Friday 26 March 2010

CYBER THRILLERS: Daemon and Freedom - Daniel Suarez

BOOK BLURB:

Already an underground sensation, a high-tech thriller for the wireless age that explores the unthinkable consequences of a computer program running without human control - a daemon - designed to dismantle society and bring about a new world order

Technology controls almost everything in our modern-day world, from remote entry on our cars to access to our homes, from the flight controls of our airplanes to the movements of the entire world economy. Thousands of autonomous computer programs, or daemons, make our networked world possible, running constantly in the background of our lives, trafficking e-mail, transferring money, and monitoring power grids. For the most part, daemons are benign, but the same can't always be said for the people who design them.

Matthew Sobol was a legendary computer game designer - the architect behind half-a-dozen popular online games. His premature death depressed both gamers and his company's stock price. But Sobol's fans aren't the only ones to note his passing. When his obituary is posted online, a previously dormant daemon activates, initiating a chain of events intended to unravel the fabric of our hyper-efficient, interconnected world. With Sobol's secrets buried along with him, and as new layers of his daemon are unleashed at every turn, it's up to an unlikely alliance to decipher his intricate plans and wrest the world from the grasp of a nameless, faceless enemy - or learn to live in a society in which we are no longer in control. . . .


REVIEW:

If you want a novel that has nothing else like it out there, then you have to get hold of this title. Its part Cyberpunk part thriller, all tied up with a plotline that really doesn’t let up. It’s huge and if you think that nothing can equal Gibson’s Neuromancer then this title may well do something to that chain of thought. Its not only gripping it’s a ride by the seat of your pants tale. It doesn’t let up and with more cunning twists and turns so you don’t know which way is up it’s a title that really will make you glad you read it. Were I a betting person I’d lay odds on a film deal for this book in a very short time. Definitely an author who not only has emerged onto the scene, but one who has exploded like a nuclear bomb with this offering.



BOOK BLURB:

The Daemon is now firmly in control and moving towards its endgame, using an expanding network of real-world, dispossessed darknet operatives to tear civilization apart and build it anew. As the global economy begins to fail, the world's most powerful organizations - monolithic corporations, complete with armies of their own - prepare to fight their unseen enemy. When a brutal civil war breaks out in the United States, former detective Pete Sebeck, now the Daemon's most powerful though reluctant operative, must lead a small band of enlightened humans to protect the new world order. Amid conflicting loyalties, rapidly diminishing human power and the possibility that anyone can be a daemon operative or a corporate spy, Sebeck knows that he embodies the last hope that freedom can survive the information revolution.


REVIEW:

Picking up where the previous novel left off, Daniel’s pace doesn’t let up from the first page. Whilst a number of people may accidentally pick this title up without having read the original, I would say that it’s huge mistake as you can tell from our first review that you really do get a lot of bang for your buck. The other reason is that if you thought things got complex in the first title then you have absolutely no luck on it letting up here. Add to this the continual pleasure of the plausible alongside a world not too far away from our own and it is a real bit of pure escapism with a kick ass outline. Great writing indeed and on that shows that Daniel is not a one hit wonder.

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