The novel “Quantico” by Greg Bear was published for the first time in 2005.

A new terrible terrorist attack struck the USA and is one of the symptoms of an unprecedented wave ready to strike around the world. Some young FBI agents who are still attending the Academy in Quantico are involved in various investigations that may be connected. Their difficulties come from the fact that the FBI itself is under investigation.

The US government responded to the last terrorist attack by opening new law enforcement and intelligence agencies that should increase national security. While the FBI is under the threatens of being shut down, its agents try to follow various tracks to fight religious fundamentalism and also threats arising from the use of genetic engineering.

“Quantico” is considered part of the series called Quantum Logic, however it’s set before the other novels so you can read it as a totally independent story. In a series in which the science fiction elements were very important, this novel is primarily a thriller with elements of espionage.

This novel has a strong inspiration in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks though the references are to a following attack of that level. Another important historical element consists of the anthrax attacks of 2001, which began a week after the September 11 ones.

The American response to a new terrible attack and threats both external and internal is the creation of new agencies to increase security. This too is inspired by the reality and the creation of agencies such as Homeland Security and TSA as a result of the September 11 attacks.

In “Quantico”, those measures have become the center of power struggles at the political level that are very important in the novel. The various agencies have quickly developed a competition amonge them and the result is that instead of working to increase national security they’re often at war.

The FBI pays the highes price as it’s at risk of being shut down. The FBI agents who are the protagonists of “Quantico” are involved in various investigations but in some cases the problems also come from interference from other agencies. There are times when they really continue to investigate at their own risk because certain power struggles at political level affect them personally.

These elements of thriller, politics and espionage often overshadow the science fiction. When Greg Bear wrote “Quantico” he set it in a near future, which now is our present. There are some scientific and technological developments that may still be considered science fiction but could soon become reality. In the end, it’s the kind of story you hope is science fiction but you fear is not.

All these elements are potentially very interesting. Greg Bear is an author who has always put a lot of ideas in his novels but at the same time has also been developing his characters. All this is true in “Quantico” as well, the problem of this novel is that the story is extremely fragmented.

In “Quantico” there are a number of subplots that sometimes intertwine but often diverge. Greg Bear is supposed to have the experience to handle this type of novel but in this case I don’t think he succeeded. I found this novel chaotic and it hasn’t helped that several chapters are only one or two pages long.

“Quantico” is composed of a total of 74 chapters for a novel a little over 400 pages long and with each new chapter Greg Bear moves to another subplot. The consequence is that the jumps from one subplot to another are a lot and sometimes very quick. That makes it even more difficult to follow the various parts of a story already very complex.

“Quantico” is a novel I wanted to like for the interesting contents but the way it was developed at least partially spoiled its reading for me. If you don’t get dispirited by a chaotic narrative you might like it.