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Zig Zag: A Novel

Author: Jose Carlos Somoza
Publisher: HarperCollins
Category: Book

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Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

2 reviews
Sales Rank: 143776

Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 496
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1

ISBN: 0061193739
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780061193736
ASIN: 0061193739

Publication Date: August 1, 2008 (In 5 Days)
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New. Expected UK delivery in 7-10 business days

Also Available In:

•	Hardcover - Zig Zag

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Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars

Sad Somoza January 13, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This was an eargerly awaited translation. The first two were tremendously imaginative uses of form (Athenian Murders) and content (Art of Murder); Both transcending the Thriller model.
Zig Zag is profoundly dissapointing. Somoza has seemingly abandoned his imaginative transformation of the thriller genre and dived headlong into the pool of thriller mediocracy. This is cliched American writing. After almost every paragraph, what the proponent is REALLY thinking is italasised for us bufoons. There is some physics involved in the plot, which is slightly interesting but it reads like any other modern page turner found on the shelves. Sadly I think the author has gone for the lolly as I think it will sell better than the others. I will not be one to continue to read his work however.

4 out of 5 stars

Jose Carlos Somoza - Zig Zag May 1, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

In his first two novels, Jose Carlos Somoza clearly displayed a flair for matters philosophical. The first translation, The Athenian Murders, had a conceptual background in Plato's theory of the forms; the second, The Art of Murder, had a basis in philosophical aspects of art. This third translation, thus far only available in the US (when will they start translating more of these? A mere three in the space of about 6 years is just silly, considering the fact that the first won the Gold Dagger, and the general popularity of this kind of foreign fiction lately) has some basis in the philosophy and ethics of physics, of what the furthering of our knowledge about how the world (specifically, time) works, and what this knowledge could mean for us. That is not to warn readers off: this (and the previous) is NOT a heavy book, and Somoza wears his philosophy lightly indeed.

This novel concerns a brilliant young physicist, Elisa. Part way through her study at a Madrid university, she is hand-selected as part of a unique team that will conduct secret, pioneering work based in the area of string theory, work that has implications for the nature of time, work that means it may be possible to witness events of the past in the present. (Don't ask me how; I couldn't explain. Needles to say, Somoza explains this speculatively part of his fiction suitably well so that it's entirely convincing. To a lay person, anyway!) To this end, Elisa and a team of similarly able people are shipped to an island to carry out the research, funded by a shady organisation known as the Eagle Group. However, something goes disastrously amiss, and the result of their experimentations unleashes something more frightening than any of them could ever have imagined. Something that will haunt and terrify them for almost a decade, until it becomes necessary for Elisa and those who remain to find out the exact truth of what went on on the island, and how to put a stop to the evil forces that trail them.

This is a strange novel to categorise. Predominantly a thriller, it also has aspects of science fiction and horror. I could maybe say it's similar to a Michael Crichton/Stephen King hybrid, if I had read anything by Michael Crichton. But I get the impression that it is.

And a fine thriller it is. It's written seamlessly, and the way Somoza cuts back and forward in time through his story (he begins in the future, 2015, as events from the pas catch up with Elisa, and then he goes back to 2005, and explains those events, eventually come catching up with himself again) serves the plot excellently, serving the novel up in rather pleasing, clear-cut sections, and keeping the whole thing fresh. It is - mostly - very well written, also. There are one or two prose glitches, though, in the form of a slight reliance on stereotyped phrases and expressions and such, though this was not at all a problem in previous novels, so I *suspect* it may be down to the translator here. Though who knows. Irrespective of that, his prose has an effortless flow that carries the story through very nicely. It is also clear enough for him to be able to convey quite complicated, physics-grounded theory and ideas, understandably.

Character-development is satisfactory, too, although it should be noted that only his protagonist Elisa and her friend Victor actually stand out. Fully developed, and strangely believable (given the outlandish situation), but certain of the other characters could certainly do with a bit of fleshing out. You'd imagine it might be pretty hard not to achieve that in a 500 page novel, but that just shows how much plot Somoza crams in. And though it's 500 pages those are very quick pages indeed. It moves along at a fair clip, and has all the turns you would expect from a thriller.

Plot-based though it largely is, Somoza does provide a goodly helping of philosophical and ethical food for thought along the way (though not, it is imperative to note, too overtly; it's there for you to take it or leave it as you wish), which elevates this above many books of its kind, certainly in terms of its intelligence (a quality Somoza seems to have in spades, even without considering the varied intellectual topics his books have so far covered).

Overall, Zig-Zag is a fine thriller, and a fine entertainment. I enjoyed it a lot. Of the three translations so far, it probably does stand the lowest (though mostly in terms of writing quality, though as I mention this may partly be down to aspects of translation), but considering the quality of the other two, that is not a bad thing. And, as with those other two books, Somoza has a nice surprise punch at the end which helps cap the thrilling journey off very nicely indeed.