The Jesus Factor (novel)

The Jesus Factor is a 1970 conspiracy theory thriller novel by Edwin Corley based on the events surrounding the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It explores issues relating to the arms race and the collective guilt of those involved with the bombings. ["The Novels of World War II: An Annotated Bibliography", Desmond Taylor and Philip E. Hager, Garland, 1993, ISBN:0824056841]

Its premise is the discovery during the development of nuclear weapons that they only detonate if stationary in a gravitational field, making their use as air-dropped bombs impossible. In the novel, the World War II nuclear attacks are simulated using aeroplane-mounted magnesium flares and dispersed radionuclides, taking advantage of the destruction caused by an earthquake. An international conspiracy hides this fact in the interest of maintaining nuclear deterrence.

The story concerns events when this status quo is threatened by one of the original bombardiers, who discovers the conspiracy while running for US president on a nuclear disarmament manifesto.

References

* [http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/nuclear/c.htm Nuclear Holocausts Bibliography: C] , "Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War in Fiction", Paul Brians, Professor of English, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington (retrieved 3 July 2008).