DAEMON By Daniel Suarez

Narrated by Jeff Gurner with Garrett Scott

Cruel Calculus

This is a cautionary tale reminiscent of PRESS ENTER by John Varley in which a computer genius reaches out from beyond the grave. But in this novel the scale goes beyond terrorizing one man, the Daemon in this book by Suarez is bent on world domination. This is an engaging adventure with just the right amount of plausibility to give it a sense of realism. Suarez starts slow then builds to a frantic pace, piling one technological marvel upon another, until the climax where we must examine the very structure of human society and our over-dependence on our toys. Under the microscope is the military industrial complex which has competition from the new Daemon on the block. I was surprised time and again at the ingenuity of the story and how it incorporates cutting-edge tech with the idea of a hostile takeover by a devious minded geek. At the end I was not sure weather to like the villain of cheer him for his genius. Of course I should be cheering Daniel Suarez for penning this fun and thought-provoking story.

This is a great book, and would be very good in print but we are very fortunate to have Jeff Gurner reading the story for us. Gurner’s range first seems limited, with the various voices sounding like mere variations on a theme, but at some point his talent goes on full display when the more flamboyant characters take the stage culminating in a resounding success. The addition of Garrett Scott as the female voice of the some of the connecting sound bites is a nice touch