A riveting tale with globe-circling, cloak-and-cyber skulduggery and strong Bible code underpinnings.
A computer security expert learns from an amazing secret ally that biblical end times prophecies are coming true as Chinese, Russian, and American sins edge the world toward war.
Debut author Morris spins a global conspiracy cyberthriller with threads drawn from both well-worn sources (the book of Revelation) and breaking news out of Washington, D.C. In 1995, hacker prodigy Cary Nolan, having meddled with the sinister secret-society affairs of New World Order elite Andre Strauss, is targeted for death. Strauss mistakenly kills not only Nolan’s lover, Bianca Troon, but also his best friend and computer partner, Derek Taylor, while Taylor and Bianca are in post-coital bliss together. Shattered, Nolan switches identities with Taylor and, 26 years later, perpetuates the ruse as a maverick tech-security contractor to the National Security Agency. Know that this is an alt-2021 in which a controversial, reckless, Russia-manipulated, power-mad president—Donald Trump is never mentioned but there’s no doubt who the “stable genius” is—has been reelected. He lusts for a third term amid a post-pandemic recession and international chaos. As events unfurl against a devastating Chinese computer-virus attack (and Strauss’ machinations), Taylor/Nolan is investigated by beautiful Navy Lt. Jennifer Scott for his ties to rogue hackers. He goes on the run with the attractive enemy. Among the secrets he keeps from Jenn: His partner in the hacker underground is not human but a top-secret, escaped, sentient software program called SLVIA. SLVIA lately has been bombarding Taylor/Nolan with Scripture, reasoning that the Bible end times verses compute as accurate and are coming to pass as allegories of geopolitical upheaval and corruption. Verily, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than to count all the Bible prophecy/apocalypse novels out there. But Morris’ specimen stands out for not being conservative-megachurch recruiting material (instead blasting the alt-right Trump GOP and QAnon believers something fierce) and for coordinating a grandly indulgent, globe-trotting narrative in the Dan Brown/Iris Johansen style. The novel brims with wild characters, exotic settings, a skillful embroidering of CNN headlines, and mind-blowing concepts, into which the religious stuff fits snugly. Readers may heed the spiritual messages (if any) or just go along for the ride. It does seem a little unfair to poor Trump, though. Without his insane reign, this story wouldn’t feel half as terrifyingly plausible.
A riveting tale with globe-circling, cloak-and-cyber skulduggery and strong Bible code underpinnings.Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73572-860-5
Page Count: 434
Publisher: Bowker Identifier Services
Review Posted Online: April 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A weird, wild ride.
Celebrity scandal and a haunted lake drive the narrative in this bestselling author’s latest serving of subtly ironic suspense.
Sager’s debut, Final Girls (2017), was fun and beautifully crafted. His most recent novels—Home Before Dark (2020) and Survive the Night (2021) —have been fun and a bit rickety. His new novel fits that mold. Narrator Casey Fletcher grew up watching her mother dazzle audiences, and then she became an actor herself. While she never achieves the “America’s sweetheart” status her mother enjoyed, Casey makes a career out of bit parts in movies and on TV and meatier parts onstage. Then the death of her husband sends her into an alcoholic spiral that ends with her getting fired from a Broadway play. When paparazzi document her substance abuse, her mother exiles her to the family retreat in Vermont. Casey has a dry, droll perspective that persists until circumstances overwhelm her, and if you’re getting a Carrie Fisher vibe from Casey Fletcher, that is almost certainly not an accident. Once in Vermont, she passes the time drinking bourbon and watching the former supermodel and the tech mogul who live across the lake through a pair of binoculars. Casey befriends Katherine Royce after rescuing her when she almost drowns and soon concludes that all is not well in Katherine and Tom’s marriage. Then Katherine disappears….It would be unfair to say too much about what happens next, but creepy coincidences start piling up, and eventually, Casey has to face the possibility that maybe some of the eerie legends about Lake Greene might have some truth to them. Sager certainly delivers a lot of twists, and he ventures into what is, for him, new territory. Are there some things that don’t quite add up at the end? Maybe, but asking that question does nothing but spoil a highly entertaining read.
A weird, wild ride.Pub Date: June 21, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-18319-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
As an adjunct member says, “You’re not a family, you’re a force.” Exactly, though not in the way you’d expect.
The ne’er-do-well son of a successful Irish American family gets dragged into criminal complications that suggest the rest of the Devlins aren’t exactly the upstanding citizens they appear.
The first 35 years in the life of Thomas “TJ” Devlin have been one disappointment after another to his parents, lawyers who founded a prosperous insurance and reinsurance firm, and his more successful siblings, John and Gabby. A longtime alcoholic who’s been unemployable ever since he did time for an incident involving his ex-girlfriend Carrie’s then 2-year-old daughter, TJ is nominally an investigator for Devlin & Devlin, but everyone knows the post is a sinecure. Things change dramatically when golden-boy John tells TJ that he just killed Neil Lemaire, an accountant for D&D client Runstan Electronics. Their speedy return to the murder scene reveals no corpse, so the brothers breathe easier—until Lemaire turns up shot to death in his car. John’s way of avoiding anything that might jeopardize his status as heir apparent to D&D is to throw TJ under the bus, blaming him for everything John himself has done and adding that you can’t trust anything his brother has said since he’s fallen off the wagon. TJ, who’s maintained his sobriety a day at a time for nearly two years, feels outraged, but neither the police investigating the murder nor his nearest and dearest care about his feelings. Forget the forgettable mystery, whose solution will leave you shrugging instead of gasping, and focus on the circular firing squad of the Devlins, and you’ll have a much better time than TJ.
As an adjunct member says, “You’re not a family, you’re a force.” Exactly, though not in the way you’d expect.Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780525539704
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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