Cover image of "Eater," a novel about a strange interstellar visitor

On October 17, 2017, Canadian astronomer and physicist Robert Weryk at Haleakalā Observatory in Hawaii discovered a comet he named ‘Oumuamua. For a time the cigar-shaped object sparked wild theories in the popular press that it was an alien spaceship headed for Earth. Strangely, nearly a decade earlier the American physicist and science fiction author Greg Benford wrote Eater, a novel that posited an interstellar visitor superficially similar to ‘Oumuamua. Yet the eponymous intruder is no comet. Instead, it’s something entirely new and strange that captivates scientists the world over as they rush to determine what it is and where it came from. And, unlike the later visitor, which simply exited the solar system, Eater proves to be a threat of existential proportions. The novel, which begins with a leisurely view of scientists at work, becomes a thriller that spans the globe as the human race responds.

A thriller that thrills

Today, author Greg Benford is professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. He is, if anything, a serious scientist. And, as he comments in an author’s note at the conclusion of Eater, “I have endeavored to show truthfully, against an extreme backdrop, how scientists do think, work, and confront the unknown.” It shows. While other themes emerge in the novel—how democracy crumbles under pressure, and how politicians and military officers react in the face of an existential threat—Benford’s primary purpose appears to have been to show how scientists do what they do and how they make decisions. To read this novel, it helps to have a grounding in science. Otherwise, you might find, as I did, that some of the dialogue is indecipherable. However, what saves the story is the steady buildup of suspense as it unfolds. This is a thriller that thrills.

Eater by Gregory Benford (2009) 330 pages ★★★★☆

Artist's rendering of the interstellar visitor Oumuamua, discovered eight years after this novel was published
Artist’s illustration of the asteroid 1I/’Oumuamua, the first interstellar asteroid ever detected. ‘Oumuamua was first spotted in late October 2017. Image: ESO/M. Kornmesser – AAS Nova

Three engaging central characters, all brilliant scientists

Three central characters anchor this story. An astrophysicist, Dr. Benjamin Knowlton is the Director of the High Energy Astrophysics Center on the island of Hawaiʻi. It’s near the Mauna Loa Observatory atop Earth’s largest active volcano. Ben’s wife, Channing Knowlton, is a former astronaut who flew on missions to the Moon and Mars. She is in the late stages of cancer that had invaded her lymph nodes but still works actively as an astrophysicist herself. (She had dived into the speciality after retiring from the astronaut corps.) Rounding out the story’s trio of stars, Dr. Kingsley Dart is Britain’s Astronomer Royal. He is world-renowned and, unlike Ben, well versed in the byways of scientific politics. As students together at Cambridge, they were friends. But Ben and Kingsley grew into bitter rivals, perhaps over their shared attraction to Channing.

Is Eater on a course for the Earth?

Benford’s story opens as a post-doc on Ben’s staff wakes him with the discovery of a mysterious interstellar intruder. The unclassified object seems to be entering the Oort cloud on a path that will lead it past the orbit of Pluto into the planetary system. Soon, as it becomes clear that is indeed its trajectory, Kingsley shows up in Hawaiʻi to join Ben in sussing out the nature of the intruder.

As what Channing later labels Eater heads toward Jupiter, the US government enters the act, too. A top-secret unit known as the U Agency arrives in force to impose restrictions on the scientists who are sharing information about the intruder with their colleagues around the world. And in short order what started as a simple scientific inquiry becomes a topic of global concern that brings a massive response led by the White House and the United Nations. However, despite the ever-lengthening cast of characters, Benford keeps us focused on Ben, Channing, and Kingsley. This is a story that could easily spin out of control. But Benford keeps us focused on the human reality at its core.

About the author

Photo of Greg Benford, author of this novel about a strange interstellar visitor
Greg Benford. Image: XPrize Foundation

Greg Benford is both a renowned science fiction author and an astrophysicist. He is professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. Benford is the author or coauthor of more than 30 novels as well as scores of short stories. His work has won him many awards, including the Nebula. He was born in Mobile, Alabama, in 1941 and was educated at the universities of Oklahoma and California at San Diego, where he earned his PhD. Benford has an identical twin brother, Jim, with whom he has collaborated on many science fiction stories. His wife passed away in 2002. He lives in Laguna Beach, California.

I’ve also reviewed (and enjoyed) two of the author’s other SF novels, Timescape (An ingenious twist on time travel) and The Berlin Project (An alternate history of the Manhattan Project).

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