The Green Trap

I've been reading some pretty thick books lately, and I really felt as if I needed an easy read. I also needed a good read. The Green Trap, by Ben Bova, was an easy read but not a good read.

Bova reminds me a lot of Michael Chrichton. He has a background in science and uses science in some way in his books, some of which are science-fiction while others, like this one, are more action/adventure. In The Green Trap, part of the plot surrounds a plan to easily and efficiently create hydrogen for fuel.

The plot surrounds Paul Cochrane, who goes to visit his brother only to discover that he had been murdered. His brother had created the mechanism that created hydrogen, and it quickly appears as if there are many people that would like to get their hands on that and willing to go to extremes, like paying millions of dollars or killing. Cochrane meets Elena Sandoval, who at first is one of the people trying to get the info but then later becomes romantically involved with Cochrane and works with him to find the info so it doesn't get into the hands of the wrong people. These wrong people then pursue Cochrane and Sandoval with plenty of action and a few twists.

Before I critique the book, allow me to point out that this book has an average of two stars on Amazon.com. That almost never happens. Usually there is some contingent of people that love a book no matter how bad it is. As a result, most books fall between 3 stars and 4.5 stars. Two stars? Almost unheard of.

As far as the bad stuff is concerned, where do I start? The characters, first of all, are stereotyped and lifeless. The main character, Paul Cochrane, has absolutely no depth whatsoever. His "relationship" with Sandoval is so poorly written that it actually made me wince as I read the lovey-dovey stuff. This is an action/adventure "thriller," so plot tends to carry more weight than character...but the plot here fares no better than the characters. There's huge holes, events that happen for no reason whatsoever, and painful predictability. There's some mild excitement and one twist right at the end that I really enjoyed. But that's it. Just enough for me to give it some stars.

Reading this book made me yearn for the Left Behind books. I think that sums it up pretty well.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars