Search - Forge of God

Gripping tale of the dark side of SETI, the attempt to contact and communicate with Extraterestrials. The Earth is threatened and a brave few in the know work feverishly to combat them.

Greg Bear is a wonderful writer whose books I collected religiously. However, it has been so long since I read this one, that I am borrowing a review from Amazon.

A classic from the eighties, August 5, 2004
Reviewer: isala "Isabel and Lars" (Fairbanks, Alaska,, US)

The eighties produced a lot of really good science fiction. It was perhaps a third wave in the modern genre, after the blind belief in progress of the fifties, and the dystopian visions of the sixties and seventies. Greg Bear is but one great name of that era. He wrote several very different books. Perhaps Forge of God is one of the best. Bear is here reminiscent of Clarke with his vision of a wast uncaring universe which impacts on an unsuspecting humanity. He does introduce hope, as a few humans are saved - not out of any altruism, but as recruits in the hunt for the shadowy civilization that runs amok among the stars.
Many characters in the book die. I think he wants to stress that hope and success go hand in hand with failure and disappointment. And, sometimes, being a little person, your part tend to be little, but it is still an important part.
This book has served as an inspiration for the film Independence Day.