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

took me 30 minutes to realize this wasn't Daemon 3

Not like the daemon series. Characters were not at all interesting, more of the same stuff without the interesting character development. I don't understand how this book gets an average of 4.3 - I did however love the Daemon books I hope the author continues with that series.

Incredibly well researched, very plausible Scifi

Technical details initially descried in this book about various algorithm / sw development / hw / hacking of phones .. etc are very well researched. I was very impressed how well author is able convey the information to the reader while still making it interesting. I can get into details, but it will get boring : )

Character development is great that user will get to know the main characters and their motivations by the end of the book. Book is pretty fast paced even with technical details it remains interesting. I would describe the story as very plausible fiction.

My only gripe (which is really minor) about the book is that antagonist were not as well defined as I would have liked. Mostly it felt like “they are pulling the strings”, “They are causing this”. Again, it is a very minor gripe.

Narration works well in the context of this book which has a military overtone.

I enjoyed the book, and I will be looking to pick up other books by Daniel Suarez that I am very impressed with the researched put into this book

Truly an action packed read.

If you could sum up Kill Decision in three words, what would they be?

thought-provoking, action-packed, and entertaining

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

Early in the book was a surprise twist that laid the framework for the entire book. I don't want to give away anything to a potential reader, but it occurred on the Standford Univ campus.

What about Jeff Gurner’s performance did you like?

He did a terrific job of narrating: easy to keep up with the different characters in their conversations.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I would not make a film of this book.

Any additional comments?

Great read, but the author left too many loose strings for my taste: characters introduced and played a role but then left without mention; lead players in one spot only to appear later in another locale without any explanation; characters introduced without a definition of their importance to the plot. This is a very entertaining book, and I enjoyed the political discussions that took place, even though they got a little nerdy in places when hi tech lingo was used.

Wow!

Scary that this is even remotely possible in real life. Very timely and incredibly well written
As always!

So-so story

I'm not sorry i listened to this, but not sure i'll seek the author out again either... It was a little slow and mechanical in parts, and a bit predictable.

If you have a credit to burn...

Liked his other books better, but if you like his stories and you have a credit to burn it's a good option

Dale Brown has a rival

If you like Dale Brown you will like this book. Contemporaneous ideas and concepts worthy of a good listen. The naivete of one of the characters was overdone, but in balance was easy to overlook.

Another hit

Another hit from Daniel Suarez and Jeff Gurner. Well done and well read. Good stuff

Another Interesting Premise

The scary thing about Daemon, Freedom (TM) and now Kill Decision, is that the premise dances in and out of the realm of possibility. The concept of autonomous drones, when you really think about it, is frightfully close to reality. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Suarez got his idea from some kind of defense industry newspaper or something.

That being said, I'm definitely dinging this book for the stilted, seemingly forced and entirely unbelievable "romantic tension" the author sought to insert. I could see it coming, but I never bought it.

I think this book is well worth the credit, though not a book I'm likely to listen to again. I will continue to download books by this author.

As good as Crichton, maybe better

Suarez' prose is about as clean as Crichton's. Both have compelling ideas, interesting technology, and plenty of action. But Suarez' characters are better. This book reminds me of Crichton's PREY, though it in no way borrows from it. KILL DECISION is completely original, and twists in unexpected directions. Now I am listening to Suarez' CHANGE AGENT,. which reminds me of Crichton's NEXT. Whereas iCrichton's book is a mishmash of loose plot threads that fail to connect, CHANGE AGENT is, so far, more coherent and better plotted. Though comparisons between thriller authors and Crichton are annoyingly frequent and have, in my opinion, lost all credibility, Suarez demands comparison because, frankly, they are so very similar. Suarez is that one author who, for me, stands out from the rest. My only criticism, which is a criticism of Crichton's later work too, is that there are too many F-bombs. Other than that, bravo!