The characters were not at all bland and were, in my opinion, written well and differently enough that each character can be read differently. The leading roles are also likeable and I was rooting for them the whole way. I definitely formed an emotional connection on this thrill ride.

You have to give it to Daniel Hecht. The science in this novel holds true enough that it's not outside the realm of possibility that this actually is what is happening to our bodies.

Overall:
I enjoyed it, and despite a slow start trying to get the science out of the way, once it gets to the human aspect, it had me tensed, although I did roll my eyes in some portions of the novel.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about the book; while I was reading it, I thought it was so brilliant and well written, but now I feel let down. The ideas are very interesting, there is intrigue, mystery, philosophy, love, violence...but I never felt like I couldn't put it down. I would say it is better than any Crichton book I have read, but I also know a little about neuro and genetic research and even I had a little trouble following their technical paragraphs...so good, but not great. I will read more of him though, he has a very distinctive voice that I like... another cool thing is that he is not a PhD educated physicist or something which you would think as he runs thru intellectual topics (from genetics to game theory to electro magnetic theory to theology!!!!) but is a former musician! I love that...

[Havala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appealed to my science geek side, a little.

The author seems to go on about psychology and the theory of affects of (probably) real concept that morphs into almost sci-fi. Sometimes it was boring and went too far in depth (it was a character doing his own soul searching and working out issues with a technology). But I'm sure that those more interested in cerebral things will enjoy this. I am still not a very comprehensive reader so I may have missed out on some finer points that others would pick up clearly.
I may read again.

This book is not difficult to read, but you should like science /psychology themed fiction books with a love story between man and wife.

[James Marinero · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took time to get going with this. It's a huge piece of work underwritten by much research. Some might find it heavy going in parts, but it's well worth the effort - particularly if you are into the workings of the human mind, conspiracy theory, black ops and epidemiology. If you're not, don't be put off - give it a shot.

A few aspects didn't quite ring true for me - such as the incredibly happy family and facets of the Africa trips.

Well worth the effort.

[Evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brilliant husband and wife research team is hired to discover if there is a link between societal breakdown and human genetic makeup by studying the brains of violent criminals. An original, intellectual thriller. Highly recommend.

[Hywel Cable · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just started it, and it's a bit slow.

[Lisa Greer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as 'Skull Session,' but still good.

[Debi Dary]

Great book...not an easy read for everyone. I loved it because it's about neurological & genetic research!

[Mark Cheathem · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read 100 pp. and gave up.

[Andria Hoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow plot. So slow.