Hadron's Run

by Woody Clark

When the planet’s wealthiest man receives a terminal diagnosis, he faces the ultimate decision: accept his fate, or deploy his nearly limitless fortune in the quest for a cure. Having exhausted every conventional option, Michel Bouchon is left with little choice but to build the one technological marvel he knows will yield a universal panacea. With his future, and that of mankind’s hanging in the balance, Michel begins construction and names his audacious invention “The Ouroboros”.

The world is stunned when the reclusive trillionaire emerges from seclusion and announces that he has discovered a cure for every disease. Although a remarkable achievement that captivates imaginations around the globe, Michel cautions that his breakthrough comes with a considerable caveat: he can only extend his life-saving remedy to ten others, and those lucky recipients, will be chosen through a lottery.

As lottery fever grips every man, woman, and child, so too does it consume Michel’s business rival, Yan Huen.

Driven by greed and his desire to surpass Michel, Yan covertly purchases a lottery spot and enlists the services of master spy, Devlin Archer. Employing the mole to steal the secrets behind the cure, Yan schemes to exploit the remedy for his own profit, and ultimately supplant Michel as the world’s richest man.

In this gripping tale of insatiable avarice, burgeoning technologies, and furtive espionage, the destinies of Michel, Yan, and Devlin become inexorably linked across space and time.

292 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 16, 2023

Reviews

[Meghan Umphryes · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received an advanced reader’s copy of this in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.*

What lengths would people go to for a minuscule chance at getting a cure for any disease that ails them? Woody Clark explores this concept by writing an intricately woven story about just that.

Michel Bouchon is the world’s wealthiest man due to his life-changing inventions of the Everwake pill and the Orbital Solar Shield. Michel disappears from the public eye, but returns when he (his assistant) announces that he’s created a cure for whatever disease/sickness anyone may have. The issue? It’s only being provided to 10 people and those people will be chosen via a lottery. These lottery spots are transferrable though, so people have to decide what they will do for a spot. Once chosen, the winners have to deal with some tough consequences, hear and process some difficult information and make tough decisions.

This was a quick read that had a lot of characters, but enough development with many of the characters that I was invested in finding out what happened to them. A good majority of the story was about the lottery and the effects, and I was interested to read about the effects. Once, that part ended though, the heavier stuff picked up and my interest was piqued even more than before! I loved the science elements and Clark did a good job of intertwining the science with the real life circumstances these characters were dealing with! If you’re a sci-fi fan (more in the science realm), this will be one you’ll want to check out!

Also, if you’re a short chapter fan, this one is for you! Very short chapters overall!

[Debbie Umphryes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a very interesting read! The chapters were very short for those who like to read and not stop until the next chapter. The characters were pretty well developed and the story line kept me interested.

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Very riveting! Well drawn characters with an intriguing story line. It's a "must read" science fiction masterpiece!

[GW · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Ouroborras -

Just couldn't get into it. I kept waiting for the story to start but for me, it never got there.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher for an advance reader copy of Hadron's Run, which looks like a revised edition of this work. If Hadron's Run is ever listed here, I will move my review to that page.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read. I am not sure the science holds across the entire story, but it didn't really detract from the intrigue. The main story really was about the lives of the winners and their motives. This was a mix of spy story and human interest story placed within a setting of science and near future sci-fi. It took a bit to get to where the title came from, but it does connect. Anyone with a basic understanding of what a hadron is might have a leg up on what the end twist might be.

Hadron and Cern are two German Shepherds that belong to the richest man in the world, Michel Bouchon. Michel gained his wealth by inventing the Everwake pill (no need to sleep) which, unfortunately led to an increase in the rate of climate change - so he invented the Orbital Solar Shade, which protected the Arctic ice cap and stabilized Earth's temperature. That work, however, exposed him to situations and he ended up with an aggressive life-threatening cancer. Michel Bouchon disappeared from public life for several years, but has emerged with an announcement. Or rather, his coworker, Layah, has. A cure has been found, but it is only available for 10 people. Therefore, a lottery is instituted to select the ten winners and three alternates. Everyone can enter, sick or not, as spots are transferrable. Yan Huen, the second richest man in the world, wants to send a mole into the lottery to steal the plans to this cure. That is what he has done before, when he stole the plans for the Everwake pill, producing an inferior generic. He has also hired Devlin Archer to steal other plans, so he hopes to insert Devlin into this lottery. As the lottery winners are announced, one egotistical news reporter, Art Decker, is used to funnel 'leaked' news to the public. He is slipped an unmarked cell phone and receives updates to disseminate to the world. As the first winner is publicly giving a statement, the phone buzzes with the message '$50 million'. Decker asks if the winner was offered money for his spot. As it turns out, no, but others will. As the fourth winner is giving a press conference, a shot rings out. Nobody is hurt, but the lottery announcements thereafter do not give out names or discuss whether or not the winner sells their spot. The final spot is announced, and Decker is once again sent a message. This time, it includes all of the winners, with the exact amounts they paid for their spots, and the three winners who didn't sell. The only one not listed was the final winner, since that went to a blind trust. Decker dutifully announced this on air, and the world gossip machine went haywire. Yan Huen, however, was livid. He was the one who bought that final spot, finally getting his mole a spot in the group.

