Dense but enthralling entry, with a bevy of new, potential narrative directions.
The latest installment of this long-running technothriller series finds a next generation cyber security team facing off against unprincipled artificial intelligences.
MAG is an organization of technical leaders signified only by M, A, and G. They’re intent on controlling technology and using AIs to harvest people’s information. One such AI, JOAN, uses I-Drones to attack and overtake the North American Defense System in Colorado. Lt. Tony Bough, per his superior’s order, flees the facility, with the hopes of telling officials in Washington, D.C., what’s happened to NADS. Meanwhile, the R-Group, a family-run cyber security team that’s existed for decades, is training its young descendants to take the reins someday. Students in R-Group hacker Quip’s class gather intel when JOAN’s targeting of U.S. military and weapons-grade satellites proves understandably suspicious. But other AIs have seemingly gone rogue as well, including one holding sway over a Brazilian village and another on a Chinese space station. MAG’s nefarious plan ultimately affects R-Group members and students, like Juan Jr. on an assignment in São Paulo with Uncle Carlos, and Juan’s sister, Gracie, in a new job at Global Bank in Manhattan. The R-Group, with help from its own AI, ICABOD, works to put a stop to the AIs’ felonious deeds. Breakfield and Burkey jam-pack the 11th entry in their Enigma series with subplots, although some recurring characters, like Jacob and Petra, take a back seat. These storylines, however, including a politician that M has compromised, ultimately intersect in some capacity. The authors’ tech-savvy prose is typically sharp, but the story also has breaths of fresh air, from the still learning students to Tony’s off-the-grid run with new friend (aka romantic interest), Rose, that’s free of contemporary technology. Villains may be largely anonymous, but they’re well rounded, as personal agendas turn them against one another. They’re likewise topical: Most readers will easily link well-known companies to M, A, and G. As in previous installments, there’s an open ending and a strong possibility of further sequels.
Dense but enthralling entry, with a bevy of new, potential narrative directions.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-946858-40-5
Page Count: 382
Publisher: ICABOD Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The author had some fun; the reader will too.
Everett (The Water Cure, 2007, etc.) returns with what might be considered a wacky slapstick.
His allegory about race, class and celebrity takes a turn toward the silly, as the protagonist’s name—literally, “Not Sidney Poitier”— inspires all sorts of Abbott and Costello “Who’s on First?” riffing. (“Knot, with a k?”...“Not with a k”…“That’s what I said”… “N-O-T”…“Sidney?”… “Not my name is not Sidney. My name is Not Sidney.”) Not Sidney is an orphan, born to a crazy woman following a 24-month pregnancy. Yet his late mother was wiser than most of the other characters the young innocent will encounter in his wildly absurd travels across the American South. At least she had the good sense to invest early and often in the Turner Broadcasting System, leaving her son so rich he does not know the extent of his fortune. Since Not Sidney never knew his father, the two formative figures in his life are Ted Turner, who takes him in after his mother’s death, and Percival Everett, a buffoon of a professor who spouts nonsense as higher sense. (The standard disclaimer, that “this novel is NOT in any way a depiction of anyone living, dead or imagined by anyone other than the author,” is followed by a rather more unusual corollary: “This qualification applies, equally, to the character whose name is the same as the author’s.”) Turner and Everett rescue Not Sidney when he, like Huck Finn, attempts to light out for the territory and lands in the racist backwoods of Peckerwood County and Smuteye, Ala. Yet Not Sidney encounters racism in subtler ways, such as when a prospective girlfriend’s parents dismiss him as too dark until the extent of his fortune reveals him to be plenty light enough.
The author had some fun; the reader will too.Pub Date: June 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-55597-527-2
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Graywolf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2009
A heartbreaking and thought-provoking exploration of fate, love, and choice sure to bring on a few tears.
A woman finally meets the man of her dreams, literally, then must decide what to do about it.
Mia and her doctor husband, Harrison, have recently moved from Philadelphia to a small Pennsylvania town. Mia spends most of her time trying to convince local art galleries to show her work and grieving the loss of three very wanted pregnancies. Although their marriage is largely happy, Mia is keeping a secret from her husband and everyone else—for years, she’s been having dreams about a man she’s never met. She assumes he’s just a figment of her imagination, but then she sees him at the grocery store—and runs into him again when Harrison treats his sister for appendicitis. His name is Oliver, and he’s been dreaming of her, too. Meanwhile, Mia and Harrison’s relationship hits a significant roadblock—he decides he doesn’t want to try again for a baby. As Mia reels from Harrison’s decision, she and Oliver begin to research their unlikely dream connection. They have so much in common, and being with him is easier than being around her withdrawn husband. It’s clear that the two of them are connected in some way—but what does that mean? Should Mia be with Oliver or Harrison? Oakley (Close Enough To Touch, 2017, etc.) skillfully navigates several twists and turns, never settling for a predictable plot. The tension ratchets up quickly in the last third of the book as the characters hurtle toward the somewhat shocking event that finally reveals why Mia and Oliver are meant to be in each other’s lives. Readers expecting a simple happily-ever-after should look elsewhere, but those looking for a Me Before You–style sobfest are in the right place.
A heartbreaking and thought-provoking exploration of fate, love, and choice sure to bring on a few tears.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0646-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
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