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)

Next time you stop by, could you do me a favor?

"Next time you stop by, could you do me a favor? Tell me how deep the water is." LOL

Alexa alert! One of the main characters is Alexa and kind of messed with my Echo device a couple of times when her name was mentioned, most of the book i listened to on headphones so I cannot say how big of a problem it would be for someone who only listened to the book through Alexa. Funny that this is something an author will need to consider in the future when developing a character.

Well written, science was a little over my head, but can't hold that against the author LOL. This was my first experience with both Daniel Suarez or Jeff Gurner, they are very well paired and I hope to hear more from both of them. I would go so far as to say that Jeff is in my top 3 favorite narrators at this time. The character Jon Grady was fantastic, really easy to like and relate to, I could really feel and share his emotions throughout the book, a lot of that is due to a fantastic performance by Jeff Gurner. I listened to this book back to back which is rare for me, If there is a sequel I'll be all over it, hope you enjoy it too.

you gotta have patience

I literally was about to return this book when I started reading ut. basically hated it in the beginning. nothing was making sense. i decided to gove it one last shot and it soon becam my fave! had to have patience with the beginning.

loved all the twists and I didnt even think cotton(im not sure if this is how its spelled) will become my favorite character.

one of the best sci fi I have ever read!!

hated alexa's voice and also the other robotic voices. needs improvements on that.

Worth a listen

Some parts are well written, believable and engaging. Other sections are too wild or uneven. But it’s worth sticking with it, even if the end seems a bit rushed.

A great story for a summer escape

This is a unique story for a lazy summer escape.
I have not escaped into a story like this in many years.
It is exactly what a summer book should be, an escape into fiction.
The real world we be there when the book is over so just let your mind escape

needs better characters

the characters had little to no chemistry also the only thing interesting was the torture

well done on al fronts, As speculative fiction go

well done on al fronts, As speculative fiction goes, this is what I hope to read. enough hard science to make tvigs plausible.

A nice departure from generic science fiction

Loved the story and the performance. This is a nice departure from genetic science fiction where the aur tries to explain the science that his fiction is based on. a really marvelous job detailing the science behind the various concepts used in the book. loved it.

Not Bad....needed more character development

This wasn't a bad story line actually, and if the author had made the characters a little more personable, i could have felt more involved. When I read a story, i need to connect strongly with some of the characters so that i can share thier trials and tribulations and their joy, sadness, or sorrow. This wasnt quite the case. So, if character development isn't on your "must have" list, then you will probably enjoy this story. I don't regret reading it at all...

Fantastic book!

Would you listen to Influx again? Why?

I couldn't put it down, I will listen to this again. What a super listen. What a wonderful imagination.

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

I have not, but look forward to getting another book.

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

Yes again I could stop listening to this book. I got through it over a weekend and now I'm sorry it done.

Any additional comments?

I couldn't put it down. What a super listen. What a wonderful imagination.

Interesting during first part, later action like a comic book

I would not recommend this book unless you really like comic books. It starts off well enough with the premise that very gifted inventors are located and stopped by a secret US agency in order to slow down technological advance for the sake of social stability. I found the initial “discovery” phase of the book to be captivating, but then the latter part with the struggle against the bureau was completely over the top and felt jarring, like if a thriller turned into a superhero comic book.

Also, the antagonist organisation seemed extremely understaffed. I never felt that there were any people there except the director, the head of security and the female agent. I KNOW there were others, but there was no sense of an organisation, just a few people running around.

So, somewhat fun to read, but if you think this is like Daemon or Freedom, it’s not at all as good.

Good narration, very consistent, but not a favourite. I liked the use of minor sound effects for certain voices/situations.