What do you think?
Rate this book
Triggers
On the eve of a secret military operation, an assassin’s bullet strikes President Seth Jerrison. He is rushed to the hospital, where surgeons struggle to save his life—and where Professor Ranjip Singh is experimenting with a device that can erase traumatic memories. Then a terrorist bomb detonates. In the operating room, the president suffers cardiac arrest. He has a near-death experience—but the memories that flash through Jerrison’s mind are not his own. The electromagnetic pulse generated by the bomb amplified and scrambled Professor Singh’s equipment, allowing a random group of people to access one another’s minds. One of those people can retrieve the President Jerrison’s memories—including classified information regarding the upcoming military mission, which, if revealed, could cost countless lives. But the task of determining who has switched memories with whom is a daunting one—particularly when some of the people involved have reason to lie…
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 23, 2012
32 people are currently reading
1044 people want to read
About the author
Robert J. Sawyer
226 books2,495 followersRobert J. Sawyer is one of Canada's best known and most successful science fiction writers. He is the only Canadian (and one of only 7 writers in the world) to have won all three of the top international awards for science fiction: the 1995 Nebula Award for The Terminal Experiment, the 2003 Hugo Award for Hominids, and the 2006 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Mindscan.
Robert Sawyer grew up in Toronto, the son of two university professors. He credits two of his favourite shows from the late 1960s and early 1970s, Search and Star Trek, with teaching him some of the fundamentals of the science-fiction craft. Sawyer was obsessed with outer space from a young age, and he vividly remembers watching the televised Apollo missions. He claims to have watched the 1968 classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey 25 times. He began writing science fiction in a high school club, which he co-founded, NASFA (Northview Academy Association of Science Fiction Addicts). Sawyer graduated in 1982 from the Radio and Television Arts Program at Ryerson University, where he later worked as an instructor.
Sawyer's first published book, Golden Fleece (1989), is an adaptation of short stories that had previously appeared in the science-fiction magazine Amazing Stories. This book won the Aurora Award for the best Canadian science-fiction novel in English. In the early 1990s Sawyer went on to publish his inventive Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, about a world of intelligent dinosaurs. His 1995 award winning The Terminal Experiment confirmed his place as a major international science-fiction writer.
A prolific writer, Sawyer has published more than 10 novels, plus two trilogies. Reviewers praise Sawyer for his concise prose, which has been compared to that of the science-fiction master Isaac Asimov. Like many science fiction-writers, Sawyer welcomes the opportunities his chosen genre provides for exploring ideas. The first book of his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, Hominids (2002), is set in a near-future society, in which a quantum computing experiment brings a Neanderthal scientist from a parallel Earth to ours. His 2006 Mindscan explores the possibility of transferring human consciousness into a mechanical body, and the ensuing ethical, legal, and societal ramifications.
A passionate advocate for science fiction, Sawyer teaches creative writing and appears frequently in the media to discuss his genre. He prefers the label "philosophical fiction," and in no way sees himself as a predictor of the future. His mission statement for his writing is "To combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic."
http://us.macmillan.com/author/robert...
Robert Sawyer grew up in Toronto, the son of two university professors. He credits two of his favourite shows from the late 1960s and early 1970s, Search and Star Trek, with teaching him some of the fundamentals of the science-fiction craft. Sawyer was obsessed with outer space from a young age, and he vividly remembers watching the televised Apollo missions. He claims to have watched the 1968 classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey 25 times. He began writing science fiction in a high school club, which he co-founded, NASFA (Northview Academy Association of Science Fiction Addicts). Sawyer graduated in 1982 from the Radio and Television Arts Program at Ryerson University, where he later worked as an instructor.
Sawyer's first published book, Golden Fleece (1989), is an adaptation of short stories that had previously appeared in the science-fiction magazine Amazing Stories. This book won the Aurora Award for the best Canadian science-fiction novel in English. In the early 1990s Sawyer went on to publish his inventive Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, about a world of intelligent dinosaurs. His 1995 award winning The Terminal Experiment confirmed his place as a major international science-fiction writer.
A prolific writer, Sawyer has published more than 10 novels, plus two trilogies. Reviewers praise Sawyer for his concise prose, which has been compared to that of the science-fiction master Isaac Asimov. Like many science fiction-writers, Sawyer welcomes the opportunities his chosen genre provides for exploring ideas. The first book of his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, Hominids (2002), is set in a near-future society, in which a quantum computing experiment brings a Neanderthal scientist from a parallel Earth to ours. His 2006 Mindscan explores the possibility of transferring human consciousness into a mechanical body, and the ensuing ethical, legal, and societal ramifications.
A passionate advocate for science fiction, Sawyer teaches creative writing and appears frequently in the media to discuss his genre. He prefers the label "philosophical fiction," and in no way sees himself as a predictor of the future. His mission statement for his writing is "To combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic."
http://us.macmillan.com/author/robert...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 296 reviews
December 18, 2012
Until about the last 50 pages, I would have rated this book much higher (probably a 4 of 5), but I admit I hated the ending and felt it ruined much of the book.
In a nutshell, a freak accident causes a chain of people to be able to access the memory of the next person in the chain -- A can read B's memories, B can read C's, etc. Most of the novel deals with the ramifications of this: what does privacy mean, how problematic is it if you now know classified information you aren't cleared for, how do you cope with remembering another's racism or abuse (either victim or perpetrator), etc.
Things I liked about this book:
- Interesting theme. A lot of Robert Sawyer's stand alone novels posit a single technological change in the near term future, and explore the ramifications of this change primarily through attention on a small focal group of characters. This largely follows that pattern.
- Complete characters. A few characters are essentially placeholders, but several are well developed, conflicted individuals cast in shades of gray.
Things I did not like about this book:
- Mystical spiritual ending out of nowhere. I felt the ending was both saccharine and cheesy, and the rules changed abruptly and with very little internal consistency. I don't like that.
- Lack of internal consistency. The change posited in the book was caused by a freak event, but then suddenly mutates without following any of the established rules of how it worked.
