THE APOCALYPSE GAME

Smith returns with the second rollicking entry in his futuristic action/adventure series.

Jonas Gredas is on the wrong side of the law. He’s a genius responsible for the creation of Hela, an AI programmed to serve its creator first and humanity second. Jonas now finds himself accused of murdering his mentor, professor Bivins. He also faces opposition from a protest group consisting of one FBI agent, two priests, and a computer magnate, all of whom believe that Jonas and Hela will destroy the world—either through technological means or spiritual damnation (via Hela as a purported agent of the devil). Knowing he hasn’t got much time, Jonas quickly sets out to complete his “Mobius” project, which would supposedly heal his disabled body and eliminate death. Meanwhile, he also must decide whether to release his monstrous “hellions” to take revenge on his enemies. Jonas has an obsessive “love” for Sara Magaline, a young woman who can hear angels, and a growing attraction to Hannah Einstein, who comes to Jonas for help curing her mother’s otherwise inoperable brain cancer. This sweeping saga of good versus evil is at its best when challenging accepted wisdom on the inherent nature of humanity. When Hela tells Jonas that “the world has almost nine billion people; it will not miss a few. We need the new future you will bring. Wars are fought, people perish, but only we can save the planet and elevate mankind to a new plane of existence,” the sentiment sounds eerily like the rhetoric of history’s most ruthless and despotic leaders. The novel’s biggest flaw is its occasionally inconsistent rendering of certain characters’ speech and thoughts, especially Sara—who’s supposed to be 18 years old but tends to talk and think like a much younger girl: “He talks to angels like me? Sara’s heart races with excitement as Eli thinks she makes it all up, but she doesn’t, they are real.” Luckily this unfortunate tendency fails to overshadow the epic action scenes and thoughtful ruminations on what it means to be human. Jonas’ twisted sense of justice comes to a full, captivating crescendo as the story barrels toward a jaw-dropping cliffhanger.

A chaotic but wonderfully addictive mix of over-the-top action and brainy philosophy.