This Eden: Exciting thriller mixes tech polemic with plenty of drama

Ed O’Loughlin’s entertaining fourth novel tackles issues such as data, power and cryptocurrency in a wide-ranging adventure that takes in Vancouver, Silicon Valley, the Middle East and a bridge in Phibsborough

Ed O’Loughlin: the writing in his latest novel, This Eden, is crisp, precise and occasionally beautiful. Picture: Fergal Phillips

FICTION

This Eden

By Ed O’Loughlin

Riverrun, €21

The fourth novel by Irish-Canadian author Ed O’Loughlin, This Eden is a techno-thriller that flies by at the speed of a supercomputer. It takes readers on a whirlwind trip that includes Silicon Valley, central Africa, the Middle East and, bizarrely, Cross Guns Bridge in Phibsborough, Dublin – which plays a central part in the story’s frantic finale.

Michael Atarian’s girlfriend Alice, a gifted coder, disappears off a ...