Things I did not like about this book:
In a nutshell, a freak accident causes a chain of people to be able to access the memory of the next person in the chain -- A can read B's memories, B can read C's, etc. Most of the novel deals with the ramifications of this: what does privacy mean, how problematic is it if you now know classified information you aren't cleared for, how do you cope with remembering another's racism or abuse (either victim or perpetrator), etc.
Things I liked about this book:
- Interesting theme. A lot of Robert Sawyer's stand alone novels posit a single technological change in the near term future, and explore the ramifications of this change primarily through attention on a small focal group of characters. This largely follows that pattern.
- Complete characters. A few characters are essentially placeholders, but several are well developed, conflicted individuals cast in shades of gray.
Things I did not like about this book:
- Mystical spiritual ending out of nowhere. I felt the ending was both saccharine and cheesy, and the rules changed abruptly and with very little internal consistency. I don't like that.
- Lack of internal consistency. The change posited in the book was caused by a freak event, but then suddenly mutates without following any of the established rules of how it worked.
Things I did not like about this book:
July 23, 2012
I was so intrigued by the blurbs for this novel that, upon starting it, I was threatening to quit my job just so I could have uninterrupted time to finish it. And in fact I did finish it in about three sessions over the next day. However, despite some fascinating twists here and there, the novel seems to spin out of control into a fuzzy, unbelievable, feel-good ending that doesn’t feel emotionally supported by the structure of the novel: a quick and easy resolution, a deux ex machina that resolves all character problems, and all world problems for that matter, at once. The novel strikes me as being written in a cardboard-flavored bestseller-ese that I don’t recall the author employing in Flashforward or the Neanderthal series, with a correct cast of two-dimensional multicultural characters, and so my final take on this reading experience was that I was glad to have seen what it was about but that I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to anyone. It is really odd that a bestseller can be a page turner and yet leave you wondering at the end why you invested so much time and energy in it.
November 10, 2020
A parte che Robert J. Sawyer è uno dei miei autori preferiti che ho scoperto con Apocalisse su Argo, questo è il perfetto libro per adesso. Scelta casuale. Complotti, lockdown, attentato al Presidente, ditruzione . Che cosa volete di più?
Gli autori sci-fi che mi piacciono sono davvero pochi, perchè sono molto selettiva nei loro confronti, quindi quando un libro mi piace vuol dire che mi piace davvero.
Gli autori sci-fi che mi piacciono sono davvero pochi, perchè sono molto selettiva nei loro confronti, quindi quando un libro mi piace vuol dire che mi piace davvero.
April 26, 2018
I read that Robert Sawyer excels in the SF/mystery crossover novel, that his plots are grounded in current reality and are not strung out in distant planets, and that he often explores the intersection of science and religion, and contemplates consciousness. For all these reasons I picked up this book which was blurbed as a plot against America replete with assassins, terrorists and science experiments gone wrong.
And I wasn’t disappointed, for the mystery novel was obvious: the US President is shot by an insider, and the White House is destroyed by a bomb. The science fiction takes over when a memory altering experiment being carried out in a nearby Washington hospital, the same one that the injured president is rushed to, is disturbed by an electromagnetic pulse emanating from the White House explosion. Those in the vicinity of the experiment start seeing other people’s memories in addition to their own. The linkages are not reciprocal but linear, and the hunt is on to find out who has access to the President’s memories, for that would be tantamount to a national security breach, particularly as the President has recently given the go ahead for an international military operation of an unprecedented scale.
The part that didn’t work for me was that there were too many characters, many rendered as cartoon cut-outs in order to move the twisting and turning plot along. It was hard to keep track of who was linked to whom memory-wise, and the implications thereof. And yet this unnatural situation poses ethical questions regarding privacy, forcible confinement, campaign trail lies, and relationships, all that are boldly explored. As a result of the linked memories, new associations are formed and others are fractured, and everyone is on edge for knowing too much. And as the days pass, this addling of memories only gets worse and more complex.
Sawyer, a Canadian, who seems at ease in his US scene-setting, makes his sentiments known about his country’s prime minister through the mouths of his characters. For example, the fictional US President describes the Canadian PM as “a weaselly petty man.” Conversely, the author absolves the former of his campaign trail lies by saying, “an evil politician lies all the time, a good one picks and chooses when to lie.”
Much has been said about the bizarre ending of this book which vaults it out of its mystery trajectory. And yet, given that the novel is categorized as science fiction, I think this dislocation— just like the memory dislocation—is necessary to return the book to its science fiction roots and to the premise that “while an individual can do damage on an increasing scale with evolving technology, the collective desire for good can negate it.” However, with this departure, I was also left wondering why the fast-paced plot twists of the earlier mystery novel were needed when the author was trying to establish a totally different premise?
I was also left with a further question, which all good science fiction is supposed to do, and that was: “why would we all want to be the same on this planet, all knowing and all understanding? How boring a place would that be, and why would we need so many of us, all of whom would be clones of each other?” Perhaps that will be the dilemma to be solved in Sawyer’s next novel, if he hasn’t addressed it already.
And I wasn’t disappointed, for the mystery novel was obvious: the US President is shot by an insider, and the White House is destroyed by a bomb. The science fiction takes over when a memory altering experiment being carried out in a nearby Washington hospital, the same one that the injured president is rushed to, is disturbed by an electromagnetic pulse emanating from the White House explosion. Those in the vicinity of the experiment start seeing other people’s memories in addition to their own. The linkages are not reciprocal but linear, and the hunt is on to find out who has access to the President’s memories, for that would be tantamount to a national security breach, particularly as the President has recently given the go ahead for an international military operation of an unprecedented scale.
The part that didn’t work for me was that there were too many characters, many rendered as cartoon cut-outs in order to move the twisting and turning plot along. It was hard to keep track of who was linked to whom memory-wise, and the implications thereof. And yet this unnatural situation poses ethical questions regarding privacy, forcible confinement, campaign trail lies, and relationships, all that are boldly explored. As a result of the linked memories, new associations are formed and others are fractured, and everyone is on edge for knowing too much. And as the days pass, this addling of memories only gets worse and more complex.
Sawyer, a Canadian, who seems at ease in his US scene-setting, makes his sentiments known about his country’s prime minister through the mouths of his characters. For example, the fictional US President describes the Canadian PM as “a weaselly petty man.” Conversely, the author absolves the former of his campaign trail lies by saying, “an evil politician lies all the time, a good one picks and chooses when to lie.”
