Rent Final Theory

Synopsis

David Swift is a middle aged, divorced father teaching physics at Columbia University. When the novel opens, he’s called to the hospital to comfort his dying mentor—a renowned scientist suffering from horrifying wounds. David is shocked when the old man dies after wheezing “Einheitlichen Feldtheorie.” The Destroyer of Worlds. The Theory of Everything. It was Einstein’s lifetime quest to pin down a unified set of equations that incorporated both relativity and quantum mechanics, combining the physics of stars with the laws of atoms. He died without achieving this goal. Or did he?

In the next two hours after hearing these words, David’s ex-wife and child are threatened, he’s attacked by a Russian assassin, arrested by the FBI, and nearly killed three times. Someone is clearly trying to get their hands on the supposedly failed theory. But why? And how is it possible that theory actually exists?

Because of this information he’s inherited against his will, David is thrown into a storm of politics and science he can hardly sort out—he’s running too fast for his life. As David is chased down the east coast, he’ll team up with his old girlfriend (who happens to be gorgeous, brilliant, and living in Einstein’s old Princeton house), another eccentric disciple of Einstein, and an autistic teenager addicted to video games. On the run together, they’ll have to work out what Einstein’s theories could possibly be worth to the powers desperate for it—and if the world is even ready for their consequences.

Seamlessly weaving contemporary issues of war, terrorism, science, and history, Mark Alpert's thriller makes for both a compelling listen and a statement about our current political climate.

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