Thursday, February 4, 2010

Mike's Five Star Computer Thriller Recomendation

Tattered Cover's own computer genius Mike Pham gives Daemon five stars and high praise, saying "This is a fast pace book. I think it has done to web surfing what Jaws did for swimming in the ocean and Matrix did for wanting to learn kung-fu. I recommend people to visit wikipedia when a tech term comes up and you are not familiar with. The author really planned well and expressed the subtlety of these tech terms and their usages."

The synopsis, borrowed from goodreads.com:
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. . . .

Computer technology expert Daniel Suarez blends haunting high-tech realism with gripping suspense in an authentic, complex thriller in the tradition of Michael Crichton, Neal Stephenson, and William Gibson.

The sequel, Freedom (tm), is out now too, and getting fantastic reviews.
These high tech thrills should help chase away the February chills )and maybe make you watch your computer a little more closely...)!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Computer is an ultra modern electronic device for strong and analyzing information fed into it. It has no capacity to do anything by itself. It works on the basis of commands given by the operator.

Liz said...

I'm collecting great titles to check on at my library. This is going toward the top of the list, as it sounds very good. (I listened to an audiobook at least a couple years ago that also heavily tech-oriented. I cannot recall the name right now, or the author, but I'll try to remember it. It had "blue" in the title... It was pretty engrossing, as well -- although I did wonder if the technological stuff could really even happen.

I do love a good thriller. Give "They Never Die Quietly" by DM Annechino a look. This is more traditional, I guess, in that it's about a serial killer (quite twisted, despite being smart and charming) and the woman police detective who's after him. The characters are first-rate, well-developed and written (And you can tell the writer did a lot of research on his topics, too.)

Liz said...

I looked up the other computer-oriented thriller. I was right (thank goodness; otherwise I probably wouldn't have found it) -- blue is in the title. It's

Blue Nowhere by Jeffery Deaver. Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

Interesting games for all fans and dedicated gamers from all continents. It is the best way to kill time. Thanks.