Much has been said about the bizarre ending of this book which vaults it out of its mystery trajectory. And yet, given that the novel is categorized as science fiction, I think this dislocation— just like the memory dislocation—is necessary to return the book to its science fiction roots and to the premise that “while an individual can do damage on an increasing scale with evolving technology, the collective desire for good can negate it.” However, with this departure, I was also left wondering why the fast-paced plot twists of the earlier mystery novel were needed when the author was trying to establish a totally different premise?
I was also left with a further question, which all good science fiction is supposed to do, and that was: “why would we all want to be the same on this planet, all knowing and all understanding? How boring a place would that be, and why would we need so many of us, all of whom would be clones of each other?” Perhaps that will be the dilemma to be solved in Sawyer’s next novel, if he hasn’t addressed it already.
October 1, 2012
I love science fiction, but I rarely read it. The reason I rarely read it is because I don’t like the way most people write it. There are exceptions to the rule. I’m a big fan of Arthur C. Clarke; Rendezvous with Rama and Childhood’s End are two of my favourites. I also adored Asimov’s I, Robot, and enjoyed science fiction by Anne McCaffrey, Orson Scott Card and Robert Heinlein, but these are the exceptions. I find the majority of science fiction writers who take a hard science approach to their stories turn the science into the protagonist or antagonist of the tale, rather than allowing that privilege to one or more of their characters. It accentuates the science, but makes the story feel cold and analytical. It loses its heart. Thankfully, Robert J. Sawyer is not one of those writers, and that’s why I continue to enjoy his books.
Triggers is another one of those delights. The science is woven into the core of the plotline and his research is obvious, but his characters are not just part of the backdrop presented to highlight the science. There is a strong human element to his tale, and he uses the scientific anomaly in the story to touch on such topics as racism, domestic and sexual abuse, professional ethics, and the conflict that sometimes occurs between human rights and the need for national security. I was very impressed by the multiple story threads he had entwined around the central theme, none of them more significant than another, and all of them tied to the science of his fiction. I also like the way he plays with a few extraneous ideas, like the thought processes of those on the autism spectrum (something that impacts me directly) and unusual but notable occurrences like “nominative determinism” (which I just happened to be discussing with my co-workers a couple of days before I read that section of the book, coincidentally.)
I’ve always been fascinated with the concepts of telepathy and the science of memory, so this book probably ranks as one of my favourites by Mr. Sawyer, along with Rollback and The Terminal Experiment (the first book of his I ever read.) I would definitely recommend it as both an enlightening and an entertaining read.
Triggers is another one of those delights. The science is woven into the core of the plotline and his research is obvious, but his characters are not just part of the backdrop presented to highlight the science. There is a strong human element to his tale, and he uses the scientific anomaly in the story to touch on such topics as racism, domestic and sexual abuse, professional ethics, and the conflict that sometimes occurs between human rights and the need for national security. I was very impressed by the multiple story threads he had entwined around the central theme, none of them more significant than another, and all of them tied to the science of his fiction. I also like the way he plays with a few extraneous ideas, like the thought processes of those on the autism spectrum (something that impacts me directly) and unusual but notable occurrences like “nominative determinism” (which I just happened to be discussing with my co-workers a couple of days before I read that section of the book, coincidentally.)
I’ve always been fascinated with the concepts of telepathy and the science of memory, so this book probably ranks as one of my favourites by Mr. Sawyer, along with Rollback and The Terminal Experiment (the first book of his I ever read.) I would definitely recommend it as both an enlightening and an entertaining read.
January 6, 2012
I won a copy of Triggers from Penguin Books, through the Goodreads First Reads giveaway program.
The technology imagined by Robert J. Sawyer inevitably causes me to think "I never could have thought of that!" Triggers provoked that thought a few times...
When a terrorist attack coincides with an experimental medical treatment designed to erase traumatic memomories, the result is remarkable: a random group of people end up sharing memories. And since one of the group members is the U.S. President, someone from the group suddenly has access to confidential, national security matters.
More than half of Triggers takes place within 24 hours of the event, providing ample opportunity for the reader to witness how individuals in the group react to having a second set of memories. As we've come to expect from Sawyer, the varied responses raise broader questions about individual vs. group rights, racism, politics, relationships and more.
As the situation evolves, the pace of the story accelerates, to the point where the ending is almost a blur. While the resolution is satisfyingly hopeful, I would have appreciated a slightly slower tempo, so that Sawyer could have done a more complete job highlighting the individual and societal implications. Instead, I'm left pondering these on my own. But perhaps that was Sawyer's intent.
Featuring a large cast of characters, an interesting blend of tempos and on-going surprises, Triggers will be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of any science fiction fan. Thanks for the good read, Mr. Sawyer.
The technology imagined by Robert J. Sawyer inevitably causes me to think "I never could have thought of that!" Triggers provoked that thought a few times...
When a terrorist attack coincides with an experimental medical treatment designed to erase traumatic memomories, the result is remarkable: a random group of people end up sharing memories. And since one of the group members is the U.S. President, someone from the group suddenly has access to confidential, national security matters.
More than half of Triggers takes place within 24 hours of the event, providing ample opportunity for the reader to witness how individuals in the group react to having a second set of memories. As we've come to expect from Sawyer, the varied responses raise broader questions about individual vs. group rights, racism, politics, relationships and more.
As the situation evolves, the pace of the story accelerates, to the point where the ending is almost a blur. While the resolution is satisfyingly hopeful, I would have appreciated a slightly slower tempo, so that Sawyer could have done a more complete job highlighting the individual and societal implications. Instead, I'm left pondering these on my own. But perhaps that was Sawyer's intent.
Featuring a large cast of characters, an interesting blend of tempos and on-going surprises, Triggers will be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of any science fiction fan. Thanks for the good read, Mr. Sawyer.
August 19, 2013
This book has all the trademarks of a Sawyer novel: a very plausible premise, great characters across a wide spectrum, and a fast-paced plot. I especially
Iike the way he addresses the pros and cons of being able to read someone's memories. The dynamics of knowing the most personal thoughts of either a stranger or someone you know is explored in depth. Cultural, racial, and ethnic differences make for compelling reading. I was loving this book immensely until the ending blew for me.
