Ascheregen

Lauri Nurmi

by Risto Isomäki, Angela Plöger (Translator)

In the span of a few days, six tons of lithium-6 are stolen in Japan, and 180 grams of plutonium vanish in France. Word of these crimes quickly reaches Colonel Kenneth Andrews at the US Nuclear Terrorism Unit. He mobilizes the best team in nuclear defense, including special agents—and couple—Lauri Nurmi and Alice Donovan.

As this secret task force sets out to find the contraband elements, they begin to fear that someone is developing a doomsday weapon. Breeder reactors are being installed around the world to provide clean energy, but they also present risks: every shipment of fuel to a nuclear power station gives terrorists an opportunity to create a nuclear weapon. When Lauri and Alice realize that they have a global conflict on their hands, one in which the definition of terrorist is a moving target, they’ll put their relationship—and their lives—in jeopardy to venture headfirst toward a new and dangerous front line. But in this game of nuclear reaction, what holds the most power to destroy the world as we know it—the weapon itself or the fear it inspires?

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Science Fiction, Finnish Literature, Audiobook, Adult, Science Fiction Fantasy

Paperback

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

Risto Isomäki is a Finnish environmental activist and author of science fiction and nonfiction books. His 2005 novel Sarasvatin hiekkaa was nominated for the Finlandia Prize in 2005 and won the Tähtivaeltaja award in 2006.

Reviews

[Tomi]

En jaksanut loppuun asti. Puupökkelömäiset hahmot seikkailevat ydinvoima/ase-aiheisten mansplainaus hetkien keskellä eikä ensimmäiseen reiluun sataan sivuun saada minkäänlaista jännitettä tai jännitystä rakennettua, vaikka panokset onkin olevinaan kovat. Bonuksena päälle jotenkin seksistisen ja rasistisen oloinen tunnelma. Miksi nämä on aina tällaisia?

[Tiina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vallan viihdyttävä jännäri. Vähän sellaista vanhojen Bond-leffojen vivahdetta: ei liikaa syvyyttä hahmoissa, vauhdikkaat taistelukohtaukset, paljon teknologiaa ja pahiskin paljasti juonensa, kun luuli olevansa selvillä vesillä. (Oliko vai ei, ei siitä sen enempää.)

[Ari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Isomäen kirjojen yleissivistävää vaikutusta ei käy kieltäminen. Joka kerralla oppii jotain uutta ja mielenkiintoista; tällä kertaa fysiikasta, ydinvoimasta ja ydinpommeista. Yllättävää, hämmästyttävää, osin pelottavaa.

Kerronta on helppolukuista ja -tajuista, romaanin kappaleet seikkailuromaanimaisen lyhyitä, kuin viikkolehden jatkokertomuksessa. Jos asiasisältöä vielä vähän yksinkertaistaisi, olisi kysymyksessä kai lähinnä nuorisoromaani.

Tarinan supersankarit ovat supersankarimaisen epäuskottavia ja ainakin pahisten motiivit jäävät hieman vajaiksi. Todenmakuista sen sijaan on sivullisten uhraaminen "tärkeämpien päämäärien" vuoksi. Kuolleet unohdetaan nopeasti, läheisten menettäminen hoidetaan muutamalla viskipullollisella. Ja James Bond -tyylinen meno jatkuu.

Asiatiedoista pisteitä, tarinan ja henkilöiden todentuntuisuudesta sen sijaan ei juurikaan.

Mutta kannattaa lukea.... How I stop worrying and started to love the Bomb.


Litium 6, Kustannusosakeyhtiö Tammi, 2007

[Spinster · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggle a lot with Isomäki. I love his science and sciency factoids, he clearly knows what he's talking about (although I'm not the best person to judge that, not being very sciency myself admittedly) and in that sense his books are a joy to read. But then there's the rest of it...

I find that Isomäki's characters, including the ones in Lithium-6 are very superficial and uninteresting and combined with the storyline it's like reading an American action movie. And that'd be fine but I don't like action movies and I'm sure there would be so much potential for them to be much more.

[Aarre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I see many negative reviews about this book, but I must disagree with all of them. The plot was intriguing and the characters, while perhaps a bit "annoying" on some level, were fine as well.

The book has a clear anti-nuclear weapons & energy message, and I partially agree with it. I wouldn't label it as propaganda, but for some readers the book may seem a bit annoying and pushy about the message.

[Gretel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Isomäki knows his science and has definitely done a lot of research far this novel, but his writing leaves a lot to be desired. The characters are wooden, interacting oddly with one another, and why so much talk about Alice's heritage? There's also no real sense of place, no description.

