Murder in the Solid State

by Wil McCarthy

Murder in the Solid State, the new McCarthy novel, is a hard-science, page-turning suspense novel of one man's battle to save his life, career and country in twenty-first century America. David Sanger is an ambitious young physicist. He is about to present a groundbreaking paper on nanotechnology at a conference in Baltimore. At the opening cocktail party, an elderly scientist, the grand old man of nanotechnology himself, Otto Vandegroot, takes offense at a sly insult and draws his hi-tech collapsible sword. Someone hands David a sword, which he doesn't know how to use, but he wins using street-fighting skills, shaming the older man in public.
At the crack of dawn the next morning David is wakened by the police. Vandegroot's body has been found stabbed with the sword David discarded after the fight. And David, who escapes incarceration only with the help of a loyal friend (and lawyer), finds himself in such big trouble that he has to disappear and go underground to save his life - because the political implications of David's nanotech discovery are so large that some people are willing to kill to suppress it.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Mystery

252 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Science fiction author and Chief Technology Officer for Galileo Shipyards


Engineer/Novelist/Journalist/Entrepreneur Wil McCarthy is a former contributing editor for WIRED magazine and science columnist for the SyFy channel (previously SciFi channel), where his popular "Lab Notes" column ran from 1999 through 2009. A lifetime member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, he has been nominated for the Nebula, Locus, Seiun, AnLab, Colorado Book, Theodore Sturgeon and Philip K. Dick awards, and contributed to projects that won a Webbie, an Eppie, a Game Developers' Choice Award, and a General Excellence National Magazine Award. In addition, his imaginary world of "P2", from the novel LOST IN TRANSMISSION, was rated one of the 10 best science fiction planets of all time by Discover magazine. His short fiction has graced the pages of magazines like Analog, Asimov's, WIRED, and SF Age, and his novels include the New York Times Notable BLOOM, Amazon.com "Best of Y2K" THE COLLAPSIUM (a national bestseller) and, most recently, TO CRUSH THE MOON. He has also written for TV, appeared on The History Channel and The Science Channel, and published nonfiction in half a dozen magazines, including WIRED, Discover, GQ, Popular Mechanics, IEEE Spectrum, and the Journal of Applied Polymer Science. Previously a flight controller for Lockheed Martin Space Launch Systems and later an engineering manager for Omnitech Robotics, McCarthy is now the president and Chief Technology Officer of RavenBrick LLC in Denver, CO, a developer of smart window technologies. He lives in Colorado with his family

Reviews

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find Will McCarty’s writing to be entertaining for the same reason I find Ben Bova’s writing to be enjoyable, both combine interesting science fact and speculation with good stories. McCarty blends an academic duel of one-upmanship at a conference of physicists, chemists, and nanotechnologists with a murder mystery. The catty conversations between rival positions soon turn into an unexpected duel. Then, the duel turned ugly, ugly enough that when one of the academicians is killed, the other is the primary suspect.

We’ve all probably seen those scenes in comedy movies where a nerdy professor wakes up in a shockingly compromising position with an unexpected bed partner. Murder in the Solid State has protagonist David Sanger in a much more uncomfortable position when he is awakened by law enforcement authorities. Indeed, Murder in the Solid State seems to be just another “Where do I turn?” thriller. Does Sanger trust the FBI, his major professor, or a school colleague? But it is much more than that. The underlying issue and motive behind the murder(s) is even more contemporary than it was when it was written (in the ‘90s).

The underlying issue is patent law. The underlying message is how patent law chokes experimentation and emerging technology (interestingly enough, an economics book which I recently finished called Learning by Doing makes exactly the same point). The novel pictures a “scientist” acting like Thomas Alva Edison, claiming patents on everything—whether he discovered it or not—and, as a rule, getting rich off other people’s efforts while stifling further research. Even before “patent trolls” became the problem it is today, McCarty was extrapolating what he had seen into a very authentic near future (today).