While the ending is in some ways fantastic, it is too fantastic. It requires a major leap from the science of the rest of the story and is just too neat a way to end the book. It leaves us hanging on how these characters would have handled their life going forward and how they dealt with the some major events in a more logical fashion.
I know many people will love this ending but in reading the reviews, many others agree with me. It is still worth a read for the Sawyer fans and others but be prepared for a less than satisfying ending - a first for all the Sawyer books I have read.
Iike the way he addresses the pros and cons of being able to read someone's memories. The dynamics of knowing the most personal thoughts of either a stranger or someone you know is explored in depth. Cultural, racial, and ethnic differences make for compelling reading. I was loving this book immensely until the ending blew for me.
While the ending is in some ways fantastic, it is too fantastic. It requires a major leap from the science of the rest of the story and is just too neat a way to end the book. It leaves us hanging on how these characters would have handled their life going forward and how they dealt with the some major events in a more logical fashion.
I know many people will love this ending but in reading the reviews, many others agree with me. It is still worth a read for the Sawyer fans and others but be prepared for a less than satisfying ending - a first for all the Sawyer books I have read.
May 7, 2012
So strongly written, great characters, great suspense, great plot, but just fell apart in the last give chapters. For me, it totally jumped the shark. I just couldn't buy the ending. It seemed like Sawyer pushed the limits of credulity. Even in the context of the world in which he tells it, it just wasn't believable, and that's too bad. Because up until that point, he totally had me. I was turning pages and couldn't stop. I was on the edge of my seat. I was even hoping it was the start of a trilogy, but ultimately, it appears Sawyer struggled to find a way to keep it going and that the ending suffered for it. Sawyer has deservedly won all the big awards and many more. He is one of the finest writers working in science fiction today, but read Flashfoward and the WWW books, if you want to see him at his best. This, for me, doesn't live up to his usual, at least at the end, and endings do matter. Excellent craft except for that one thing but it spoiled it for me.
January 19, 2015
A terrific political scientific terrorist thriller with a completely unexpected ending. This would make a great film!
April 10, 2012
(originally reviewed on Starmetal Oak Reviews)
Triggers really intrigued me through its premise: the fact that a group of people, through some kind of freak event, are able to access another person’s memory. One of the person affected by it is the President of the United States, who winds up in the hospital where this all goes down after he is almost killed by a would-be assassin. Someone is now able to access the President’s memories and Secret Service agent Susan Dawson.
There were many things about Triggers I enjoyed, although overall I would say I didn’t feel as into it as I would have liked. The science of memories was fascinating and seeing how the group’s newfound ability to access another’s memories was just plain cool. There’s physics and biology which Sawyer really manages to explain in a compelling and approachable way. Also, his writing is deft at creating the right amount of suspense for this kind of action-packed novel.
Another great thing about Triggers was the topical nature. It’s set just a bit in the future but not so much that things are unrecognizable. The United States has been attacked several times by terrorists and even the President had almost been killed. This creates a fast-paced political thriller that has many cinematic qualities, with the more apparent plot being the mystery of who has the President’s memories.
My only reservations are caused by what I believe is the fact I didn’t connect too well with the characters. There’s many, many characters and we get to experience the discovery of memories as they do, which makes for a lot of background information. The only character I really came to connect to was Susan Dawson and that’s because I felt sympathetic about her loyalty to the President.
Overall,Triggers was fascinating and well-written, but it wasn’t enough to make this a must-read. It would definitely be a great read for those who are motivated by the mystery of the memory phenomena itself, or those who are particularly interested in science fiction political thrillers. There are twists and turns and I didn’t really see the end coming, which is a good thing. I would definitely read more Sawyer in the future, and I particular would like to finish his WWW series.
Review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.
Triggers really intrigued me through its premise: the fact that a group of people, through some kind of freak event, are able to access another person’s memory. One of the person affected by it is the President of the United States, who winds up in the hospital where this all goes down after he is almost killed by a would-be assassin. Someone is now able to access the President’s memories and Secret Service agent Susan Dawson.
There were many things about Triggers I enjoyed, although overall I would say I didn’t feel as into it as I would have liked. The science of memories was fascinating and seeing how the group’s newfound ability to access another’s memories was just plain cool. There’s physics and biology which Sawyer really manages to explain in a compelling and approachable way. Also, his writing is deft at creating the right amount of suspense for this kind of action-packed novel.
Another great thing about Triggers was the topical nature. It’s set just a bit in the future but not so much that things are unrecognizable. The United States has been attacked several times by terrorists and even the President had almost been killed. This creates a fast-paced political thriller that has many cinematic qualities, with the more apparent plot being the mystery of who has the President’s memories.
My only reservations are caused by what I believe is the fact I didn’t connect too well with the characters. There’s many, many characters and we get to experience the discovery of memories as they do, which makes for a lot of background information. The only character I really came to connect to was Susan Dawson and that’s because I felt sympathetic about her loyalty to the President.
Overall,Triggers was fascinating and well-written, but it wasn’t enough to make this a must-read. It would definitely be a great read for those who are motivated by the mystery of the memory phenomena itself, or those who are particularly interested in science fiction political thrillers. There are twists and turns and I didn’t really see the end coming, which is a good thing. I would definitely read more Sawyer in the future, and I particular would like to finish his WWW series.
Review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.
March 2, 2012
Another good SF novel by Robert J. Sawyer. I really enjoyed this book (I read the serialized version in Analog on my Kindle), but there were a few loose ends I would have liked to have seen addressed. Nothing major at all, but some plot threads here and there seemed to be left dangling and unresolved.
Like all of Sawyer's book, this one is very though-provoking, and does a great job of exploring many of the implications of its premise, in this case, that of people having other people linked to our memories. These implications aren't only those of a personal nature, but also legal and societal implications of a shared event. If a group of people are changed by an event, what rights to the individuals involved have with regard to reversing and/or preserving the change brought about by that event? Do the desires of the many outweigh those of the few?
I also expected a little more science and exposition, especially towards the end. While I appreciate authors leaving it up to their readers to figure out what happens in their stories without excessive exposition, at times I think this story could have used a little more. Compared to Sawyer's last few novels, this one had a noticeably smaller amount of science. That's not a bad thing, necessarily, but it was something that stood out to me.
The ending actually took a turn that I wasn't fully expecting at the time, though in hindsight, it shouldn't have surprised me. I would have preferred for the events at the end to take a little more time to develop. It almost seemed as though the author was writing to a word limit rather than giving the story the room it needed to be resolved, but that could be my affinity for neatly and cleanly resolved stories.
Though my comments might suggest that I didn't like this, I want to clarify that I really enjoyed this, and couldn't wait for each installment. While not my favorite Sawyer novel (I think that title belongs to Rollback), this is still a good story with the same thought-provoking themes you would expect from Robert J. Sawyer, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys good science fiction.
Like all of Sawyer's book, this one is very though-provoking, and does a great job of exploring many of the implications of its premise, in this case, that of people having other people linked to our memories. These implications aren't only those of a personal nature, but also legal and societal implications of a shared event. If a group of people are changed by an event, what rights to the individuals involved have with regard to reversing and/or preserving the change brought about by that event? Do the desires of the many outweigh those of the few?
I also expected a little more science and exposition, especially towards the end. While I appreciate authors leaving it up to their readers to figure out what happens in their stories without excessive exposition, at times I think this story could have used a little more. Compared to Sawyer's last few novels, this one had a noticeably smaller amount of science. That's not a bad thing, necessarily, but it was something that stood out to me.
The ending actually took a turn that I wasn't fully expecting at the time, though in hindsight, it shouldn't have surprised me. I would have preferred for the events at the end to take a little more time to develop. It almost seemed as though the author was writing to a word limit rather than giving the story the room it needed to be resolved, but that could be my affinity for neatly and cleanly resolved stories.
Though my comments might suggest that I didn't like this, I want to clarify that I really enjoyed this, and couldn't wait for each installment. While not my favorite Sawyer novel (I think that title belongs to Rollback), this is still a good story with the same thought-provoking themes you would expect from Robert J. Sawyer, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys good science fiction.
April 7, 2012
I utterly enjoyed this novel, and it was very nearly a 5 star read. But as with something like Flashforward the overwhelmingly transhumanic ending ruined it a little for me.
Other than that, the characters were fascinating, and there aren't many who could've so deftly handled the memory mismanagement. I think the most fascinating mental swap for me was Tarasov reading Dora and the trauma from her childhood, which rang particularly strong for me having a very young daughter of my own. Nikki's surgery was also extraordinary to observe, and this is only a small portion of the genius Sawyer's nailed in this book.
Some have noted the way in which this book is almost written to be turned into a movie. I sort of saw that; although there were several cliffhanger moments which made me think series more than film. Nonetheless, it's not harshly written or shallow. If the ending was a bit more my taste, assuredly a 5 star title.
Other than that, the characters were fascinating, and there aren't many who could've so deftly handled the memory mismanagement. I think the most fascinating mental swap for me was Tarasov reading Dora and the trauma from her childhood, which rang particularly strong for me having a very young daughter of my own. Nikki's surgery was also extraordinary to observe, and this is only a small portion of the genius Sawyer's nailed in this book.
Some have noted the way in which this book is almost written to be turned into a movie. I sort of saw that; although there were several cliffhanger moments which made me think series more than film. Nonetheless, it's not harshly written or shallow. If the ending was a bit more my taste, assuredly a 5 star title.
December 28, 2011
I have only read one other Robert J. Sawyer book and I loved it but I never got around to reading another one until Triggers. After reading this book I can say I am a huge fan of Mr. Sawyer.
I was hooked from the first chapter. The premise of being able to access someone else's memory is genius, especially when you add the President of the United States into the mix. There are a lot of characters to get to know as the book progresses but they are developed well. If you are a Canadian you'll love all the references to Canadian people, places, and things.
The book moves along at a good pace and is enjoyable from beginning to end. A must read for sci-fi fans.
I was hooked from the first chapter. The premise of being able to access someone else's memory is genius, especially when you add the President of the United States into the mix. There are a lot of characters to get to know as the book progresses but they are developed well. If you are a Canadian you'll love all the references to Canadian people, places, and things.
The book moves along at a good pace and is enjoyable from beginning to end. A must read for sci-fi fans.
April 26, 2012
I gobbled up this latest wonderful Sawyer novel really quickly. I had previewed the early chapters, attended the book launch here in Toronto, got Robert to sign the book and then had a few trips that gave me lots of time to enjoy it. As introduced, the style of this book follows on the success of the action drama of the Flashforward TV show, but don't worry, the anchor plot of 3rd party memory reading gets lots of attention. Sawyer explores many different avenues the phenomenon can take, with a truly mind blowing (and unexpected) grand finale. Great characters, speedy plot movement and larger-the-life sci-fi ideas, loved it.
August 25, 2013
Robert Sawyer constantly amazes me - he's one of the most creative speculative fiction writers around, constantly coming up with wonderful "what if" scenarios (although admittedly his characterization skills are at best acceptable). And Triggers, for the first two-thirds or so, was typical "wow that's an interesting idea/situation" Sawyer. Unfortunately, and atypically for him, I thought he ended up taking the story to a very disjointed and disappointing resolution. Four stars (well, maybe) for the first part, but the last third was just bad, on multiple levels - deus ex machina, jumping the rails of the plot line, and general silliness.
May 9, 2016
Sawyer delivers a very suspenseful story with great characters and some nice puzzle-solving, but the ending doesn't seem to mesh with the set-up; it kind of collapses into a deus-ex-machina puddle. (Or (Spoiler!) perhaps Sturgeon-ex-machina, for More Than Human fans.) Almost all of the other novels he's produced have been solidly grounded in established science, but this one just deals with a kind of nebulous brain-fixing machine that goes haywire due to a poorly-timed terrorist attack. His observations on the topics of medicine and politics are thought-provoking, but this one isn't the hard-sf fare I was expecting.
