An action-packed thriller with a confounding plot but intriguing takes on genre tropes.
In Morris’ thriller sequel, a hacker extraordinaire tries to avert global catastrophe involving cutting-edge artificial intelligence and biblical prophecy.
Derek Taylor was once a highly respected National Security Agency contractor, but due to the events of Morris’ first series entry, Swarm (2020), he’s being unjustly pursued as an international fugitive—even though he stopped a deadly computer-virus threat. As a member of Spy Net Online, Taylor is determined to find an AI program called SLVIA that escaped its labs after being created by fellow member Nelson Garrett. Relying on the help of his partner, Jester, and his own AI program, WITNESS, Taylor discovers that a Knights Templar historian has been murdered in Portugal, leaving behind a cryptic clue that could be explained by centuries-old letters at the Vatican. Taylor sets off on a global chase that will take him to Italy, Israel, and elsewhere as he tries to determine what SLVIA itself is after. Meanwhile, back in Washington, D.C., Jenn Scott, a former U.S. Navy lieutenant and Taylor’s love interest, is mourning the death of her father and suspects foul play. Also, global political tensions are on the rise, especially between Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Russia, as well as in the United States, where a former president (an obvious Donald Trump stand-in) is stoking conspiracies. Casual readers may be at a loss to keep up with this installment’s convoluted plot; Morris’ present-tense narration tends to summarize events quickly, like facts in a dense report, leading to information overload. However, returning readers, and those able to put occasional questions aside, will find a rich tapestry of wild ideas and new spins on genre staples. Morris melds events from today’s headlines with Dan Brown–style concepts, Tom Clancy–esque characters, and high-tech sleuthing that’s reminiscent of James Bond spy tales. He creates impressive action setups and striking images, such as terrifying Vladimir Putin deepfakes. It’s far from a smooth journey for Morris’ hero, but he certainly makes engaging stops along the way.
An action-packed thriller with a confounding plot but intriguing takes on genre tropes.Pub Date: July 3, 2022
ISBN: 9781735728667
Page Count: 390
Publisher: Guy Morris Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Soapy, suspenseful fun.
A remembered horror plunges a pregnant woman into a waking nightmare.
Tegan Werner, 23, barely recalls her one-night stand with married real estate developer Simon Lamar; she only learns Simon’s name after seeing him on the local news five months later. Simon wants nothing to do with the resulting child Tegan now carries and tells his lawyer to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement. A destitute Tegan is all too happy to trade her silence for cash—until a whiff of Simon’s cologne triggers a memory of him drugging and raping her. Distraught and eight months pregnant, Tegan flees her Lewiston, Maine, apartment and drives north in a blizzard, intending to seek comfort and counsel from her older brother, Dennis; instead, she gets lost and crashes, badly injuring her ankle. Tegan is terrified when hulking stranger Hank Thompson stops and extricates her from the wreck, and becomes even more so when he takes her to his cabin rather than the hospital, citing hazardous road conditions. Her anxiety eases somewhat upon meeting Hank’s wife, Polly—a former nurse who settles Tegan in a basement hospital room originally built for Polly’s now-deceased mother. Polly vows to call 911 as soon as the phones and power return, but when that doesn’t happen, Tegan becomes convinced that Hank is forcing Polly to hold her prisoner. Tegan doesn’t know the half of it. McFadden unspools her twisty tale via a first-person-present narration that alternates between Tegan and Polly, grounding character while elevating tension. Coincidence and frustratingly foolish assumptions fuel the plot, but readers able to suspend disbelief are in for a wild ride. A purposefully ambiguous, forward-flashing prologue hints at future homicide, establishing stakes from the jump.
Soapy, suspenseful fun.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227325
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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