Kill Decision

By: Daniel Suarez

Narrated by: Jeff Gurner

Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

The shocking techno-thriller that cements Daniel Suarez's status as the heir to Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy - a terrifying, breathtaking, and all-too-plausible vision of the world's near future.

Unmanned weaponized drones already exist: they're widely used by America in our war efforts in the Middle East. In Kill Decision, best-selling author Daniel Suarez takes that fact and the real science behind it one step further, with frightening results.

Linda McKinney is a myrmecologist, a scientist who studies the social structure of ants. Her academic career has left her entirely unprepared for the day her sophisticated research is conscripted by unknown forces to help run an unmanned - and thanks to her research, automated - drone army. Odin is the secretive Special Ops soldier with a unique insight into the faceless enemy who has begun to attack the American homeland with drones programmed to seek, identify, and execute targets without human intervention.

Together, McKinney and Odin must slow this advance long enough for the world to recognize its destructive power, because for thousands of years the "kill decision" during battle has remained in the hands of humans - and off-loading that responsibility to machines will bring unintended, possibly irreversible, consequences.

But as forces even McKinney and Odin don't understand begin to gather, and death rains down from above, it may already be too late to save humankind from destruction at the hands of our own technology.

©2012 Daniel Suarez (P)2012 Penguin Audio

Daniel Does it Again

This is a fantastic book. The detail is excellent. The reader does a great job.

A disturbing use of a new technology

Dan Suarez creates stories in which he imagines technology that's a little more than one step ahead of where it is today in 2012 (a statement like that needs a time stamp!).

This book follows on from earlier work, depicting a frightening abuse of a new technology. Today many countries have drone programs including Iran, and groups like Hamas. Very few Americans care when a US drone missile wipes out a terrorist and his family. It's about "bad guys" and it's a new warfare, detached, remote, fire and forget. Suarez takes this paradigm and turns it around, forcing us to consider how we'd feel being on the end of those missiles.

The plot and storyline are superb, but I didn't enjoy this book as much as Daemon and Freedom, Inc. For me it boils down to the "John Wayne" dialog, and the perpetually astonished female protagonist. I think the author can do better. The dialog started to really annoy me and became reflexive reaction as the book progressed.

That said, I really did enjoy this work and recommend it wholeheartedly. Dan Suarez embraces and extends the genre created by Clancy and Larry Bond in the 80s. Looking forward to the next one.

Awesome book!

Another great book by Daniel Suarez. If you have read his other books this is definitely a must read.

Suarez is always a winner!

Scary how some of the tech in this clearly predicted how easily it would be to use social media as a weapon. 4yrs after publication we are living in a world that weapon helped create. Crazy!!

A worthy prequel, but disappointing sequel...

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, this is a great book, especially if read before Daniel Suarez's other books Daemon and Freedom TM.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Kill Decision?

I loved the weaver ant information and references, Suarez always combines entertainment with information.

What about Jeff Gurner’s performance did you like?

Jeff Gurner did a great job in the previous books, and has in my view the perfect voice for this book.

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

I listened to this book over the course of three days and was pretty interested.

Any additional comments?

This book should have been Suarez's warm-up book, like The Hobbit before Lord of the Rings. If you plan reading all of Saurez's books read this first, as Daemon takes this to the next level.

3rd Book in trilogy? Nope!

What did you love best about Kill Decision?

Visually descriptive

What was one of the most memorable moments of Kill Decision?

Drone ship attack... suspense/visual was great! :)

Have you listened to any of Jeff Gurner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes... both in Daemon and Freedom. His performance is solid in all three books, yet is better in Daemon and Freedom

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Parts made me laugh a little, other parts were sad... this book includes relationship stuff... some is done well, others honestly feel a bit cheesy

Any additional comments?

I THOUGHT this was the 3rd book in the Daemon, Freedom, series. Daemon and Freedom are AMAZING books in the same series...Kill Decision is a great book too, and does have similar concepts, but all new characters, and one of the most relevant "characters", the Daemon, didn't exist! :(I have no problem with this fact, yet somehow I thought this was the 3rd in a series... great standalone book, but has little, if anything to do with Daemon and Freedom books

Great military thriller with some tech

Mostly military action with technical attributes. Not what I was expecting from this author but it is a great book on its own merits.

Great story

Well written, great story, great performance. Daniel has really become a great author. Must read.

Daniel Suarez does it again

I've been totally blown away by all his books. High adventure, great science fiction, with incisive social commentary embedded.
The more you know about computers, software, and the web, the more you will appreciate the quality (and seeming inevitability) of his projections into the not distant future..
I would write the same review for all his books.

Amazingly real and eye opening

What made the experience of listening to Kill Decision the most enjoyable?

While I don't read a lot of fiction I had heard of the Author through the twit network and thought I had to list to one of his books. It was amazing and I can't wait to listen to more. I really want to listen to Deamon and Feedom but they are not available on audible in my country :(.

Kill decision is very realistic and gives you a lot to think about.

What about Jeff Gurner’s performance did you like?

Jeff Gurner brought the story to life with a fantastic performance.