Review: The Shumann Frequency

ISBN: 978 186 325 658 2
Format: Paperback
Imprint: Bantam Australia
Author: Christopher Ride
RRP: $21.95
Release: 01/01/09


National Treasure meets Raiders of the Lost Ark, played out in a time parody with religious and historical significance which could change the world, and not necessarily for the better.

Ever thought your days were passing by that much quicker as you added each year to the span known as your life? Have you watched the local news service and thought, “the world is becoming a more violent place”; what with man’s inhumanity to man becoming more vicious and more commonly accepted as the norm.

Well Christopher Ride did. So he did some research and allowed his imagination to run free. The result is The Schumann Frequency, a real phenomenon as well as the title of Ride’s first published book.

In the future, some 80 or so years from now, the world is ruled by powerful men who control immense companies. Within these corporations, R&D work is taken to the limits to find the one thing to give them the edge over competitors. In one research lab, Dr Barton Ingerson has found the key to unlock the greatest prize of all – time travel. Within the Dead Sea Scrolls, Barton has found an encoded secret written many generations ago, but he needs to find the Overseer to make it come true.

The story follows Wilson Dowling, a long time Sydney University student, as he discovers hidden abilities within himself and vast reservoirs of trust and affection in those he befriends on a once-in-a-lifetime journey to fix the Schumann Frequency.

Being sent back to 2012 is only the first of his problems. Wilson has to travel to ancient sites on three different continents to unleash powerful energies, but forces are aligned against him which want a slightly different outcome, forces also from the future, forces who know more than the Overseer.

The story jumps back and forward in time and across settings to different point of view characters, which is a little unsettling to begin with, but then if you were thrown back 75 years into a world which actually drove you to more violent acts simply due to an unseen frequency, you’d probably be somewhat unsettled as well.

The explanations, and scientific theory is a little thick and fast to begin with, and makes the occasional reappearance during the story, but it is factual and adds authenticity to the tale resulting in that elusive authorial ability to allow the reader to suspend believability. If you can allow yourself to simply absorb the information, it all clicks nicely into place.

The tension and thriller aspects of the book are mild, but there is enough action thrown at the protagonist to keep things interesting. Descriptions of the ancient sites and the secrets they hold are wonderfully done. The chapters are relatively short allowing an easy read from one scene to the next but there are a lot of them.

But the “who-done-it” scenario at the end was a let down. With all the sophisticated investigative tools at Wilson’s disposal, it still ends up requiring the person behind it all to confess out of stupidity and arrogance. Things could have been leaked slowly through the story for the reader, and Wilson, to come to the conclusion.

In the end, readers of historical and archaeological action adventures will enjoy this. There are nice touches of interplay between items first revealed in the future which are stumbled upon again in the past, and some thought provoking observations made by the author on the issues of today.

This originally self-published novel is definitely worth a look. It will also be interesting to see where Wilson Dowling goes as a character in the second book in the series, The First Boxer, due out in 2010. Christopher Ride is one Australian author to keep an eye on.