A review by bennought
The Cobweb by Neal Stephenson, J. Frederick George

4.0

A thoroughly fun, interesting, and cynical romp around the US; from the scientific labs of a midwest research university to Washington DC. The combination of Stephenson's prose and story-telling skills with George's historical knowledge results in an engrossing thriller that questions and criticizes (most explicitly) the federal bureaucracy and the western system of fairly blindly accepting foreign students to drive our university's research programs. While the characters and world clearly didn't have Stephenson's normally intensive and deft touch (this was a thriller set in modern America), they weren't any close to flat or boring, and both were interesting and deep enough to keep the reader invested in them. If you're a fan of Stephenson, don't expect something nearly as good as his own novels, but also don't eschew the book because it's been co-authored. If you like thrillers and espionage and such, this is definitely a book you should pick up and get into. Very much looking forward to reading the next book [b:Interface|828|Interface|Neal Stephenson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157396687s/828.jpg|107149] by these two authors.