August 4, 2012
Very interesting book. The story starts off as a fairly standard thriller -- people's memories are linked in a chain of unknown length, and a Secret Service agent must find out who has access to the memories of the US President. Sawyer's fascination with science is prevalent, particularly in the character of a Canadian doctor who chronicles each new development in the phenomenon almost gleefully. It was difficult to get into the story at this point, simply because there were so many characters, and the stories felt so disjointed.
Then Sawyer's optimistic view of the potential science holds for humanity takes over, and the story becomes more than a standard thriller. The linking of people's minds helps increase understanding and remove prejudice. Of the large cast of characters in the beginning, selfish, unlikable ones are shunted off, and those that remain part of the story have opportunities to do something good with their access to another's memories. The story, fittingly enough, itself becomes more cohesive.
Sawyer has a tendency to moralize, and a lot in this story is much more feel-good than I would normally like. However, it's hard to argue with such earnest idealism, such genuine belief in humanity's inherent goodness and potential for connectivity.
3 stars for the beginning of the book, bumped up to 3.5/4 for the almost childlike idealism that I, at least, find welcome.
Then Sawyer's optimistic view of the potential science holds for humanity takes over, and the story becomes more than a standard thriller. The linking of people's minds helps increase understanding and remove prejudice. Of the large cast of characters in the beginning, selfish, unlikable ones are shunted off, and those that remain part of the story have opportunities to do something good with their access to another's memories. The story, fittingly enough, itself becomes more cohesive.
Sawyer has a tendency to moralize, and a lot in this story is much more feel-good than I would normally like. However, it's hard to argue with such earnest idealism, such genuine belief in humanity's inherent goodness and potential for connectivity.
3 stars for the beginning of the book, bumped up to 3.5/4 for the almost childlike idealism that I, at least, find welcome.
December 27, 2011
** Received by my partner as a First Reads Giveaway
First Robert Sawyer book I've read although I've been meaning to read one for ages. Nice easy writing style and the plot moves along nicely until the end when it all gets a bit deux ex machina and silly. Would have liked that to come a little earlier and to have the implications explored more. However I liked many of the characters and he does a good job in handling so many of them and making them distinctive. I'll be reading more Sawyer I think.
First Robert Sawyer book I've read although I've been meaning to read one for ages. Nice easy writing style and the plot moves along nicely until the end when it all gets a bit deux ex machina and silly. Would have liked that to come a little earlier and to have the implications explored more. However I liked many of the characters and he does a good job in handling so many of them and making them distinctive. I'll be reading more Sawyer I think.
November 9, 2020
I couldn't put it down, so it must have been really good. There was one thing that puzzled me. Ivan had been linked to Josh. At the end it was Jan that was linked to Josh when he got killed. How did that happen.
The characters were all different & interesting - learned about autism in one, an abused wife in another, a black man finding out what it was like to be an old white woman from Mississippi, the president finding out what it was like to be a private in his army, etc.
The characters were all different & interesting - learned about autism in one, an abused wife in another, a black man finding out what it was like to be an old white woman from Mississippi, the president finding out what it was like to be a private in his army, etc.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
December 6, 2020So, there was an idea which began, perhaps, with Greg Bear (at least for me, it may have been written about before his novel, Blood Music), which became a popular theme or gimmick in science fiction, called the Singularity. It generally refers to an event which totally changes the human race, most often for the better, or greater good. There are several endings used by authors which irritate me: the deus ex machina, the "then I woke up", and the Singularity Event. I just feel it's a lazy way to end a novel for which you have come up with no reasonable ending, or of which you've grown tired writing. Unfortunately, Sawyer picks a Singularity to end what up to that point had been an interesting novel, exploring a cool pseudo scientific premise. Maybe if I was one of the cool kids, the "in" crowd, I'd have been able to read the title and know that Triggers somehow refers to triggering a singularity event...I dunno.
The scenario is in the near future U.S., where terrorist strikes continue to devastate our cities. The latest threat is a type of bomb which vaporizes a relatively small area, and also emits an EMP which temporarily takes down all electrical and electronic systems in the area. It has been used on several cities, and the President and his military advisors have put together a counterstrike which will wipe a certain terror-supporting nation entirely off the map, to let the terrorists know that we are finally getting serious. While the President is making a speech, a rogue element within the Secret Service puts together an assassination attempt, combined with a bomb strike.
The President is rushed immediately to a DC area hospital and goes into surgery to repair bleeding in his pericardium. Coincidentally, at the same time one floor away, a researcher is applying a new type of memory triggering device to a patient of his who has experienced PSTD flashbacks so severe that they are destroying his life. When a the EMP pulse from a bomb which destroys the White House surges through the hospital, a very strange thing happens - people within a fifteen yard radius of the operating room are suddenly given access to the memories of one other person - in a sort of daisy chain - who is also in that area.
The primary Secret Service agent on site is concerned with the national security implications of some unknown person having access to all the President's memories, so a fair amount of time is spent trying to figure out who has whose memories, sorting all that out. Then, the really interesting things, in my opinion, take place, as Sawyer explores some of the possibilities inherent in being able to share another person's memories.
A romantic attachment develops between one couple, and their sex life is made far more intense by one person being able to see and feel what the other is feeling. In another pairing, race reconciliation happens when a black man is able to experience the lifelong soft bigotry of an elderly Southern woman. A physician is able to see in the memories of one of his nurses all the spousal abuse and the substance addiction she's suffering, and offer her a way out. The soldier who is suffering from PTSD is able to force the President to see all of the horrible things he witnessed in Iraq, and for the first time in recent history the leader of the free world really understands the results ordering his forces to war. There are some other interesting examples, but these and the others were making this a really good story.
Then, the Singularity occurs and we have whirled peas and love forever. Ack!
The scenario is in the near future U.S., where terrorist strikes continue to devastate our cities. The latest threat is a type of bomb which vaporizes a relatively small area, and also emits an EMP which temporarily takes down all electrical and electronic systems in the area. It has been used on several cities, and the President and his military advisors have put together a counterstrike which will wipe a certain terror-supporting nation entirely off the map, to let the terrorists know that we are finally getting serious. While the President is making a speech, a rogue element within the Secret Service puts together an assassination attempt, combined with a bomb strike.