[Juuso · Rating 2 out of 5]

Romaanin tapahtumat alkavat, kun japanilaisesta ydinreaktorista varastetaan litiumia sellaiset määrät, että rosvojoukkion epäillään rakentavan aineen avulla ydinasetta. Jenkeissä asuu suomalainen kaveri nimeltä Lauri, joka työskentelee USA:n valtiolle. Hän tietää paljon ydinfysiikasta ja ryhtyy selvittämään tapausta yhdessä jenkkiläisten kollegoidensa kanssa. Lauri näkee painajaisia Manhattanilla tapahtuvasta ydinräjähdyksestä, mutta painajaiset uhkaavat muuttua hyvin pian todeksi.

Romaanissa parasta oli mielestäni kaikki ydinfysiikkaan liittyvien asioiden opastaminen. Teoksen alku on täynnä ydinvoimaa tutkineiden fyysikkolegendojen anekdootteja. Enrico Fermi kertoi antavansa kaikille tulevaisuuden, kun oli tehnyt ydinkokeen chicagolaisella urheilustadionilla, Ted Taylor sytytti tupakan ydinkokeen avulla ynnä muuta kiinnostavaa. Uraanin, plutoniumin ja litiumin ominaisuuksista oli myös selkeä opastus, mikä sai minut kiinnostumaan fysiikasta lisää.

Itse romaanin tapahtumat ja henkilöhahmot tuntuivat minusta koko ajan jotenkin epäuskottavilta. Tapahtumista saisi kyllä varmasti kasaan hyvän toimintaelokuvan. Renny Harlin voisi ohjata ja Jasper Pääkkönen näytellä pääosan. Kirjan loppuratkaisu oli suuri pettymys. Sen selvittyä kahlasin kirjan loppuun, ja mietin, että plääh. Mutta toisaalta mietin, että voisin lukea ydinfysiikasta lisääkin. Jotenkin erityisesti tuo ydinkokeiden ja ydinaseiden historia kiinnostaa paljon. Myös se, kuinka vaarallisiksi ydinvoimalaitokset oikeasti tulevaisuudessa osoittautuvat maailmalle. Kirjailija Isomäen mukaan kaikkein järkevintä olisi rakentaa ydinvoimalaitokset peruskallion sisään maan alle.

[M. P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was torn between two and three stars, so let's say this was a solid 2.5/5. I appreciated the amount of research that Isomäki put into making this story, but much of the book was pretty Hollywood action movie-ish to me, and I don't mean that in a good way.Wooden, quite cliched characters, and as a cherry on top a bad guy who turns into plot exposition man, because there was no other way to tell what was really going on, I guess... "Haha, I will tell you everything, for you will die soon either way! What could go wrong?" Like that. There were a couple of twists in the book that I didn't see coming, though, and I genuinely enjoyed those parts.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an e-ARC of Lithium 6 from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lithium 6 is a story about the theft of Lithium 6 and Plutonium and the antiterrorism response to it.

I don't know if it's a translation issue or an issue with the original text, but I found the book difficult to read - the character interactions were stilted and the main characters grating. The story is also highly technical; it felt much more like technical writing than fiction.

I typically like doomsday/apocalyptic fiction, but this one is a pass for me.

[Lennart Löwenherz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erschreckend. Das beschreibt es wohl am besten. Einfach nur erschreckend. Risto Isomäki zeichnet in "Ascheregen" ein erschreckend realistisch erscheinendes Szenario, wie mit Verhältnismäßig einfachen Methoden von Einzeltätern eine Massenvernichtungswaffe hergestellt werden kann. Und viel schlimmer noch, wie weit manche Menschen bereit wären zu gehen, um dies zu verhindern, und welche Verbrechen sie auf diesem Weg begehen und/oder billigend in Kauf nehmen würden. In der aktuellen Lage mit zunehmender politischer Eskalation (auch militärisch) kann ich das Buch nur jedem ans Herz legen

[Reetta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast-paced and plot driven, this was a good brain cleanser after some longer boring reads. Like all Isomäki's books, this contains a lot of information dump sections (which I happen to love) and a lot of action scenes. The characters were mostly just a vessel for the plot to unravel. I did like to plot too, even though it was quite predictable, I still like the philosophical lessons it carries. So all in all, all my expectations were met.

