Daemon

Daniel Suarez

Jan 2009 · Daemon Series Book 1 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

Daniel Suarez’s New York Times bestselling debut high-tech thriller is “so frightening even the government has taken note” (Entertainment Weekly).

Daemons: computer programs that silently run in the background, waiting for a specific event or time to execute. They power almost every service. They make our networked world possible. But they also make it vulnerable...
 
When the obituary of legendary computer game architect Matthew Sobol appears online, a previously dormant daemon activates, initiating a chain of events that begins to unravel our interconnected world. This daemon reads news headlines, recruits human followers, and orders assassinations. With Sobol’s secrets buried with him, and as new layers of his daemon are unleashed, it’s up to Detective Peter Sebeck to stop a self-replicating virtual killer before it achieves its ultimate purpose—one that goes far beyond anything Sebeck could have imagined...

Ratings and reviews

extremely convenient implausible plot advances. we're almost 20 years post publication and none of this has manifested. literally nothing in this abortion of a book was ever likely, nor manifested. forget the basic plot gaps and shortcomings. this may be the most implausible thing you ever read. partially constituted command statements unleash killer self guided robot motorcycles? gtfo

Based on reviews, if I wanted to read one Sci-Fi novel this year it would be this one. It wasn't *that* good, but still worth the read. Daemon is set in a future not very far off from today (perhaps 10-20 years) and is about the birth of a malicious AI Daemon. There are several interesting ideas such as the specific details of how a computer program could control people and harm them. However the narrative is shallower than it could have been, and the use of tech is not terribly surprising. This isn't a "Neuromancer" or "Ender's Game".

There are many things happening at once in this book, most of them with a technology twist. The scary thing is that almost everything described in this book, has been proven to be technologically possible. The story is at times hard to follow since the author often updates us on side characters that will be important to the story at some point. The story is fast pace and fun, stick with it. Make sure to have the second book, this one ends in a cliffhanger!

About the author

Daniel Suarez is the New York Times bestselling author of Daemon, Freedom™, Kill Decision, Influx, and Change Agent. A former systems consultant to Fortune 1000 companies, his high-tech and sci-fi thrillers focus on technology-driven change. He lives in Los Angeles, California.