This book is more current than alternate — and there’s more than one shock for the reader!
The Hidden Truth, A Rambling Wreck, and The Brave & the Bold are all available at the author’s page:
Hans G. Schantz on Amazon
A few years ago, this book could easily have been dismissed as a conspiracy theorists fever-dream — yet today, it reads all too much like the headlines.
The Hidden Truth is an alternative history techno-thriller with a current events twist. It draws you in like a load stone and jolts you with a slow burn conspiracy that gets deeper with each page.
As the narrator recalls 9-11, in the opening pages, I was immediately caught off guard. He was describing my experience and yet… the details were wrong. In a sudden and delightful way, the pieces clicked together as I realized this isn’t my world — and yet it is. They’re struggling with the same issues of power and control, information and truth.
Hans G. Schantz’s hero, Pete, is a high school student and skilled debater, growing up in a rural community of hardworking folk — including his father, who bribes Pete to study physics over the summer. This, seemingly innocuous challenge, begins the slow reveal of an ever increasing conspiracy surrounding the discovery of electro-magnetism.
This is both the highlight and the challenge of the book. As one would expect from a techno-thriller, there’s a great deal of technology and science. I’m not a scientist — though I did work as a computer engineer many years ago. I can attest that the computer technologies the author describes are quite real. For example, a long distance WIFI connection using a Pringles can is a real thing. The Tor Network is as it is described in the book both in terms of it’s strength and weaknesses. The air gap method is an excellent security practice. This author knows his tech. I can only assume his science is equally on point.
While there were a few times where I grew glassy eyed through an explanation of electro-magnetic waves, Hans G. Schantz has a gift for making the complex understandable. Most of the science was completely outside of my wheel house — and yet, I always felt I understood the meat of the character’s learning and discoveries. It’s a pretty incredible testimony to the skill of the author that he could cover all that ground in a way I could track. The upshot of that isn’t just that I learned a bit about electro-magnetism, it’s that this book does such a nice job of easing the reader into complex material that it actually leaves you patting yourself on the back about how clever you are — and let’s be honest, who doesn’t like feeling really smart?
Schantz does an excellent job of evoking an Ayn Randian world of government straining to contain the self-made man, however, like Rand’s work, the story struggles a bit with monologuing. There are points where it feels more like the author is lecturing the reader than like we’re reading events in the story. And there are a few moments that really strain credibility for me. If you want details, see the spoiler section.
Warning: Potential Spoilers
At one point, the Pete and his friend, Amit, make a VOIP call using their makeshift cantenna WIFI setup routed over Tor. That strains credibility for me. While the author clearly has far more expertise in antennas than I, and I can suspend my disbelief to some degree — the idea that TOR combined with a distant WIFI signal didn’t wreck the phone call with lag hung me up. Since it’s such a crucial event, it gets discussed repeatedly and I found I struggled each time. Mostly, that’s a issue which hung me up personally, and that most folks probably would have glossed over.
Later in the story, both the father, the uncle, and the lawyer characters all coach the teenagers to insist on their right to an attorney and freedom to not speak to law enforcement to protect themselves — effectively: assert your rights. However, in every case where the characters have seen the conspirators acting, they move extra-legally, and their tools are deception and assassination. So, it’s terrible advice! It’s advice which would not work for anyone else in the story who is adversely impacted by the bad guys.
CONCLUSION
All that said, The Hidden Truth, is a highly enjoyable page turner. As I mentioned, Schantz has an incredible gift when it comes to making the complex understandable to a layman. If you’re a fan of thrillers and like a good conspiracy story, you can’t go wrong with this one. If you’re a lover of hard science, I think there’s also a lot here for you to love. I stayed up far too late, eager to see what would happen next — and I happily plunked down the money for A Rambling Wreck because I need to see the next bit of the conspiracy revealed!
Updates
I misspelled Schantz in the original posting and corrected it. Also, I thought I would add my thoughts on Book II and III of the series.
In my opinion, the second volume in Schantz’s conspiracy thriller series is the weakest of the bunch. Pete and Amit’s college adventures are entertaining and there is a lot of good tense thriller here. The on campus battles are straight out of today’s headlines, even though the book was written several years back.
I missed the layman’s science that I so enjoyed in the first book. Don’t get me wrong, this remains a science book and brainier folks then me will no doubt enjoy that aspect of it, but I frequently got lost in the technical explanations.
While that did take away some from my enjoyment of A Rambling Wreck, I still couldn’t shake the conspiracies and questions. Schantz’s thriller pulled me along rapidly into the ever deepening web of intrigue. I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. It’s an enjoyable read and I recommend it — especially for the scientifically minded reader.
In The Brave and the Bold we see new fronts opening up in the war against the Civic Circle. There’s a good bit more undercover, cloak and dagger, and the ever expanding world get’s bigger. I especially enjoyed the Chinese Triad and Catholic Church factions. We saw them in the previous book, but they really come alive in this volume. Schantz does a great job of building uneasy alliances and mixed motives to keep you on the edge of your seat.
I struggled less with the science in this book, though there was still a few moments of frustrating monologuing. It was a blazing fast read for me, and I was excited to pick it up and read each night.
While I hoped this book would bring the series in for a landing, Schantz says in the afterward there are more books to come. So, more thrills and electric excitement ahead.