Zodiac - Rambling Readers

Paperback, 283 pages

English language

Published Nov. 11, 1988 by Atlantic Monthly Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-87113-181-2
OCLC Number:: 17260967

(6 reviews)

Sangamon Taylor's a New Age Sam Spade who sports a wet suit instead of a trench coat and prefers Jolt from the can to Scotch on the rocks. He knows about chemical sludge the way he knows about evil -- all too intimately. And the toxic trail he follows leads to some high and foul places. Before long Taylor's house is bombed, his every move followed, he's adopted by reservation Indians, moves onto the FBI's most wanted list, makes up with his girlfriend, and plays a starring role in the near-assassination of a presidential candidate. Closing the case with the aid of his burnout roomate, his tofu-eating comrades, three major networks, and a range of unconventional weaponry, Sangamon Taylor pulls off the most startling caper in Boston Harbor since the Tea Party. As he navigates this ecological thriller with hardboiled wit and the biggest outboard motor he can get his …

Sangamon Taylor's a New Age Sam Spade who sports a wet suit instead of a trench coat and prefers Jolt from the can to Scotch on the rocks. He knows about chemical sludge the way he knows about evil -- all too intimately. And the toxic trail he follows leads to some high and foul places. Before long Taylor's house is bombed, his every move followed, he's adopted by reservation Indians, moves onto the FBI's most wanted list, makes up with his girlfriend, and plays a starring role in the near-assassination of a presidential candidate. Closing the case with the aid of his burnout roomate, his tofu-eating comrades, three major networks, and a range of unconventional weaponry, Sangamon Taylor pulls off the most startling caper in Boston Harbor since the Tea Party. As he navigates this ecological thriller with hardboiled wit and the biggest outboard motor he can get his hands on, Taylor reveals himself as one of the last of the white-hatted good guys in a very toxic world.

13 editions

Arbieroo reviewed Zodiac by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Zodiac' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Zodiac is described as an eco-thriller, which about sums it up, actually! It certainly is a thriller - I read all 290 or so pages in one (long) night, gripped from the outset. The hero of the story is a chemist working for GEE, a direct action environmental organisation, in its Boston branch. He's out to get the companies dumping toxic waste into the harbour and the rivers and canals that feed into it. He has three company logos on the bows of his inflatable raft with its over-size outboard motor, capable of making it fly. None of those companies is trading anymore. Now he's gunning for his fourth, but the opposition start gunning for him, literally, and some of that opposition are criminal Families not criminal Corporations.

The man on a crusade has a big mystery, more enemies than he can figure out reasons for, a neglected girl-friend, a …

Zodiac is described as an eco-thriller, which about sums it up, actually! It certainly is a thriller - I read all 290 or so pages in one (long) night, gripped from the outset. The hero of the story is a chemist working for GEE, a direct action environmental organisation, in its Boston branch. He's out to get the companies dumping toxic waste into the harbour and the rivers and canals that feed into it. He has three company logos on the bows of his inflatable raft with its over-size outboard motor, capable of making it fly. None of those companies is trading anymore. Now he's gunning for his fourth, but the opposition start gunning for him, literally, and some of that opposition are criminal Families not criminal Corporations.

The man on a crusade has a big mystery, more enemies than he can figure out reasons for, a neglected girl-friend, a freak-show of friends, a knowledge of chemistry, his wits and a Zodiac boat. This turns out to be plenty to drive this taught, pacy, funny and occassionally unpredictable novel forward but at the end one question is left unaswered: what does our non-violent eco-warrior want more? To protect the aquatic eco-system or bash big corporations?