Supersymmetry is set 15 years after the events of Superposition. The previous book was a rather well paced science fiction crime thriller which used modern quantum theory as a gimmick to justify extra-dimensional monsters and rapidly changing characters. The sequel doesn’t quite match up.
Supersymmetry sees the two twins, Alex and Sandra, all grown up and getting on with their lives. Sandra is (conveniently) a police officer and Alex is an (equally useful) physicist. Both discover quite early on that the nasty monster from the previous book has found a way back into the real world and is now causing havoc and horror. This is being blamed on terrorists, of course.
Meanwhile, brilliant-but-difficult genius Ryan Oronzi has somehow reproduced the Big Bang in his lab, creating his own pocket universe. In the world of Supersymmetry, this means he can manipulate the Higgs field in order to adjust our reality. Basically, he has magic super science powers and he’s using it to impress his peers. Unfortunately, it was these sort of shenanigans that caused all sorts of problems in the first novel, including unleashing horrible monsters on our reality.
In fact, a lot of the ideas from the last book are recycled here. Not only does someone get accused of murder (when it was, in fact, the monster’s fault), we also have a similar sort of story structure, with the perspective batting backwards and forwards throughout. This rather disrupts the pace and, once you realise that this is a remix of the first book, makes everything rather predictable.
This is firmly American-style science fiction which uses the trappings of physics to tell a rather unreal story. The characters are pretty wooden and it doesn’t help that two of the main protagonists are meant to be pretty much the same person. The result is that everyone feels the same; we’re told that Oronzi is difficult but it’s hard to buy into that at points.
As a fun thriller with some outlandish elements, Supersymmetry rather fun. As a sequel to the previous book, it’s somewhat disappointing. The clever, reality-twisting elements that made the first book seem so compelling are painfully predictable here. Still, it’s an entertaining romp.
SUPERSYMMETRY / AUTHOR: DAVID WALTON / PUBLISHER: PROMETHEUS BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 1ST