The thirteen are collected and whisked away in an elaborate series of plane rides and changes of itineraries so to avoid detection from being followed by media. When they finally land, each winner only sees a barren landscape and then enters an underground bunker. They could be anywhere. Anything metal gets confiscated, as only plastic and glass are allowed materials inside the facility. At the first collective dinner, Layah explains that, in order to accept the cure, the winners must never leave the facility and will never see family or friends again. Anyone not agreeing to that condition can leave and pass their spot to an alternate. One person does leave, allowing the first alternate to move into a winners position. The next alternate, a movie starlet, really wants a spot. She poisons the first alternate, gets caught, and the third alternate now is in the winning spot.

The ten winners are ready for their cure. The cure however, isn't really a cure. It is a machine. Hadron was the first one to take a ride, as proof of concept. It is a time machine. The rider moves at almost the speed of light. The idea is for the ill winners to ride on the machine, spending little to no time for themselves, letting normal time pass for the rest of Earth, waiting for a cure to be found. Decker isn't sick, though - he just wants to steal the plans and get back to Yan and get his fee. This doesn't go well. All eleven passengers finally get on the machine (Michel included) and they start the ride, which will last until a cure is found. Decker tries to sabotage and partially succeeds, but is brought down. The riders are rescued and, in the end, cures have been found. Mostly, everyone lives happily ever after.

[Parti-Gyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

TLDR: Interesting near future sci-fi plot concept held back by massive holes in the science that are never explained

This book had a great build-up and developed a thorough tension in the first two-thirds, I was let down, however, by the final third when the reveals started. In short, the world's richest man has instituted a worldwide lottery that will choose ten lucky winners and three alternates, the winners will be completely cured of all ailments, no matter how severe. This starts a frenzy as nearly everyone in the world enters the contest as many times as they can, and since the winning spots are for sale if the winner wants, the world's wealthiest people start paying billions for a chance to be cured. The beginning of the book is a whirlwind and a little confusing as we are introduced to the very large cast of characters, but still interesting. I did become a little annoyed by the detailed introductions to a number of characters who were never heard from again, but oh well. About halfway into the book, I was starting to wonder when the introductions would stop and we would actually get into the plot, which is right when the cast of characters solidified and the action started to pick up.

As the reveals started in the final third of the book, I have to say that I was not expecting the solution to be what it was. On the other hand, I was immediately thrown off by the bad science. In the interest of not spoiling the ending, I won't say what the solution is but suffice to say that the solution is completely unrealistic, which could be solved with a good explanation, but it simply wasn't present. Once the solution was presented, I immediately wondered how it would be physically possible to do what is proposed and waited for the science explanation, and waited, and waited, and finally realized there wasn't going to be one. This took the book down at least a full star.

Now for the spoilers. The diseases are cured by traveling in a capsule at nearly the speed of light in a loop that is like a much larger version of the Large Hadron Collider. Travelling at this speed induces time dilation for the travelers, meaning that while they spend only minutes in the capsule, years pass on earth. The idea is that they will travel until a cure for their diseases is discovered and then stop to be cured. What is frustrating is that my first thought was "how did the super-genius inventor of the technology overcome the problem of gravity?" The loop is only 1,000 miles long, meaning that to stay at 1g, you can only travel at 3,547mph, or .000529% of the speed of light. This machine is supposed to propel the passengers at 99.999999999% of the speed of light. At that speed, you would experience billions of gs, which would obviously flatten you. As anyone who has ever taken a ride on the Gravitron ride at a fair knows, even a low speed spin makes it nearly impossible to move. I waited for the sci-fi explanation of how they overcame this, and it wouldn't have taken a lot, just some vague gesture toward them understanding that limitation exists and they solved it somehow. But no, there is nothing.

It wasn't until I was nearly done with the book that I realized a second problem: how are the passengers communicating with the outside world to know when a cure has been found for the specific diseases? I understand this isn't interstellar travel so there isn't a distance issue, but shouldn't the time dilation affect communications somehow? Oh well, I didn't care after there was not even a nod toward explaining the g-forces.

Overall, this book was entertaining enough to keep my attention but is significantly held back by bad science.

[Creatively Asha Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

What would you do if you were diagnosed with an incurable disease and a trillionaire tycoon known for introducing earth-changing technology offers the cure to all diseases? You enter the lottery. Every person on the planet can enter as many times as they want, but only 10 will be chosen for the opportunity to be cured of whatever ails them. Hope, greed, and espionage propel the 10 to enter the lottery, but will the cost be worth the sacrifice?

Honestly, I cannot speak highly enough about this story. The reader follows several individuals all diagnosed with a terminal disease as they are offered a second chance at life by a billionaire who disappeared from the face of the Earth years earlier. The large, compelling cast of characters are well-developed and so unique that they feel like real people. Among the characters, a few stand out amongst the group.