The President is rushed immediately to a DC area hospital and goes into surgery to repair bleeding in his pericardium. Coincidentally, at the same time one floor away, a researcher is applying a new type of memory triggering device to a patient of his who has experienced PSTD flashbacks so severe that they are destroying his life. When a the EMP pulse from a bomb which destroys the White House surges through the hospital, a very strange thing happens - people within a fifteen yard radius of the operating room are suddenly given access to the memories of one other person - in a sort of daisy chain - who is also in that area.
The primary Secret Service agent on site is concerned with the national security implications of some unknown person having access to all the President's memories, so a fair amount of time is spent trying to figure out who has whose memories, sorting all that out. Then, the really interesting things, in my opinion, take place, as Sawyer explores some of the possibilities inherent in being able to share another person's memories.
A romantic attachment develops between one couple, and their sex life is made far more intense by one person being able to see and feel what the other is feeling. In another pairing, race reconciliation happens when a black man is able to experience the lifelong soft bigotry of an elderly Southern woman. A physician is able to see in the memories of one of his nurses all the spousal abuse and the substance addiction she's suffering, and offer her a way out. The soldier who is suffering from PTSD is able to force the President to see all of the horrible things he witnessed in Iraq, and for the first time in recent history the leader of the free world really understands the results ordering his forces to war. There are some other interesting examples, but these and the others were making this a really good story.
Then, the Singularity occurs and we have whirled peas and love forever. Ack!
July 26, 2021
Another great one from Mr Sawyer!
Being able to empathize with another means being able to put yourself in their shoes, with their memories and their experiences, so that you can feel closer to that person and they, in turn, feel closer to you. This is the essence of the Golden Rule, which underlies most religions. Empathy breeds understanding, connection and love. Judgement and condemnation breed separation and hate.
Individuals who are not empathetic see survival from an individual organism’s selfish perspective; individuals who are empathetic see survival from a group of individuals’ perspectives. Groups, in turn, can act selfishly as well, if there is no empathy from one group to another. But through increased communication and connectivity, even those barriers can be crossed—and empathy can spread further.
Triggers are things we all experience. A sudden memory, an image, a sound, a smell—and we’re suddenly transported in time and space to where and when we experienced something earlier in our life, it can be a pleasant experience or a devastating one, but regardless, our brains leave the present and go to the past either that or they agitate and worry about the future--either way we’re thrown into survival mode. We’re all taken “offline” by triggers. Our brains do this to help us survive. But if we’re all doing this all the time, we seem to be in survival mode all the time. The problem is it’s survival at the individual level. Empathy widens the survival circle.
I loved how this book brought this out, all while weaving the latest in brain science, quantum entanglement and psychology into a compelling story of humans rising up together to survive as a species and as a planet.
Being able to empathize with another means being able to put yourself in their shoes, with their memories and their experiences, so that you can feel closer to that person and they, in turn, feel closer to you. This is the essence of the Golden Rule, which underlies most religions. Empathy breeds understanding, connection and love. Judgement and condemnation breed separation and hate.
Individuals who are not empathetic see survival from an individual organism’s selfish perspective; individuals who are empathetic see survival from a group of individuals’ perspectives. Groups, in turn, can act selfishly as well, if there is no empathy from one group to another. But through increased communication and connectivity, even those barriers can be crossed—and empathy can spread further.
Triggers are things we all experience. A sudden memory, an image, a sound, a smell—and we’re suddenly transported in time and space to where and when we experienced something earlier in our life, it can be a pleasant experience or a devastating one, but regardless, our brains leave the present and go to the past either that or they agitate and worry about the future--either way we’re thrown into survival mode. We’re all taken “offline” by triggers. Our brains do this to help us survive. But if we’re all doing this all the time, we seem to be in survival mode all the time. The problem is it’s survival at the individual level. Empathy widens the survival circle.
I loved how this book brought this out, all while weaving the latest in brain science, quantum entanglement and psychology into a compelling story of humans rising up together to survive as a species and as a planet.
March 20, 2021
Here's a science fiction book published in 2012 dealing with events of the near future. Interestingly for me, reading it in 2021, it feels like it is set in an alternate past. The Obama presidency has ended, Obama being replaced by a Republican-- but the new president had been a history professor. Very different from Trump! While making a speech before the Lincoln Memorial, the President is shot by an assassin and rushed to the nearest hospital. Surgeons there struggle to save his life. Following the assassination attempt, a new and very powerful type of bomb is detonated at the White House, destroying it. As if all that is not bad enough, an experiment was going on at that hospital in which a device was being used to erase a war vet's traumatic memories. The bomb sent out an electromagnetic pulse which scrambled the experimental equipment--so that a random group of people suddenly gain the ability to access another person's mind. One of the persons affected is the president who finds himself with memories not his own. And who has the president's memories? With planning going forward on a massive military strike, it becomes imperative to find the person with the president's memories...
It's a very interesting premise for a fast-paced political thriller. Robert Sawyer is one of SF's great idea persons and, in exploring human consciousness, Sawyer does not disappoint. From a quick glimpse at other reviews, it seems many readers were bothered by the ending. I wasn't and all I'll say about it is that it reminded me of the ending of a certain Arthur C. Clarke book....
It's a very interesting premise for a fast-paced political thriller. Robert Sawyer is one of SF's great idea persons and, in exploring human consciousness, Sawyer does not disappoint. From a quick glimpse at other reviews, it seems many readers were bothered by the ending. I wasn't and all I'll say about it is that it reminded me of the ending of a certain Arthur C. Clarke book....
February 25, 2018
Robert J Sawyer’s Triggers is a light science fiction novel playing off the idea of a small group of people becoming mentally linked to each other.
He puts some nice rules in place to constrain the capabilities of the situation. This allows questions, a struggle to find answers, and prevents easy solutions that would require only a short story.
The crux of the story is that one of the people in the link is the President of the United States that has just survived an assassination attempt. The President possess secrets of an important upcoming military operation that will change the world, and those out to get him, are still out there!
I like how he plays with the plot device. The characters are different enough to show various aspects of the mental link. It leads to different reactions from the small group that drives the story forwards in some nice personal directions that surround the larger story.
