Razor-sharp writing and mind-blowing scientific conceptualization make this a top-notch, Crichton-esque thriller.
A globe-hopping SF novel chronicles the unforeseen consequences of the creation of a unique artificial intelligence.
Set largely in the present day, the narrative revolves around William Ell, an unassuming mathematics professor who just lost his father in a tragic hit-and-run accident in Hamburg, Germany. Ell, who had never been close to his high-tech entrepreneur father, discovers that he knew very little about the man’s business dealings. Not only did his father oversee a top-secret research facility in Southwest Arizona that housed a supercomputer and controlled a multimillion-dollar satellite system, he also left Ell a “gold pocket watch, a little black book containing some sort of numerical code, and an unbelievably large green diamond” in a safe deposit box in Zurich. When Ell tries to find connections between the massive gem and the supercomputer, he learns that his father was, in fact, murdered and that he has now become a target. The gem, it seems, contains advanced tech that—once fully utilized—could either save the world or destroy it, depending on whose hands it winds up in. With the FBI and an unknown international crime organization after both him and the “big as hell” diamond, Ell sets out to find his father’s killer and uncover the mystery inside the gem. But what he and his misfit crew of colleagues discover shatters the very foundations of reality. In this series opener translated from the German by Oden, Harwin’s insightful exploration of various science-based speculations is an obvious strength. They include quantum-based AI and interfaces between the human brain and the computational core of an AI. But the real power here is in how the pseudonymous author twists together mind-boggling scientific theories with deeply developed and emotionally captivating characters. Ell, senior programmer Trina Shaw, London auction house appraiser Chang Feng Zhao, and FBI agent Gray all have compelling story arcs that make for an undeniably page-turning read.
Razor-sharp writing and mind-blowing scientific conceptualization make this a top-notch, Crichton-esque thriller.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2022
ISBN: 9798363874710
Page Count: 402
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ambitious and satisfying conclusion to a monumental saga.
Brown completes his science-fiction trilogy with another intricately plotted and densely populated tome, this one continuing the focus on a rebellion against the imperious Golds.
This last volume is incomprehensible without reference to the first two. Briefly, Darrow of Lykos, aka Reaper, has been “carved” from his status as a Red (the lowest class) into a Gold. This allows him to infiltrate the Gold political infrastructure…but a game’s afoot, and at the beginning of the third volume, Darrow finds himself isolated and imprisoned for his insurgent activities. He longs both for rescue and for revenge, and eventually he gets both. Brown is an expert at creating violent set pieces whose cartoonish aspects (“ ‘Waste ’em,’ Sevro says with a sneer” ) are undermined by the graphic intensity of the savagery, with razors being a favored instrument of combat. Brown creates an alternative universe that is multilayered and seething with characters who exist in a shadow world between history and myth, much as in Frank Herbert’s Dune. This world is vaguely Teutonic/Scandinavian (with characters such as Magnus, Ragnar, and the Valkyrie) and vaguely Roman (Octavia, Romulus, Cassius) but ultimately wholly eclectic. At the center are Darrow, his lover, Mustang, and the political and military action of the Uprising. Loyalties are conflicted, confusing, and malleable. Along the way we see Darrow become more heroic and daring and Mustang, more charismatic and unswerving, both agents of good in a battle against forces of corruption and domination. Among Darrow’s insights as he works his way to a position of ascendancy is that “as we pretend to be brave, we become so.”
An ambitious and satisfying conclusion to a monumental saga.Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-345-53984-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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