Charlie is so intriguing that he immediately stole my heart. The way that Author Woody Clark describes Charlie receiving his Parkinson's diagnosis is
so believable, it is as though the reader is sitting on the examination table
with Charlie, holding his shaking hand. Then there is Devlin Archer, that
sneaky degenerate! Oh, how I love to loathe you! There is so much mystery and swagger about this character that it proves difficult not to be enraptured by him. Each character sucks you into this world.

The world-building is spectacular. Author Clark does his due-diligence within his research in ensuring that each technological advancements feels real. Several things implemented in The Ouroboros: Time Cures All Ill’s are simply clever, like using “Solar Shades” to halt global warming. As the plot progresses, there is an anticipation of “what’s the next big thing,” as the reader follows each character through the lottery process. The payoff is exquisite. Not too much, not too little and the antagonist earns the comeuppance in the most satisfactory way.

The only critique is the romantic element. It feels a little forced but it’s understandable in the context of this story and it does not take away from the satisfaction this story provides. I would definitely recommend adding this book to your TBR. (ARC received from Reedsy)

[Harry Blanchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

First the positive: this is a fun and fast book. It moves along briskly and pulls you with the mystery questions it offers along the way. As long as you’re willing to overlook some, um, quirkiness. My best analogy is this is like a really good comic book story, and in fact, all the elements are there, the John Galt/Tony Stark richest man in the world figure who saves the world again and again. The fat Chinese evil millionaire Bond villain. The ruthless noir spy. The retired police officer who saves the day. It’s all here and it’s fun. But what it most resembles, and I’ll leave it to discover yourself as you read it - and you’ll realize this is a science fiction variation on ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ complete with lottery, Tuvaluan Oompa Loompas, a huge reward, and even an invitee named Charlie. There are few cringes and quirks, but, to avoid spoilers I’ll give the one that appears in the first few sentences: our rich inventor invents (implausibly) a pill to eliminate sleep. What does everyone do with their extra hours? Why be “more productive.” I guess the bosses of the world say thank you. Really, what a limited view of life: more time, more exploitation. There are more places where the single Spock eyebrow will go up. But, I don’t know, get on the train, raise your arms in the air, and take the comic book ride - and see where you’ll end up. Oh, in the version I had, a good editor is sorely needed to clear up multiple misspellings and malapropisms.

[Cam Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a version of this called Hadron's Run from an Early Reviewer's copy. This sounds like the same book.

There is a lot to like about this book. Specifically, there are a lot of really interesting ideas that bring up complex questions in our world today (What does it actually mean to live forever? What if we could suddenly resolve climate change? What do we miss (and gain) because we sleep?).
At times this reads like a SF thriller with a fun nod to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - but it certainly is not Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it's a nod....like two coworkers passing in a hallway....that's all. However, I'd say I wasn't completely rapt at all times, sometimes I was reading solely to find out the end. Some of the characters could use more dimensionality. It's like a short story that took on world-building qualities, started building the world, then left that and figured out how to end this book. It's almost as if this novel was part 2 in a trilogy.
I'm certainly not upset that read this (and not just because it's an Early Reviewer book), but I'm still on the fence as to whether I'd suggest this or specifically pass it along to a friend.
I'd give this 3 or 3.5 stars.

[Melon · Rating 2 out of 5]

* I received a free Advance Reader Copy of this book in exchange for this unbiased review. *

*The book I actually read was "Hadron's Run" which is apparently a revised/re-edited version of "The Ouroboros," but since there's no ISBN or Goodreads listing for HR, I have to list my review here. I'll move this review if HR gets listed.*

I hate when I don't like someone's book. It's a bummer, because I can tell they worked really hard on it. In fact, I'm sure that the earlier release of this book, titled "The Ouroboros: Time Cures All Ills" was reviewed and the author took advice and made changes, but still, I just didn't enjoy it. It felt a little too clichéd, the characters too archetypical and cartoonish, like I was reading a text-only comic book, with its exaggerated players on the stage. It wasn't terrible, but I didn't think it was very good, either--ultimately, my regard for a book is whether or not I feel in any way improved at its conclusion, whether I think my time was well spent. In this case, I have to say "no."

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hadrons Run is a futuristic sci-fi, that details a world in which a famous scientist created the cure to anything. Michel Bouchon, the scientist in question then holds a global lottery to pick 10 winners to received
this cure all.

Well written, crazy twists and turns, and some fascinating science!

This story really forces you to consider different perspectives in terms of power and money and even privacy. Is it fair for people to be able to pay billions for this cure? Do people have a right to others medical history? Is there more good that could be done with billions of dollars than helping 10 people?

[Rebecca C. Catalano · Rating 5 out of 5]

great story with some truth to it

A great read for non-physicists to get a small handle on the real life probability of near light speed travel and what could be done with it.
Kept my attention throughout.

[Lif Strand · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a different edition of this book, called Hadron's Run.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend.