Isabella is supercollider whose mission is to discover that moment in time when the universe came into existence, the big bang. Costing millions of dollars, the brain child of ego-maniacal physicist Hazelius and set in the middle of nowhere in the American desert, the powers-that-be in Washington DC begin to wonder what the heck is going on out there as this massively expensive project is producing no results. So they send ex-CIA agent Wyman Ford to infiltrate and investigate the team of scientists and discover what is really going on with Isabella.
The locals would like to know what is going on with Isabella also. A small-time local preacher contacts a powerful televangelist with his concerns about the supercollider project. The televangelist latches onto the preacher's concerns and rouses his audience against the project, claiming that its true goal is to prove that God does not exist. Hoards of overwrought fundamentalist Christians rally in the desert, determined to bring Isabella down.
Meanwhile Ford discovers that the hang up with Isabella is that the supercollider is not peering into the past but is being taken over by a being that claims to be God. Knowing things that no one else could know, it has convinced some of the scientists that it is what it claims to be. But before the scientists and Ford can investigate further, the facility is overrun by the raging Christian mob.
Exciting at the beginning, this novel falls flat at the end. The plot twist at the end turns it from an fascinating look at the idea of God into just another mass-market thriller. I found the portrayal of the fundamentalists nasty and hateful. True, televangelists probably are a bunch of slimy worms. But I doubt the average Bible-believing Christian is willing to commit murder just because some televangelist flaps his big mouth. At least I hope so! Anyways, I just don't like stories whose main thrust is Christian bashing. And the plot twist was just a big let-down.
Review from Kirkus Reviews.
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