The Labyrinth Key - Softcover

Hendrix, Howard V.

3.21

112 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345455967 ISBN 13: 9780345455963

Publisher: Del Rey, 2004

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In a secret war waged in worlds both virtual and real, the fates of nations depend on the definitive weapon. And that weapon is knowledge—knowledge to die for. . . .

The race is heating up between the U.S. and China to develop a quantum computer with infinite capabilities to crack any enemy’s codes, yet keep secure its own secrets. The government that achieves this goal will win a crucial prize. No other computer system will be safe from the reach of this master machine.

Dr. Jaron Kwok was working for the U.S. government to build such a computer. But in a posh hotel in Hong Kong, a Chinese policewoman sifts through the bizarre, ashlike remains of what’s left of the doctor. With the clock ticking, alliances will be forged—and there are those who will stop at nothing to discover what the doctor knew. As the search for answers intensifies, it becomes chillingly clear that the quantum computer both sides so desperately want will be more powerful, more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined.

For in the twenty-first century, machines become gods, gods become machines, and the once-impossible now lies within reach. The key to unlimited knowledge will create the ultimate weapon of mass destruction—or humanity’s last chance to save itself. . . .

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Review:

The new millennium has brought a flood of exciting thrillers about interrelated secrets: cryptic codes, religious mysteries, clandestine conspiracies, and secret histories. These include Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code; Jane Jensen's Dante's Equation; and Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. To their impressive ranks add Howard Hendrix's idea-packed novel The Labyrinth Key, which explores the relationships between cryptography and the Inquisition, cybertech and the Kabbalah, and quantum physics and life after death.

Brilliant researcher Jaron Kwok is working to develop a quantum computer, which could crack any cryptographic code, while creating code uncrackable by all other computers. Whoever invents the first quantum computer will permanently win the twenty-first-century Cold War between China and the U.S. Then Kwok, an American, disappears from his Hong Kong hotel room, leaving behind only ashes and melted computer equipment. Has Kwok been killed, or kidnapped? Or has he succeeded in creating the quantum computer, and disappeared with it into another universe? The Cold War heats up as another brilliant American researcher, Benjamin Cho, and a relentless Chinese police detective, Marilyn Lu, race to solve the mystery, though its solution may destroy not only the world, but the universe--and, perhaps, an infinitude of alternative universes. --Cynthia Ward

From the Back Cover:

"Hendrix's sentences have punch, his plots have points, and he knows his science--what more can one ask of cutting edge science fiction?"
-Gregory Benford, physicist and Nebula Award-winning author of Timescape

"One of the very best novelists writing in science fiction today."
–Kim Stanley Robinson, Hugo and Nebula award-winning author of The Years of Rice and Salt

"Stephen Hawking meets Tom Clancy! Quantum physics and international intrigue combine in the best novel yet by the finest new SF writer of the last decade. Howard V. Hendrix's THE LABYRINTH KEY is the book everyone will be talking about this year, not just in science-fiction circles, but also in the halls of power in Washington."
–Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Hominids

"With the hip fecundity of Neal Stephenson, the speculative acuity of John Brunner, and the suspense-building audacity of John LeCarre, Howard Hendrix fashions a science-fiction thriller that's truly twenty-first-century in its tone, subject matter and style. Blending metaphysics with quantum physics, THE LABYRINTH KEY explores a possible future fusion of magic and science that is truly revolutionary. Hopping from exotic real-world locales to even more outr� virtualities, this tale will keep the reader guessing till its climax.”
–Paul DiFilippo, author of Fuzzy Dice and A Mouthful of Tongues

"If Robert Ludlum or Eric Ambler had written a science fiction novel, then it might have resembled THE LABYRINTH KEY. An intriguing thriller, it's also first-rate speculation: a masterful blend of genres. If you searching for thought-provoking novel, this shouldn't be missed."
–Alan Steele, Hugo Award-winning author of Chronospace

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