Book Review: A Disruptive Invention

Author:  Peter W. Shackle

Genre:  Sci/fi – Thriller

Publisher: Amazon.com

Rating: 4 reading glasses

For decades, scientists have been hitting dead ends trying to discover the holy grail of physics; the elusive fifth force, a mysterious energy which causes an electric current to repel gravity. 

Every scientist who has tried hunting the force has failed, that’s until electrical engineer John Sykes accidently discovers the force in his home lab while trying to create a fancy metal detector.

Needing someone in his field to confirm his claim, John uses the opportunity to invite work colleague and secret crush, Judy Chen over to his flat for a practical demonstration of the anti-gravity coils. Unfortunately for John, the sexy Chinese scientist he has been ogling since college insists on inviting Professor Tony Shepard who ran their physics lab in college to the ‘date’.  John relents, and on that fateful day, his two friends confirm the discovery of the fifth force.

After practical demonstrations of the anitcoil technology, the trio manage to convince venture capitalists to invest millions of dollars into their new company Electrolev.  They quit their day jobs, rent a  warehouse building in California, hire more staff and delve into more advanced research which leads to the construction of a completely silent, wingless, rotor less saucer shaped vehicle called a LeviStar capable of near space flight. When they test the LeviStar outdoors for the first time and the Californian public glimpses it, the media reports it as a UFO sighting. The story takes a dramatic turn when these newspaper reports raise the eyebrows of industrial spies.

Since LeviStars would make aircraft carriers, satellite companies, space shuttles, helicopters and airplanes obsolete, not to mention make its owners billionaires, its civilization shattering implications attracts the attention of the Russian government who has been covertly watching the development of the ‘silent helicopter’.  They send ruthless secret agents to infiltrate the Eloctrolev headquarters to steal as much information about the technology as possible, they successfully complete their mission but not without killing several Electrolev employees in the process.

Suspecting a foreign government could be behind these crimes, and fearing they could use LeviStars against America, the US military steps in and moves the Electrolev team to the Area 51 secret air force base, and invests $1billion in a desperate attempt to develop an advanced prototype before the unknown foreign government beats them to it.

ADI has some complicated science jargon which is confusing if you’re not a physics nerd. And despite many gun wielding police, secret agents and military personnel, about four shots are fired in the entire story making the shootouts disappointing.  However, once the LeviStar conducts its maiden space flight you’ll fly through the book anxious to discover if the craft crashes or stalls in space forever.

 Moreover, the love triangle between Judy, Tony and John becomes painful when Judy is forced to choose between the two. What makes ADI unique from traditional UFO stories is that it’s probably the only flying saucer tale not involving little green aliens, making it an original sci-fi classic.