Review - Trinity Sol 3
TL;DR
Trinity: Sol 3 is a fast-paced novella that, thanks to its writing style, feels like watching an action film. With NSA and CIA agents, astronomers, and plenty of secrets, you’ll have turned each page without even realising. I rated it 3.5/5 in accordance to the Fiction Rating Flowchart.
Synopsis and Description
An astronomy program comes to a close after their funding is cut. Six years later, a member of the team is found dead in his garden. NSA agent, Paul Mitchell, is tasked with investigating what appears to be a suicide, but soon finds himself part of a conspiracy larger than he imagined.
Trinity: Sol 3 is a stand-alone action novella. It has a tense, political tone with mild humour at times. It reminds me of a superficial Dan Brown book.
This concludes the spoiler-free portion of the review.
Dramatis Personae
Paul Mitchell is the disobedient NSA agent who is tasked with investigating the death of John Kensington. He is chosen due to his presumed inefficiency, but ends up being more effective than the powers that be anticipated.
John Kensington is the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) project team leader. He is found dead in his garden 6 years after the program closes. He was later discovered to have been part of a suicide pact.
Joanna Sands is Paul Mitchell’s boss and hinted at being his ex-partner. She is a genius, but is later manipulated by The Nova Collective.
Hal Cameron is a forensic analyst for the NSA and a friend of Paul’s. He is later assassinated by The Nova Collective.
Anton Medvedenko is a Russian cosmologist on the CDM team. After the program ends, he moves back to Russia where he and his family are killed. Presumably, he did not comply with the suicide pact.
Rachel Simmons is Karl Hunter’s ex-partner and secretary for the CDM team. She is impersonated by Julia Lockhart and later assassinated.
Al Hawks is a hacker and acquaintance of Paul’s. Paul enlists his help while investigating Julia Lockhart.
Julia Lockhart is a CIA agent who impersonated and faked the death of Rachel Simmons. The Nova Collective later try to assassinate her and she teams up with Paul.
Karl Hunter is a young astronomer on the CDM team and one of the world’s leading supernova hunters. He is responsible for the discovery that prompted the formation of the suicide pact.
Themes and Ideas
As earlier mentioned, Trinity: Sol 3 has a very political atmosphere. The way Wilkinson wrote it really stood out to me. At points throughout the story, characters enter rooms or vehicles with a TV or radio. These devices are always used to provide a piece of current political context. It adds a sense of unease - almost dystopia - to scenes.
Taiwanese investors have reacted nervously to news of China’s latest muscle-flexing missile test programme and reports of Chinese military manoeuvres near disputed waters off Taiwan. With tensions between the two sides at their highest level in three years, the benchmark TAIEX stock index fell seven per cent before government intervention helped minimise the damage.
It made a fitting environment for a story featuring government corruption. Paul is sent on what is supposed to be an impossible mission. Once Paul is proven a competent agent, The Nova Collective focus on sabotaging his investigation. Originally they do this through misdirection, but they quickly turn to violence. There is nothing the people involved won’t do to keep the truth from Karl’s discovery.
Astronomy didn’t play as large a part in this novella as I had anticipated, although what was described was still enjoyable. One of my favourite lines was in the first chapter, describing a sticker on an astronomer’s car.
He notices a bumper sticker, blazoned on the rear fender, with the legend: ‘Astronomers do it all night long’.
The way the astronomers are portrayed at the beginning of the novella is in direct contrast to the hopelessness present throughout the rest of the book. Karl isn’t thinking about doing it all night long any more; he’s hoping there won’t be nights any longer.
Strengths
Although I was initially unsure about the present tense writing, I grew to appreciate it while reading the action scenes. They feel fast and fluid, almost as if I were watching them rather than reading. They’re tense in a way few action scenes are.
Once again, I feel obliged to mention how cool the radio and TV political snippets are. I have never read them in a book before. It reminds me of how the adverts in Cyberpunk 2077 sucked me into Night City more than anything else.
Another effective method employed in Trinity: Sol 3 is the inclusion of small yet apt observations. The quotes speak best for themselves:
Missing is the buzz you get when enthusiastic people start talking about their work with other enthusiastic people…
He knows, as they all do, that when it comes time to say goodbye, the promises of keeping in touch will, predictably, be just a Christmas card for a few years, at most, and the occasional chance meeting at some science conference, in a second-rate hotel in Chicago or Boston.
Being a genius is a very lonely profession, perhaps a curse…
Nonetheless, like any other office building after hours, the NSA office takes on a different personality at night.
The magazines on the coffee table are what you would expect in an office for a science unit: Astronomy, National Geographic, Scientific American, and Nature, but unlike your average dentist or doctor’s waiting room, they are all recent issues.
Flaws
As with all works, there are flaws present within Trinity: Sol 3.
A personal frustration first: the hacking. This is not a problem unique to Wilkinson’s writing; I have seen more inaccurate representations of hacking than accurate. As a cyber security student, I can’t help but cringe when writers decide viruses sound cool and research does not. If you would like a realistic depiction of hacking, do not look here.
On the other side of the coin, Wilkinson frequently goes into detail about things (I assume) he is interested in. This is sometimes at the detriment of the writing. Over-specificity can quickly pull a reader out of a scene. How do we know that character is exactly six-foot-three? Do we really need to know the exact make of car? At least Wilkinson’s tangents on architecture and history are explained by Paul’s interest in trivia.
A writing issue that can’t be explained away by lore is the frequent, unmarked shift in perspective present throughout the entire book. The smoothest transition is between John’s perspective at the beginning of the book and the transition away from him after his death. What is not apparent, however, is the fact that six years has passed in between his last day at work and his suicide. This trend continues. It was initially difficult to tell whether the novella was set during the early noughties or present times. Time isn’t overly important, but the shift between character perspectives is jarring. There is no indication of a shift in perspective - the reader is left to figure it out for themselves. This sometimes means viewing part of a scene from one character’s viewpoint, then the rest of the scene from another character’s. It’s easy to get confused.
I prefer the perspective confusion to the way that women are written in this book, however. I seriously dislike the way women are portrayed in Trinity: Sol 3. We are told that Joanna is a genius with no social skills, but she is written as the average spy love interest. Similarly, we are told that Julia is a competent CIA agent, yet she is never portrayed as anything other than someone in need of rescue. I have no problem with Paul being attracted to these women, but a massive issue with us being told these women are strong and capable without being shown actions to support it.
Reflection
Overall, I enjoyed Trinity: Sol 3 on a superficial level. I would read it again, but likely only if I were on a short flight or lounging on a deck chair beside a pool. I think Wilkinson shows promise as a writer and would read more of his books in the future.
Similar works
Trinity: Sol 3 reminds me of Dan Brown’s books, specifically Angels & Demons. There is a similar mix of science, action, and women as accessories.
The radio and TV snippets remind me of the adverts in Cyberpunk 2077