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)

Lives up to the hype!

When I see a mention of the author being the next heir apparent to Michael Crichton, I go in seriously skeptical. Fortunately, Influx more than lived up to this potential and is ranked as a favorite in my library.

great book ... more cussing than i prefer

the intellect of this book almost scared me off at first, almost like the author was trying too hard to be einstein ... but i stayed the course and was rewarded with a fine and addictive sci-fi adventure!

Daniel Suarez Rocks!

Innovative ideas about innovative tech. If you like sci fi about tech get this book. If you liked Daemon then you'll also like Influx. If you havent read Daemon, then GET DAEMON NOW! :D

Ride up was fun, ride down pretty predicatable

What did you like best about this story?

Mr. Suarez has some fun thought experiments at the beginning of the story to do with technology and it's advancement. Loved the first several chapters and the "big ideas" baked in to the characters and their situation.

Any additional comments?

The book runs out of good ideas and the second half is pretty procedural. Not bad, just not terribly original.

I really liked this!

I thoroughly enjoyed this from the very beginning! The general idea is buyable the way it is presented. Much serious tech without turning into a text book. Bravo!

Amazing Book!

Daniel Suarez did an amazing job. Addicting and captivating story. Although it starts off rough,bexpecially if u dont know the jargon, it quickly comes down to Earth and becomes a book u dont want to put down.

They make fantasy a reality with "Flying" amongst other things


A HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BOOK!

An Adventure into the Unknown

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

The story moves much faster using audible.

What other book might you compare Influx to and why?

Adromeda Strain was a story ahead of its time. Likewise, Influx opens your mind to new possibilities of discovery. Other books that are comparable are "The Matrix" and "Avatar".

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

The narrator makes the story easier to follow.

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

I was amazed at how Daniel Suarez could write a book with vivid terms that described the unknown.

Any additional comments?

I am looking forward to reading other books by Daniel Suarez. He's a great writer.

excellent

Good story, good characters... spent a little too much time setting things up early, but if you make it through, it gets good

Little guy against secret government department

This is very typical Suarez stuff if you have read any of his other books. And like the other books it is very entertaining. In this case Suarez has woven a "world within our world" where the true state of technology is actively suppressed by a government group so powerful even our own government can't stop it. When one scientist refuses to play along, the stage is set for a technological David vs Goliath story. Put in a nice love story, some secret resistance group stuff and an AI who can't decide which side to support and you have a great yarn.

Good techno thriller

Would you listen to Influx again? Why?

I might listen to it again with a friend because while I like the book its good book to read once, but listen to it a second time with someone else to experience through their experience for the first time.

If you’ve listened to books by Daniel Suarez before, how does this one compare?

this is my first book.

What about Jeff Gurner’s performance did you like?

I like how his voice action mad each character sound different, how he made what the character was saying and doing be reflected in their voices like when someone falls away in the distance the sound fades out. Also they went an extra step and all artificial voices like radio and robots all sound like they are coming through some kind of artificial sound source. They even added music to certain moments in the book to add emotion. I thought that was really an improvement. I wish all books did that.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes, but I can't mention it without spoilers.

Any additional comments?

While I understand others reviews about this book being negative especially the science parts, I feel their a little unjust since this isn't really science fiction as much as a science thriller acting in the guise of science fiction. So I can forgive the lapse in science to tell a good story. Others also rage about the stereotyped characters, but stereotypes exist for a reason and I found that a lot of those characters are very believable for our world and government developing the way it did and dose even to this day. So I personally had no problem with them. Give this book a try. Its at least as good as a once watch summer blockbuster.