Influx

By: Daniel Suarez

Narrated by: Jeff Gurner

Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

What if our civilization is more advanced than we know?

The New York Times best-selling author of Daemon - "the cyberthriller against which all others will be measured" (Publishers Weekly) - imagines a world in which decades of technological advances have been suppressed in an effort to prevent disruptive change.

Are smartphones really humanity's most significant innovation since the moon landings? Or can something else explain why the bold visions of the 20th century - fusion power, genetic enhancements, artificial intelligence, cures for common diseases, extended human life, and a host of other world-changing advances - have remained beyond our grasp? Why has the high-tech future that seemed imminent in the 1960s failed to arrive?

Perhaps it did arrive…but only for a select few.

Particle physicist Jon Grady is ecstatic when his team achieves what they've been working toward for years: A device that can reflect gravity. Their research will revolutionize the field of physics - the crowning achievement of a career. Grady expects widespread acclaim for his entire team. The Nobel Prize. Instead, his lab is locked down by a shadowy organization whose mission is to prevent at all costs the social upheaval sudden technological advances bring. This Bureau of Technology Control uses the advanced technologies they have harvested over the decades to fulfill their mission.

They are living in our future.

Presented with the opportunity to join the BTC and improve his own technology in secret, Grady balks, and is instead thrown into a nightmarish high-tech prison built to hold rebellious geniuses like himself. With so many great intellects confined together, can Grady and his fellow prisoners conceive of a way to usher humanity out of its artificial dark age?

And when they do, is it possible to defeat an enemy that wields a technological advantage half a century in the making?

©2014 Daniel Suarez (P)2014 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"You'll hear a lot of reviewers compare Suarez to [Michael] Crichton, including me for his previous book Kill Decision. And Suarez deserved the honor in the truest sense...he had achieved a truly Crichton-level of storytelling. But with Influx, Suarez becomes the master, and Crichton is the one who is honored by the comparison." (Stephen L. Macknik, Scientific American)

"[Influx is] done with the dazzling sophistication, the play of ideas, the hints of a new understanding almost within our grasp that characterize sci-fi in the cybertronic age." (The Wall Street Journal)

“With this terrifying thriller, Suarez provides further support for the proposition that he’s a worthy successor to the late Michael Crichton… Suarez once again mixes science and fiction perfectly.”(Publishers Weekly, starred review)

Another Suarez Thriller

An exciting techno-roller caster ride! Fast paced with well drawn characters formed into a riveting story
Don't miss this

Influx

Any additional comments?

Written by Daniel Suarez, narrated by Jeff Gurner, 13 hrs and 45 mins, an unabridged audiobook released in 2014.

Influx is a wonderfully creative story, unlike anything I’ve read in recent years. A nasty, covert organization takes it upon themselves to protect humanity from technology advances. Brilliant scientists (Think Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, etc.) are abducted and imprisoned so that their technology inventions and research are deep-sixed … the rest of the world isn’t smart enough to reign in these advances … like fusion or gravity controls, immortality … we all need protection from our own intelligence and innovations. Example … there is a cure for cancer. But, isn’t cancer a method of population control? The earth couldn’t support a population bloom resulting from cancer cures, right? Thus is the thrust. That, and a greedy control freak is in charge.

There is considerably geeky high-tech that readers smarter than me may understand, but much of the science is way over my head. Sort of like Andy Weir’s Martian. Lots of scientific explanations … too many for my taste and frankly, a bit boring. But there is also considerable advanced thinking of technology of the future … fun to imagine. According to Daniel Suarez, we've moved forward a lot, we just don’t know it … smart phones and Facebook are a joke!! If you’re a bit squeamish, be aware there are some gruesome torture scenes vividly described, nothing sexual but ewwwww.

Jeff Gurner is enthusiastic in narration, albeit a bit slow for my taste - bumped it up to 1.5. Male and female voices are fine and you’ll have no trouble discerning who-says-what-to-who.

The story is wild and dystopian science fiction; if you enjoy stretching your imagination with this genre, you’ll enjoy Influx.

Technology held hostage!

This story will leave you thinking "what if" before you reach the end. The technology in the book is well beyond what we have now, even in secret. But there are many that believe something similar to the operations in the book is already go on in secret in order to keep the planet's population down, avoid world wide famine and to prevent technology with massive destructive potential from getting into the hands of bad actors. That group of people are especially going to like this tale.

The story is well written and well narrated. There is quite a bit of suspense that will keep you engaged through out the length of the book. Some may find the "rogue government agency out of control" a bit cliche, but I think it works here.

This one does indeed make the miles go by fast.

Next Major Motion Sci-fi movie?

This audio book was so entertaining.
this would make an epic Netflix series.

I could really enjoy getting into this world and unpacking all of its creative levels and character development.

The story feel like it really could happen. Then you start wondering to what degree this conspiracy is actually playing out in real life.

The narrator was great too. some female gender voices could use some work. Yet, at other intense moments I felt like I was there in the room with the characters. The combination of text and performance brought it to a higher level.

I'll be looking for more work by both the author AND the narrator.

I want sequels and prequels and spin offs of each of the characters and the science and the scientists and their industries and their inventions. then imagine how they all influence one another.

This book leaves you wanting more, in a good way.

You won't regret this one

This is the second story from Suarez, I've read, after Delta V, and once again I loved it. Looking forward to checking out more of his work.

Fantastic Book!

This is another excellent book by Suarez that does not disappoint!
Fantastic story, voices, and technological prowess!
I highly recommend this book!

Love the story and performance.

Very entertaining and enjoyable. I could do without the cussing and especially the constant use of GD.

Stolen future

The future is in this book. If the things in this book don't exist yet, they probably will.

Excellent.

im not a pro critic... just a person who enjoys a good read. orher reviews ive seen on this made me hesitate. I had read 2 of the authors other 5 star novels and did not want to mess up the track record - BUT... this didnt dissappoint. Could easily listen a second time.

slow in very beginning, but dragged me inexorably

I was very pleasantly surprised how the book took a turn into first making me giddy about the possible invention of a device we have not been able to development, got me totally interested in that, and then the book took a big left turn into something that was even more captivating. I would recommend this book.