Kill Decision

By: Daniel Suarez

Narrated by: Jeff Gurner

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, bestselling 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.

Critic reviews

"Kill Decision really nails it...Daniel – wow – awesome."
—Brad Feld, Business Insider

"Perfectly blending nail-biting suspense with accessible science, bestseller Suarez (Daemon) establishes himself as a legitimate heir to Michael Crichton with this gripping present-day thriller."
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"This is the kind of mind-expanding novel that uses entertainment to make powerful, important points about alarming current trends; the novel as cautionary tale has rarely been better executed...Highly recommended."
— Tim O'Reilly

"Kill Decision reads like a Michael Crichton thriller..."
— Associated Press



"A confident thriller that leaves us wondering not whether its fictional premise will one day become reality, but when."
— Kirkus Review

"Daniel Suarez came out of nowhere...he self-published his first techno-thriller, Dameon, an enthralling convincing tale about a murderous AI loose on the Net. Now he has a publisher and a sequel, Freedom™. It's even better."
—Time on Freedom™

"Greatest. Techno-thriller. Period....Experts have long feared the Internet doomsday scenario; Daemon is arguably more terrifying."
—William O'Brien, former White House director of Cybersecurity and Communications Policy, on Daemon

"Daemon does for surfing the Web what Jaws did for swimming in the ocean."
— Chicago Sun-Times

"Daemon is the real deal-a scary look at what can go wrong as we depend increasingly on computer networks."
—Craig Newmark, Founder of Craigslist

“Freedom™ crackles with electrifying action scenes and bristles with intriguing ideas about a frightening, near-future world…. Daemon and Freedom™ combined form the cyberthriller against which all others will be measured.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

More Mainstream Thriller than Techno-thriller

Mr. Suarez once again weaves technological advances into this thriller, but keeps things much more grounded in today's technical advances and challenges. This story features two main characters who could represent the first in a very successful series. If you like Vince Flynn, Tom Clancy, Brad Taylor, the characters and action should be to your liking. This is the first narration I have heard by Mr. Gurner, he strives (and mostly succeeds) in bringing nuance to each character he narrates. On occasion, it seemed he did not quite bring the same accent to a known character. Overall, I found him to be engaging as a narrator. If you are a fan of Suarez, this book will surely please, if you have tried his previous work and did not find it to your liking, I encourage you to give Kill Decision a try - I expect you will be pleasantly surprised

Good, but a step back for Suarez

Is there anything you would change about this book?

This wasn't a terrible book but it wasn't Daemon. Some of the characters are bit annoying. I didn't connect with McKinney. Some of the most entertaining characters are killed off very early. Also, the book seemed to take a long time to develop any rhythm.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Increase the pace and (SPOILER ALERT) keep the Stanford team alive a bit longer. They seemed interesting.

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

Gurner is a class act when it comes to narrating.

Was Kill Decision worth the listening time?

Yes. If you like techno-thrillers that get a bit too crazy. If you liked "Swarm" you'll like this.

Scarily Plausible

Once the technology is out there its use cannot be controlled. This is a story of what could happen if commercial interest clash with the national interest. A gripping page turner that requires a minimum of suspension of belief. Definitely one of the best books I've read recently. I'll be reading more from this author.

Good..but not as good as the first two books.

This was an interesting listen as well as a fast moving story. I never landed up caring much for the protagonists though. Not sure why. The narrator was excellent. A good buy especially if you like the 'science' in "Science Fiction'

I like this Author!

This is the third book from Suarez, and it continues to be a pleasure. I like the fact that he is able to produce stand alone novels that are able to set the stage, draw me and leave me wanting more by the time I get to the final page. I will continue to look for more from this author in the future. Great Read!

Entertaining techno thriller

I've read both previous novels by Daniel Suarez and have enjoyed them quite a bit. If you like his previous work this one won't disappoint. I think Daemon is probably the best of the three.

What's really amazing is the frightening fact that reality is so close to the story of military drones in the book.

Not his best work

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Big fan of Daniel Suarez but this is not his best work. I would recommend it only after reading his earlier work.

Good action throughout.

This book was action packed. I liked the story. the narrator was great. hope for a sequel.

Interesting ideas, usually an interesting story

I grabbed this book up almost as soon as it was out as a huge fan of Daemon and its sequel Freedom TM. I was a little disappointed. Like the earlier books Kill Decision wants to explore the challenges and increasingly technological society poses to democratic society and again, as in the earlier books he manages to craft a pretty compelling thriller. His biggest problem came in making the two work together. There are fairly sizable passages of conversation where one of the other of the character feels like Daniel Suarez speaking to the reader about the dangers posed by drone warfare. If this happened in the Daemon books it was done artfully enough that I never felt it

That said, his ideas are thought provoking (though not as powerful as Daemon's) and the story is interesting. If you liked his earlier books, you will enjoy this, if not as much. Once again Jeff Gurner narrates ably

pretty good

well written and nice voice for audiobook. sometimes professor is a bit too silly which can be annoying.