My main issue might be the resolution. He seems to make some leaps that surprised me. I wish more hints had been laid out so that it was more of a reveal versus seemingly to me, coming out of left field to help bring an end to the book. But maybe I should be thankful it wasn’t the start to a long series. Nice to read and complete a finished story.
But I have to say with the end he put out there, I did close the book and… my mind attempting to link to the authors, what comes next for humanity?
He puts some nice rules in place to constrain the capabilities of the situation. This allows questions, a struggle to find answers, and prevents easy solutions that would require only a short story.
The crux of the story is that one of the people in the link is the President of the United States that has just survived an assassination attempt. The President possess secrets of an important upcoming military operation that will change the world, and those out to get him, are still out there!
I like how he plays with the plot device. The characters are different enough to show various aspects of the mental link. It leads to different reactions from the small group that drives the story forwards in some nice personal directions that surround the larger story.
My main issue might be the resolution. He seems to make some leaps that surprised me. I wish more hints had been laid out so that it was more of a reveal versus seemingly to me, coming out of left field to help bring an end to the book. But maybe I should be thankful it wasn’t the start to a long series. Nice to read and complete a finished story.
But I have to say with the end he put out there, I did close the book and… my mind attempting to link to the authors, what comes next for humanity?
November 2, 2017
It was all going so well with this book.
Then, the author realised that the political statement that he wanted to include hadn't been included yet so he had 50 pages to ruin everything before it which, frankly, was actually pretty good.
Generally, books that offer solutions to problems facing society are enjoyable to read. There are 2 main issues with this one. First off, it's so blatantly shoehorned in for no reason other than a) the author couldn't think of an ending or b) see the paragraph above. Secondly, the solution that the author proposes just isn't possible. It doesn't add anything to the conversation, with the crux of it being, 'We should try and understand people'. Yes, it's a lovely sentiment but it isn't a new idea. Admittedly, it's presented in a new way but the new way is a load of bullshit.
I am now wishing I'd stopped reading this book at about page 300 and then just written my own ending.
Then, the author realised that the political statement that he wanted to include hadn't been included yet so he had 50 pages to ruin everything before it which, frankly, was actually pretty good.
Generally, books that offer solutions to problems facing society are enjoyable to read. There are 2 main issues with this one. First off, it's so blatantly shoehorned in for no reason other than a) the author couldn't think of an ending or b) see the paragraph above. Secondly, the solution that the author proposes just isn't possible. It doesn't add anything to the conversation, with the crux of it being, 'We should try and understand people'. Yes, it's a lovely sentiment but it isn't a new idea. Admittedly, it's presented in a new way but the new way is a load of bullshit.
I am now wishing I'd stopped reading this book at about page 300 and then just written my own ending.
April 8, 2023
Di Sawyer ho letto due romanzi prima di questo, entrambi riuscitissimi (Killer On-line e L'alternativa Oppheneimer), per cui mi aspettavo tanto. Sono rimasto deluso. Sia per un fattore che ritengo oggettivo, e cioè che la base scientifica di questo romanzo sia molto più fragile che negli altri; sia per un fattore soggettivo, e cioè che le facoltà psichiche e le argomentazioni telepatiche su di me abbiano poco acchito e fascino in quanto più vicine all'ambito paranormale che fantascientifico. Se poi aggiungiamo gli stucchevoli moralismi che potevano essere gestiti meglio e che culminano in un finale che è un tripudio di banalità, ne segue un quadro appunto deludente. Nel complesso credo di non rischiare grosse critiche se dico che non è sicuramente tra i romanzi più riusciti di questo bravo scrittore.
August 2, 2021
Rediscovered Robert J. Sawyers and went on a Sawyer reading feast. Triggers is a story about an accidental linkages of minds, allowing people within a certain radius of an unexpected explosion to link minds. The links give the memories of one person to another in an apparently random manner. At the same hospital, a US president is recovering from having been shot, and the military plans to eliminate Pakistan to end the terrorist attacks on the USA - using the example of how the US ended the war with Japan by the overkill on Nagasaki. The book had me on the edge of my seat. Like Cook, and Creighton, Sawyers takes a hypothesis and runs with it. While SF, it is most credible. Sawyer is a Canadian, living in Mississauga and always has a little element of Canada in his story.
January 7, 2018
I thought this was a very interesting book. A large part of it was devoted to exploring some ideas of quantum entanglement. We've been playing around with this for a while, but not on the scale that Sawyer is exploring which is entanglement at the mind or memory level. Is this possible? Who knows. I know some scientists in Boulder that are currently exploring the concepts in communication devices. I've always thought that one purpose a good SF writer should have is to step just beyond what we know and explore ideas, but do so from a good solid basis in science. Sawyer does this. I'm not sure I'd agree with what he comes up with. But read it, and see what you think.
October 2, 2017
Rating: As is usual with Sawyer, the ideas are complex and intriguing.
When a memory experiment goes wrong, and the President of the US is involved, the Secret Service races to find out just who it is who is suddenly 'linked' to the President's memories, and has access to every secret of the US government.
A wide cast of characters, an attempted assassination, possible treason, and the question of just who can be trusted complicate the plot. I'll be thinking about the implications for awhile yet.
When a memory experiment goes wrong, and the President of the US is involved, the Secret Service races to find out just who it is who is suddenly 'linked' to the President's memories, and has access to every secret of the US government.
A wide cast of characters, an attempted assassination, possible treason, and the question of just who can be trusted complicate the plot. I'll be thinking about the implications for awhile yet.
November 28, 2017
This book was very exciting, it made me think it was more a political thriller than a science fiction novel. In fact, the story of the president, terrorists, conspiracy would have been a fine story on its own, without the memory experiment thrown in. I liked his theory about quantum memory and the linking of human consciousness, but it got a little too new-agey at the end and also pretty similar to the theory presented in Factoring Humanity.
November 3, 2016
Decent political thriller with an interesting sci-fi premise. The ending was poor, though, because what had seemed like a moderately plausible idea (people each gaining the ability to access the memories of one other person after an EMP-type pulse) was stretched to become completely implausible, just so the author could set up a hippy-dippy, feel-good ending.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 296 reviews