So, Robinson spends almost the entire first third of this book following the bad guy around from birth, who is admittedly an interesting character, and then mostly discards this character for the rest of the book. Did I mention that there really is no "hero"? Nope, once the bad guy melts into the background, the rest of this ponderous tome "focuses" on how sneaky submarines are, a preposterous pseudo-Academy Awards sequence, and the evils of Bill Clinton. The ending? Something big is blown up and there are absolutely no repercussions. What started out for me as an intersting delve into a genre of fiction I had little previous experience with turned into a surreal, delusional political rant I have no interest in returning to.