An entertaining mix of SF and corporate intrigue that pits futuristic gizmos and ancient wisdom against authoritarian...
Righteous hackers guided by Hindu philosophy battle a sinister mind-control device in Berman’s speculative thriller.
The author depicts a future in which the United States is under the tyrannical rule of a nameless dictator, with democracy holding on in the breakaway nation of California. The plot centers on a “pod” of six employees of the Silicon Valley video game company HastinSys who live together on a Bay Area farm. They include emotionally fragile tech writer Darah Ahmadi; hotheaded coder Beers; levelheaded supercoder Jedd; and progressive ultracoder June. Their nemeses are a rival pod of marketing staffers named Kurt, Karin, and Keith who ruthlessly take over the coders’ penthouse office space and get them displaced to a smaller room. The coders discover that the ‘Ks’ are working with the dictator and his Russian backers to release the Happy App, which can subliminally program users’ brains. Repairing to their farm, the coders try to derail the plot by hacking the app. They are assisted by Ansirk, an unhoused, barefoot, flute-playing teen with an enigmatic smile whose name spelled backward approximates that of the Hindu god Krishna. He provides moral support and brainstorms a promising hacking strategy: They will alter the Happy App to impart the calming “soundless sound” of the primordial universe into users’ minds. The author sets her pastiche of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata in a high-tech civilization—driverless flying cars and holograms abound—and a sleek corporate setting. The novel features nifty capers—Darah seduces a co-worker to plant a bug—along with engrossing procedural sequences, including Jedd’s creation of a virtual road trip to Canada to hide their whereabouts, complete with simulated pit stops and snack purchases. Along the way, Ansirk teaches ethics and advocates giving up control in limpid prose that’s replete with evocative metaphors (“You can go through life like a steering wheel, with your ego-mind running the show. Or you can go through life like [a self-driving vehicle], where your mind takes a back seat and you place your faith in the car’s power”). The result is an imaginative tale alive with captivating ideas.
An entertaining mix of SF and corporate intrigue that pits futuristic gizmos and ancient wisdom against authoritarian politics.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781684632305
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Come for the forensics, stay for the nonhumans.
A Christmas bout between Kay Scarpetta and the Phantom Slasher.
But first, Scarpetta, Virginia’s chief medical examiner, has to figure out how software designer Rowdy O’Leary died. Fished from the Potomac River on Christmas Eve six years after a hit-and-run driver left him permanently disabled and a week after he plunked down the cash for a pricey emerald ring, he fell off his fishing perch and drowned—or did he? Scarpetta’s examination of his body is cut short by two disturbing developments: the discovery of an unidentified woman’s remains buried on the grounds of Mercy Psychiatric Hospital, and celebrity TV reporter Dana Diletti’s report that the red-eyed ghost associated with the Slasher’s three murders has floated through the window of her home. She’s got video, too, and the apparition looks real and scary. The final blow to Scarpetta’s plans for a Christmas getaway with her husband, Secret Service forensic psychologist Benton Wesley, is an attack on an Alexandria home that kills Mercy psychiatrist Georgine Duvall, who used to treat Scarpetta’s niece, Lucy Farinelli, and nearly kills graduate student Zain Willard, White House intern and nephew of presidential candidate Sen. Calvin Willard. This time the Slasher’s ghost has been spotted on the scene by none other than Pete Marino, head of investigations for the medical examiner’s office and Scarpetta’s longtime sidekick. Cornwell’s use of Robbie, Zain’s robotic dog, and Janet, Lucy’s AI companion, integrates the futuristic elements she favors more successfully than in her recent outings. But the solutions to all these mysteries will leave fans of the venerable franchise pursing their lips rather than gasping in awe.
Come for the forensics, stay for the nonhumans.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781538773963
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
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