Book Review

Novel Takes Reader on
Y2K Roller Coaster Ride

By Kevin Rittner

Paranoia about destructive forces bringing world annihilation has peaked in the past several years.  Movies such as Armageddon and Deep Impact played on our fears of destruction through natural acts.  The Millennium Project, a new novel by Joseph Massucci, focuses on destruction brought about by our own hands.

The so-called “Y2K Problem,” the bane of anyone who owns a computer, has created a society constantly wondering if its technology is “Year 2000 compliant.”  As the world approaches the new Millennium, concern has grown that computers will think the year is 1900 instead of 2000.

Massucci upped the ante with a new problem.  What if someone took advantage of the chaos caused by the Y2K problem to leave the world as we know it in ruins?

The Millennium Project picks up with the heroes of Massucci's previous novel, Code: Alpha, as they rush to a remote mountain facility to protect a top-secret, United States satellite project.  But other forces are determined to stop them and are using the Millennium bug to do so. A race for time erupts between the U.S. military and the forces of evil.  If the heroes succeed, they save the world.  If they fail, the world’s financial stability will be shattered, and countless other systems will be left vulnerable.

This new technothriller exploits Millennium fears and, unlike other novels of its genre, takes readers on a ride made even more compelling by the idea that it's events could really happen.  All of the technology has actually been either proposed or created.  This factual foundation gives the novel a chilling insight into the possible future.

Although there are some lulls, this adventure is high-paced.  At times the dialog sounds less like a book and more like a film script, to which it would adapt well.

Despite this, The Millennium Project surges forward, developing interesting twists and turns along the way.  Massucci uses Clancy-esque firefights and technology based in both fact and fiction for a refreshing sense of realism.  This a good read, with plenty of a bang for your Millennium buck.  n