But that’s not all! What is a “Where do I turn?” thriller without an international dimension? And yes, long before foreign countries were hacking government communications and databases, McCarty realized that certain foreign interests would definitely infiltrate in one form or another. So, there is yet another layer to the “cake.” (At least that’s not “yellow cake” as in so many modern thrillers!)

To Sanger, the solution to the problem seems obvious once the stress of his situation prompts him. The solution proved to have a delicious irony. Perhaps, it too is a warning about the potential and even potential dangers of nanotechnology. All I can say is that it was absolutely riveting.

[Tim Hicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

In logging this book I saw that I had read it before. That I didn't remember it is a hint.

First off, this is a 1996 book, probably written in 1995 -- before Netscape 1.0 appeared. From our point of view it's amusing to see, amid this advanced nanotechnology, a big deal being made of an 800Khz computer.

Anyway, we start off in traditional whodunit form, with a few futuristic items for decoration. Our hero is into advanced applied science, but it hasn't mattered much yet. Then the bodies start piling up, and each what-is-going-ON-here moment is topped. That, unfortunately, is the best part of the book. The remaining 2/3 is blah, and frankly not what you'd expect from an experienced writer. Well, he would have been under 3- when he wrote this. And I know that some of his later work is better written.

I would like to see more of Bowser, but that won't be happening. He was a fun character, but probably unsustainable in the long run anyway. David is a bit of a wuss for quite a while, but changes in a way that is just believable enough -- except for one extremely implausible escape from Bad Guys. He ends up in unlikely places, and at one important juncture meets someone who turns out to be implausibly helpful for a random stranger.

Read this with loosened expectations, and you'll probably enjoy it. Then set the bar higher for McCarthy's later work, which will clear it easily.

[Sadie bop pop · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not really my vibe and it was kind of hard to understand. I only stuck with it because there was the thriller aspect of it and I wanted to know who killed everyone.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readability 6. Rating 6. Date estimated. I am writing this review many months after the fact, and I am reminded why I need to write them as I finish the book. Murder is set in the relatively near future, and a scientist is framed for a murder that he did not commit. The book was certainly entertaining, and the blunt danger in which the protagonist, David Sanger, finds himself is quite compelling (his friends die trying to help him). But other than a few technological novelties that I recall, the story has not stayed with me.

[Eddie Novak · Rating 5 out of 5]

9.5/10

[John Loyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Sanger is ready to do two presentations at the AMFRI conference when he is assaulted by Big Otto who provokes a fight between the two. David goes to his room for the rest of the night and wakes up to police taking him in for questioning about Otto's murder that happened shortly after their confrontation. David misses his presentations, when he gets back home finds that his lab has been destroyed, including the computers and backups. Henry Chong, his adviser, tells him that his offsite backup had disappeared from his house. When he goes to sleep that night three intruders dressed as police barge into his home trying to frame him for the murder of Henry Chong. Escaping bare footed into the street he turns to his friend Bowser Jones. Bowser seems to have been preparing for this moment for years. Now David has to go into hiding, find Marian before the bad guys harm her, and then figure out the bigger picture.

The sniffer, patented by Big Otto, allows law enforcement to crack down on all sorts of weapons, bombs, drugs and whatever substance deemed dangerous this week. The prevalence of these detectors has eliminated guns, no mention of NRA, hunting, etc. just the inference that society has reacted to crime by making all these things illegal. The Gray party makes anti-crime the basis of its platform. Somehow pure scientist, not a political bone in his body, David has come to the attention of these guys.

The book was lightning quick, a fun read, a good mystery, David pushed as far down as possible before being able to claw his way back. There were some loose ends because everything was from David's perspective. Henry Chong being a Chinese spy had no follow up. We learned the break in of David's lab was being pinned on Dov Jacobs. Once we knew it wasn't Dov, and presumably more conspiracy, no more mention of it. That stuff is omissions, the story we read was great and exciting. I've really enjoyed McCarthy's stories in Analog. Same with this one, very readable, exciting, fun and likable characters.