The Cobweb : A Novel

Product Description From his triumphant debut with Snow Crash to the stunning success of his latest novel, Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson has quickly become the voice of a generation. In this now-classic political thriller, he and fellow author J. Frederick George tell a savagely witty, chillingly topical tale set in the tense moments of the Gulf War. When a foreign exchange student is found murdered at an Iowa University, Deputy Sheriff Clyde Banks finds that his investigation extends far beyond the small college town—all the way to the Middle East. Shady events at the school reveal that a powerful department is using federal grant money for highly dubious research. And what it’s producing is a very nasty bug. Navigating a plot that leads from his own backyard to Washington, D.C., to the Gulf, where his Army Reservist wife has been called to duty, Banks realizes he may be the only person who can stop the wholesale slaughtering of thousands of Americans. It’s a lesson in foreign policy he’ll never forget. From the Trade Paperback edition. About the Author Neal Stephenson is the author of The Baroque Trilogy (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System Of The World). His other books include Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, and Zodiac, as well as Cobweb and Interface, written in collaboration with Frederick George. He lives in Seattle.

clyde Banks Is A Deputy Sheriff In A Small Iowa Town Where Law Enforcement Consists Mostly Of Presiding At Car Wrecks. But Clyde's Life Is About To Get A Whole Lot More Complicated. His Wife Desiree's Army Reserve Unit Has Been Called Up To Respond To A Crisis In The Middle East, Leaving Clyde To Care For Their Five-month-old Daughter. And An Exchange Student Is Found In The Lake At Nearby Eastern Iowa University, Murdered. The Investigation Takes Him Deeper Into Shady Events At The University, Where A Powerful Department Uses Federal Grant Money For Highly Dubious Research. As Crazy As It Sounds, The Madman Desiree Has Just Shipped Out To Fight May Have His Own Factory Right Here In The Heartland. And What It's Producing Is A Very Nasty Bug. Suddenly It Looks Like Deputy Clyde Banks Is The Only Person Who Can Stop The Wholesale Slaughter Of Thousands Of Americans. But First He's Got To Warm A Baby Bottle....

publishers Weekly

several Months Prior To Saddam Hussein's Invasion Of Kuwait, When Iraq Was Still Seen As An American Ally Against Iran, Low-level Cia Analyst Betsy Vandeventer Steps Outside Her Bureaucratic Territory In A Meeting By Observing That The Iraqis Might Be Misusing $300 Million In U.s. Agricultural Aid To Develop Biological Weapons. Betsy's Theory Throws A Wrench In The Long-developed Foreign Policy Plans Of High-level Diplomat James Millikan, Who Deals With It By Creating Committees To Study The Problem, I.e., He Cobwebs It. Meanwhile, A Small-town Sheriff In Iowa Begins To Stumble Across The Possibility That Local Jordanian Students Are Actually Iraqis In Disguise, Sent By Saddam To Develop A Dangerous Germ-warfare Weapon Where His Enemies Would Least Expect Itat A Small Midwestern College. Another Bureaucrat, This Time An Academic Determined To Advance His Career By A Steady Flow Of Grant Funds And Foreign-exchange Students, Makes The Undercover Enterprise Easier. Bury (interface) Is At His Best Creating An Elegant, Sophisticated Portrait Of Washington. His Capital Is Not A Place Of Action And Suspense So Much As A More Realistic Place Of Intragovernmental Turf Wars And Bureaucratic Stalemate. (sept.)

While his wife, an army reservist, flies to a Mideast crisis, Clyde Banks, a deputy sheriff in a small Midwestern town uncovers a plot that might have connections reaching halfway across the globe