[Petri Lång · Rating 4 out of 5]

Isomäen kirjoissa minulle mielenkiintoisinta antia ovat todellisuuteen ankkuroidut spekulaatiot erinäisille tapahtumille tai teknologioille. Itse tarina hahmoineen on aika pitkälti yhtä moniulotteinen kuin missä tahansa amerikkalaisessa rymistelyssä, vaikka päähenkilön taustaa kevyesti avataankin. Tarina toimii kuitenkin kelvollisena spekuloinnin toimittajana.

[Elvi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really love the research behind Isomäki’s books and his (chilling) conclusions. He is first and foremost a great researcher and thinker, novelist only from necessity to reach masses. Thus, his novels suffer from slightly awkward characters and dialogues, but overall are very entertaining and educational.

[Snorre Lothar von Gohren Edwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining

[Gabriella Gricius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why Read: Another NetGalley read as per usual... but if you know me at all, then you'll know how much I love anything about nuclear fictional books. It helps that this book in particular is about terrorism and achieves that great byplay between two different sides of the same story, which eventually come together to great effect.

Review: The thing about Lithium-6 is that it has both the potential to be a good airline read, while simultaneously having the details and the basis for something more. There's nothing, of course, inherently wrong with an airline novel. However, Lithium-6 seems to embody a deeper kind of novel that asks how truly safe our nuclear system is. What makes me say that is the end portion of the book, a perhaps unnecessary section, that the author includes to describe why is he writing this book and what research has taken place. As I first began reading, it seemed superfluous :"epilogue-esque". But getting a better understanding of what was fiction and what was non-fiction was surprisingly enlightening.

As you can imagine, the parts of the book that dealt with the day-by-day runnings of a nuclear terrorism agency were my favorites. How do people find illegal uranium shipments? How easy is it? According to this book - it can be too easy. Our "sustainable" nuclear system is dangerous. Breaking apart atoms isn't natural in any sense of the world and can have devastating consequences if misused.

Much as I enjoyed the concept of a nuclear fiction book, I couldn't help but be bothered by the character development. I never felt as though I truly understand the motivations of Lauri or Alice. Furthermore, the interactions between characters seemed altogether stilted. Nevertheless, focusing on the plot at hand and the concept of nuclear terrorism yielded a good couple hours learning about nuclear fission.

Read this if you're a fan of nuclear knowledge. I wouldn't recommend it for those looking for a book that truly encompasses the concept of character development. However there are other reasons to read a book and if any of that appeals to you - then go ahead!

Rating: 4/5 Stars

[Elina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot of the book was, in the end, alright, and it's message is important. I respect that, and I tip my hat off to Isomäki for such a clever way of propaganda against nuclear power.

However, it feels like Isomäki is a lot better in scientific writing that story-telling and drama. The two main characters, Lauri and Alice, were so face-palmingly annoying I almost gave up several times through the book, the writing itself was in Finnish but it felt like it was badly translated from English - meaning that the language was everything but flowing and natural - and the hops between lecturing about the history and theory of nuclear power and bombs and the actual drama was constant and as well annoying.

Well, I got this from my friend who said "read this", so I bloody well did.

[Johannes · Rating 3 out of 5]

After only a few pages you are already captivated by the book because it embodies everything that you have always feared. Anyone who has ever acted against nuclear power and nuclear weapons, because he knew intuitively that humanity destroys itself here, gets support tp prove his theories. This book should be required reading in every school.

Nach nur wenigen Seiten ist man schon gefesselt von dem Buch, weil es alles verkörpert, was man schon immer befürchtet hat. Jeder, der schon immer gegen Kernkraft und Atomwaffen agiert hat, weil er intuitiv wusste, dass hier die Menschheit sich selber vernichtet, bekommt Unterstützung womit er seine Thesen beweisen kann. Dieses Buch sollte zur Pflichtlektüre in jeder Schule werden.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

[Jan-Erik]

Niin kuin muissakin Isomäen kirjoissa, faktat olivat hyviä, juoni aika turha.

[Ann]

I got this book through goodreads and was happily surprised. It was an interesting and thought provoking story. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it.

[Matti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mielenkiintoinen juoni ja taustat, mutta henkilöhahmojen kehittely ei tuntunut ihan uskottavalta.

[Suvi · Rating 3 out of 5]

En ole trillerien ystävä, mutta tämä koukutti. Taitava sekoitus faktaa ja fiktiota sekä tietoa ja toimintaa.

[Mikko Hahtala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hyvää: ydinfysiikka, faktatieto ydinvoimaloista ja -aseista, vetävä juoni.
Huonoa: epäuskottavat ja kliseiset hahmot.