Just finished reading Footprints of God, the latest book from Greg Iles. I’ve written about Iles before — and I can’t think of an author I’d rather read right now.
Footprints of God is outstanding, and yet again proves that Iles defies any particular genre. This time it’s science (artificial intelligence, evolution) combined with religion (the nature of God, consciousness) and politics. A pet peeve of mine is whenever an author tries to stretch and gets easy details wrong… and authors writing about technology are often way out of their league. Not Iles — he’s careful not to go too far into the specifics of how the technology works, but what he writes is authentic. So rather than focus on the “that could never happen” distractions, you can get immersed in the story. (More to his credit: Mortal Fear, written in ’97, was equally clueful in writing about a killer using the Net to stalk his prey.)
And what a story Footprints of God is.
How does a guy who’s written historical fiction, spy thrillers, legal dramas, and serial killer thrillers, now turn around and do this?
And I like Iles’ style: he even gives you a list of authors who have influenced him. This will be a great reading wish list…
4 responses to “Footprints of God”
I'm also very impressed by Iles' body of work, and was surprised when I saw the paperback edition of “Footprints” and realized I had somehow missed the novel when it first came out last summer (I think I was experiencing my first major episode of weblog addiction).I started Footprints last week, it's Iles at his best and I would have devoured it by now, except that I keep sneaking moments with The Science of Good & Evil, Michael Shermer's take on the evolution of morality and ethics.It's a good thing I'm not still practicing law, as I probably never would have “taken” or “found” the time for such luxuries. Or, maybe I would have been wise enough once I hit 50 to realize they are necessities.
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