5 zodiac

#5. Zodiac

#5. Zodiac, Neal Stephenson (1988)

Subtitled "An Eco-Thriller," this book is about people who spend all

their time diving into polluted bodies of water in an effort to get

samples of chemically tainted offal, with which they can then attempt

to bring down "The Man" (a.k.a. chemical companies). "Eco-Terrorists"

is, I believe, how modern parlance would style them. Think Tre Arrow,

but accomplishing more interesting things than blowing up a cement

truck and requesting political asylum for snatching a pair of bolt

cutters. More interesting perhaps, but not necessarily any less

obnoxious. Our protagonist is chemist-adventurer S.T., who crusades

against the dumping of toxic waste into the world's waterways, while

spending the other half of his time drunk and huffing nitrous oxide.

This is the kind of rambunctious asshole a reader can get behind.

This book - named not for the obvious astrological connotation, but

for the inflatable motorboats favored by the semi-outlaw

digging-in-toxic-shit types - works because Stephenson is, simply put,

a fantastic writer. He manages to inject enough wit, pace and style

into his story that the often ghastly or boring plotlines are more

than tolerable. Sharp, funny dialogue; strange and quixotic

characters; and lots of drugs and hubris and badass explosions: these

make Zodiac a very highly recommended read. And also (we hope) a