Pyramid Lake

By: Paul Draker

Narrated by: Gabriel Vaughan

Length: 16 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

At a top secret research laboratory in Nevada, DARPA's most advanced artificial intelligence can read your darkest secrets and hidden intentions right off your face.

The technology's manipulative inventor, however, fears no future big brother surveillance state. He built it for his own secret reasons - and now there is no untruth he won't tell, no subterfuge he won't pull, to help his estranged young daughter.

To protect his troubled little girl, Trevor Lennox will change our world. He will give Amy what no one else can: a world without lies. But there are some secrets that should stay buried forever...When the base around him erupts in murder and mayhem, Trevor himself must face the horrifying truth.

The lies we tell ourselves can be the deadliest of all....

©2014 Paul Draker (P)2015 Paul Draker

must listen

I would do anything to save money my child but I would not hurt others it seems to me he was very rude and treated people poorly he didn't care what he said or did. I did not like him
but it was a very good book

a mix of science fiction, thriller and horror

Trevor Lennox, a very brilliant computer engineer working at the Top Secret research laboratory of DARPA, creates a very powerful computer, able to read micro expressions and discern whether people are telling the truth or not. Trevor is an antisocial and violent person, but his goal in life is to fight for the greater good, to create a world without lies, so that her seven year old daughter will be able to have a normal life despite her issues. Trevor names his computer Frankenstein, and it slowly becomes more and more powerful and smart. Things start to get complicated when several people appear dead in the most gruesome ways at the Top Research facility.

This book is full of geeky and highly technological details, delighting those who enjoy programming on their computer, but maybe boring those who are not interested in this. But do not be deceived, this book is also much more. It is a mix of science fiction, thriller and horror, with some elements of Indian lore. The story is quickly paced, and it has several unexpected twists that will leave you open-mouthed. Trevor is one of the less likable people in the world, reckless, rude, violent, and with a very high IQ, but as we start to know him more, we see that he has good reasons, while maybe not the right means to pursue his goals.

This is quite a long book, but it will not bore you, and I wished I did not have to sleep or work so that I could continue listening to it. Frankenstein's name is not just a coincidence, this story has many parallelisms with Mary Shelley's but it is also a different one.

Some secondary characters are one-dimensional but the main ones have strong personalities and they are alive. Gabriel Vaughan becomes each one of them making the story easily to follow. The emotions are palpable and the narration is fluid. Gabriel Vaughan does a good job at holding your attention without letting go. I noticed slight changes in a couple of audio inserts but nothing too distracting.

If you are into geek stuff, heard about terms such as Touring test or SSH, and enjoy an action packed book with science fiction and horror elements, this book is for you. If violent and gore scenes is not your thing, you may want to pass on this one.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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A twisted tense thriller...

OMG, this books is so totally twisted. It is a tense suspense / thriller filled with hours and hours of fantastic drama, action and humor too. It is a conspiracy of the worst kind and life as we know it could come to an end! I was very much impressed with this book and found myself gripping the arms of my chair many times. The ending is mind blowing.

Trevor Lennox is building the most sophisticated computer ever. A super computer that can think like a human. As great plans go, something always goes wrong.... I highly recommend this book, you won't be disappointed! I loved all the twists and turns this story took me through! Every time I thought that had to be all that could happen, more things would happen. There is no way anyone can guess how this will turn out!

The author, Paul Draker did a fantastic job writing this book. It is original, refreshing and never a dull moment in it. What an incredible imagination it took to write this. The narrator, Gabriel Vaughn nailed the delivery of this story. With so many different voices and accents. I found this book to be very entertaining and I could see it happening in real life too!

I received this audio book as a gift so I could review it.

Move over Shelley its the 21st century

Any additional comments?

If you find technology interesting and you like to jump in the dark, then Paul Draker ‘s Pyramid Lake should be at the top of your list. The book has everything that you need and nothing that you don’t for a thrilling and thought provoking hi-tech who-dun-it. Mary Shelley would have been entranced by Pyramid Lake as it bends the classic Frankenstein theme flawlessly to the 21st century.

Like Shelley, Draker intelligently explores the inner workings of the human psyche (and the human skull for that matter) and applies contemporary technology with ultra believable detail. As in Draker’s previous work, New Year Island, Pyramid Lake is not for the weak of heart or bladder. The book starts tamely and moves on to hit hard and with unexpected twists that get a bit graphic, all the while keeping the reader wondering who is about to jump out and bite. No spoilers here, but in the end, the book really makes you stop and think about humans and technology…wow

Gabriel Vaughan brings Draker’s characters to life with realistic sounding voice adaptations and accents. His pace and consistency is spot-on which drew me into the story and never distracted. Kudos to Vaughan for consistency in a book with o so many twists, turns and pops. His portrayal of Trevor Lennox, the emotionally unconnected but brilliant lead character was so good I could clearly imagine Trevor's every small expression.

I would highly recommend both Pyramid Lake and Vaughan , my only complaint is that there is no more read. My vote…bring on the sequel!

this book was terrible

Trevor, our protagonist in this lame techno-drama is as unlikable and unrealistic as any character I've ever read. how Paul Draker got this book published is a mystery to me. absolute garbage.

I never write reviews, but this one was so bad.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Nothing

Has Pyramid Lake turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, just this author

Would you be willing to try another one of Gabriel Vaughan’s performances?

no

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It ended. I should have returned it when I first thought about it, after the first 1-2 hours.

Any additional comments?

This is one of the worst audio books I have ever listened to, and I have been doing this for over 15 years.

Don't be fooled into buying this one!

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

No one would enjoy this unless they really haven't had much experience listening to well-written, well-performed audio books.

Would you ever listen to anything by Paul Draker again?

Doubt it.

Would you be willing to try another one of Gabriel Vaughan’s performances?

I would try to avoid him too. He does such a strange voice for female characters that it is really distracting.

What character would you cut from Pyramid Lake?

Trevor - the main character - was terribly written.

Any additional comments?

This author had an excellent premise but incredibly terrible execution. The amount of repetition was unbelievable. How many times does he have to say he is doing it all for the daughter? I won't let my daughter down again? Over and over. And the techno-babble in regards to computers which spills over to babble about guns was unnecessary. And the characters were so one-dimensional and cliche. The main character was SOOO scarey and SUCH a bad-ass and good at everything. He was brilliant but he could fight and he was so devoted to his daughter. I don't mind swearing but the main character would swear and be annoying and it made no sense. Just so terribly written. I wanted to like it but that was impossible.
(and I didn't even get in to the author's weird agendas - slamming government, slamming psychiatry - it just seemed petty and ill informed)