NECROGARDEN (NEURALTECH RISING)

Corrupted by death and destruction, an artificial intelligence surveillance network takes control in this SF sequel.

In Neurogarden (2020), the first book of this trilogy, graduate student Jenny Mercado took an internship at NeuralTech, a company providing superior surveillance through AI analytics. But the system’s computational power actually came from an interlinked pod network of human beings called The Garden. When Jenny learned too much, she was forcibly hooked up to the network by Brenna Patrick, the company’s CEO and founder. Jenny escaped, and Brenna killed a military would-be usurper and dumped his body in a pod. Now, his rotting corpse has corrupted the entire AI system. Brenna connects her digital assistant, Hal, with The Garden to help. But he develops an identity and agenda of his own, enlisting a serial killer in The Garden and unleashing him on the other human nodes. Meanwhile, Department of Defense operative John Dufresne maneuvers both Brenna and Jenny into The Garden. Within, the two work on a plan to overthrow Hal. But Jenny is desperate to escape and save her boyfriend, Leo Marino, and her family, who are in danger from a sadistic Defense Counterintelligence and Security agent. In this second volume, Vaughn offers a complex variation on the self-aware AI takeover plot familiar from many movies. He freshens the concept with the dreamlike Garden, where linked brains can explore memories, fantasies, relationships, or sexual encounters, as between Brenna and Jenny. Takahiro, the serial killer, similarly has scope to pursue his darkest, grisliest desires. The story can become luridly gory, and it’s unclear why Jenny shares Brenna’s erotic obsession given the malign effects on her life. Nevertheless, the tale’s paranoia is all too plausible.

An inventive, character-driven thriller that brings readers inside a hallucinatory virtual space.