Product Description

Dr Edward Kitchener, is a brilliant researcher into quantum cosmology for the Event Horizon conglomerate, but no good to anybody now, lying dead with his lungs spread out on either side of his open chest. The security system at Launde Abbey was premier-grade, yet a mercenary could still have got through, and plenty of people anxious to stop Kitchener's work would pay the killer's fee. But why would a professional waste time in ritually slaughtering the target? Event Horizon needs to know fast, so Greg Mandel, psi-boosted ex-private eye, is enticed out of retirement to launch himself on a convoluted trail involving confrontation with a past which - according to Kitchener's theories - might never have happened. 'I cannot recommend this too highly' - "Ian Mcdonald". 'Peter Hamilton manages a very neat trick, combining deft scientific and social speculation with the page-turning appeal of the best thrillers' - "Tad Williams".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #850094 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05
• Format: Unabridged
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 9999 pages

From Library Journal
This second volume in British author Hamilton's cyberthriller trilogy (Mindstar Rising, LJ 6/15/96) depicts a tropical England after global warming. Greg Mandel has a bioware endocrine-gland implant that triggers his empathic intuition, handy when solving crimes. Here he must investigate the brutal death of professor Edward Kitchener, who had been researching quantum cosmology for the Event Horizon conglomerate. In this tightly wrought tale of murder, Hamilton integrates hard sf and mystery while tackling ecological and political issues. Highly recommended for most sf collections.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
A second workout for Greg Mandel, veteran of the Mindstar Battalion (Mindstar Rising, 1996), whose implanted gland gives him the psi powers of empathy and intuition in a medium-future England beset by climatic warming and politico-economic chaos. This time, irreverent, bawdy old genius physicist Edward Kitchener has been murdered and horribly mutilated at Launde Abbey, where he ran a colloquium for budding physics whizzes, invented new drugs, researched wormholes, and generally raised hell. Julia Evans of Event Horizon, which funded Kitchener, requests Greg's input after the police confess themselves baffled: None of the six young resident physicists appear to be guilty, nor is it possible for an outsider to have come and gone undetected. Greg empathically interviews the six, and, sure enough, they're all innocent. So Greg's wife, Eleanor, volunteers to test a Kitchener drug that should enable her to view the past. She witnesses diffident genius Nicholas Beswick do the grisly deed, but Beswick denies involvement, as Greg's inquiries seem to confirm. What's going on? Well, psychiatrist James MacLennan has discovered how to project one personality on top of another--and one of his patients is convicted psychokiller Liam Bursken. The intriguing backdrop and solid characters enliven what is otherwise an overlong, overstuffed, and not particularly believable investigation. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
"Peter Hamilton manages a very neat trick, combining deft scientific and social speculation with page-turning appeal of the best thrillers." --Tad Williams

"Mindstar Rising is more than a taut, suspenseful story--it's intellectually exciting as well, its future world full of surprises but all too plausible, its people made strange to us by this environment yet still disturbingly familiar." --Poul Anderson
-- Review

Customer Reviews

Better than Mindstar rising
Well, here we have the sequel to Mindstar Rising. It has many of the same characters, bringing some old favorites back for a second book.
Overall, this book is 3 stars. Some elements were better than others, obviously. The characters were good, though Eleanor still seems to have no personallity whatsoever. The plot was inplausible, at best, and hard to believe. The writing style was still very interesting, and is, in fact, the only reason that I finished this book at all.
A murder mystery set in future England, with not one but several odd twists. Not good twists really, nor believable, but not too farfetched, if you have a very, very open mind. (I think I'll leave it at that.)
One of the best things about this book though was the fact that the author obviously took some pains to follow semi-known physics, and tried not to bend the laws of the universe too far. Also, even though these things play a major part in the story, the aren't the dominating feature. So, for those of you not interested in theoretical quantum physics, or cosmology, this book won't bore you to tears.
All in all, it flowed (to me at least) better than Mindstar Rising, even if the storyline was a little thin in several places.
I also found the discription of the inside of an insane seriel killer's mind quite interesting; it really makes you wonder.
So, if you liked the first book, chances are that this one will appeal to you as well.

An excellent sequel to Mindstar Rising.
Some years after the events portrayed in Mindstar Rising, Greg Mandell finds himself being called in to help Julia Evans solve the mystery of the murder of a scientist who was doing some work for her company - Things start to get 'interesting' very quickly - in the sense of the Chinese Curse, that is.

Again set in the Rutland area of England, Greg has now married the girl he met in the first book & that adds its own complications (read the book to find out more on that); with psychic abilities also playing a large part in this book, including a very nice twist to 'solving' the murder.

These books always get me thinking, the events are set in the near future, with environmental & political upheavals which are all too possible. A very good read.

If you haven't read 'Mindstar Rising'(the first book), don't worry - this book stands on its own, but you will benefit if you read 'Mindstar' first.

Better still, read the trilogy, you won't regret it.

Second Book of a Very Good Trilogy
The three books in Peter F. Hamilton's Greg Mandel series were written before his "Night's Dawn" series. I'm not certain of this, but they seem to occur in the same universe as that series, just at a MUCH earlier time. Regardless, this series is excellent. What's especially nice, is that, for the most part, each of these books stands alone. You still need to read them in order, but none of them ends in a cliff-hanger requiring your reading of the next. Unfortunately, each of these books has a few fairly explicit sexual situations described in them. The amount of sex increases as you move from book to book. If it weren't for that, I'd recommend these books for everyone.

"Mindstar Rising" is the first book in the series. It's a very good, fast-paced sci-fi action thriller. The book introduces all the important characters and the "universe" used throughout the series. For the most part, the character development is good. I have a few qualms about a character or two suddenly being more capable than they are during the majority of the book, but that's mostly inconsequential. The plot, too, is very good. However, the transition between the first, introductory, situation in the book and the primary situation could have been worked better: it seems contrived. But, I might be seeing that solely because I've read the book four times now.

"A Quantum Murder" is the second book in the series. This book takes place about three years after "Mindstar Rising." Instead of being the science-fiction action thriller that the first book is, it's more of a science fiction mystery. It's a close call, but I think this book is slightly better than "Mindstar Rising." Once again, there's good character development, but this time, the plot is somewhat more tightly put together. I've only got a couple of quibbles: first, in one scene, Mandel's psi powers inexplicably include actual telepathy instead of just the empathy described in "Mindstar Rising." And, second, after the characters find out who the murderer is, instead of sending the police out immediately, they close up shop for the night and say they'll do it in the morning. Other than that, this is an excellent book which shows the origins of a lot of the technology in the "Night's Dawn" series.

"The Nano Flower" is the third, and final, book in the series. The various dates specified in the book don't quite agree, but, in general, it seems to takes place about 16 years after "A Quantum Murder." Like "Mindstar Rising," it's a sci-fi action thriller. Like "A Quantum Murder," it further develops technologies that Hamilton uses in his "Night's Dawn" series. Also, as in "A Quantum Murder," Mandel's psi-powers have once again expanded. Of the three books, this is probably the best. It's a hard comparison to make since the second book is more of a mystery and this book more of an action-thriller. But, in general, I'd say there's an incremental improvement in these books as you move through the series (all of them are very good, though).