Daemon

By: Daniel Suarez

Narrated by: Jeff Gurner

Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Daniel Suarez's New York Times best-selling 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....

©2009 Daniel Suarez (P)2009 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“A riveting debut.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

“This thrill-a-nanosecond novel is certainly faithful to the techno-traditions of Michael Crichton and should delight not only readers of the 'science gone awry' genre, but general adventure readers as well.” (Booklist)

“Suarez's not-just-for-gamers debut is a stunner.” (Kirkus Reviews)

not bad

it drug on too long. other than that it was good story. it brought up some real life decisions.

very good

The third time is better than the first. I'll probably read it again. thanks to Daniel

Good, until the end

I had a hard time getting used to the mechanical style of the narrator at first, but his voice and style soon won me over. I work in tech and was really impressed with the author's research and vision for technologies potential for evil. l don't want to print a spoiler, so all I will say is that I enjoyed the ride, but was left unfulfilled in the end.

frightening

Story line easily believed and is a frightening vision of the future. Excellent narrator. well worth the listen

Leo Chief TWIT knows his tech books

He talked about it on so many shows I figured it was worth a shot. And boy, was it ... I would rank it right up there with Snow Crash and A Diamond Age.

Top drawer techno-thriller entertainment

What made the experience of listening to Daemon the most enjoyable?

The author weaves greats bits of technology (with a few sprinkles requiring some willingness to suspend disbelief) with a cracking good yarn.

What did you like best about this story?

Extremely rich in detail and imagery. You feel like you are right beside the burning Hummer.

What does Jeff Gurner bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

This is the best narrator I have heard -- amazing voices, accents and cadence.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No question. Save this for a long trip and you'll be there before you want to be.

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended for any who enjoys Crichton-type techno-thrillers.

Best SF in my life!

Both books Daemon and Freedom TM are incredible. Highly recommended. It might be hard to understand some of the computer terms if you are not an IT person. Nevertheless it is worth listening to. Both me and my 14 year old son found this book amazing.

The Parasites Fight Back

It took me several tries to actually listen to more than a couple of chapters of Daemon, but I finally didn't have anything else exciting to read so decided to stick it out. GLAD I DID.

I starts out like a purely detective/murder novel but grows to include more cyberspace and the world seen from both sides, the virus/parasite and the humans (those trying to battle it & those protecting & enabling it).

There are some great scenes of individual characters showing extreme courage in the face of insurmountable odds while battling not only the other side (virus or human) but some of their own.

The book includes lots of excitement, action, tech, gaming, cop, mystery, greed, altruism, and relationships.

Fascinating story but too negative....

What did you like best about Daemon? What did you like least?

The best part of the story was the action and detail of the technology used and how the characters used it.I didn't like how the story portrayed computers as only used for evil or nefarious reasons. It made you feel like all computer hackers are identity thieves.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The ending was good. It left the story open for the next book but closed it up enough to make me happy.

Which character – as performed by Jeff Gurner – was your favorite?

Jon Ross and Detective Sebeck

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Maybe....the negativity towards technology would probably make me wait for Netflix to get it .

Any additional comments?

This book is worth a listen but keep in mind that most computer geniuses are not anything like the characters in the book. Not everyone smart with a computer is an identity thief.The narration was very good. His voice for Sebeck was exactly how I would imagine a detective from the suburbs in his predicament would sound.

Kept my interest as the plot was revealed.

The story was interesting and the plot was revealed slowly,but it was fast enough to keep me interested. I did have to suspend belief in reality a few times (like the daemon having a contingency for everything), but I'm OK with that.