The scent of statism

out of step “regulars” may recall that I had doubts about Greg Bear’s latest sci-fi thriller, Quantico, when I first heard about it. Judging from its PR, I thought it smelled like “another typical defense of Leviathan.” Having enjoyed earlier Bear novels, I ordered it anyway.

Update: Quantico arrived last week, and my worst suspicions were correct. Before it even begins, the book drops a clue; it’s dedicated “to those who put themselves in harm’s way to save us from madness, greed, and folly.” By page 30, brave federal agents are preparing a Waco-like raid on the farm of a formulaic “anti-Semite and white supremacist.” (“It is no sin to sweep away the polluted,” says the farm's Patriarch, typically. “Death to the Jews, my friend.”) The feds are even aided by a consultant from Morris Dees’ elitist band of scaremongers, the Southern Poverty Law Center. He fingers the right-wing nut after spotting him through binoculars from a Forest Service fire tower. And the stalwart agents move in.

I doubt I’ll finish reading Quantico.