Kill Decision

By: Daniel Suarez

Narrated by: Jeff Gurner

Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

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, best-selling 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.

©2012 Daniel Suarez (P)2012 Penguin Audio

High Concept Techno-Thriller

I was introduced to Daniel Suarez with Daemon but it was Freedom 2.0 that really sold me as an author to really take note of. Kill Decision feels reserved compared to the wild fantasies of Daemon, but not entirely bad. Without giving away anything, Kill Decision feels a little too plausible, diving into the idea of automated warfare in the very near future. Again, Saurez's shows his adeptness for creativity. The only short comings are the slightly predictable nature of a few characters, and an ending that leaves you waiting for the sequel.

Also smartly, Jeff Gurner narrates Suarez, in his well dramatized style (including bursting into song when reading lyrics to a song). Jeff Gurner earns his rent check and then some, making his performance enough reason to listen.

Suarez markets himself as the heir to Michael Creighton, although he's selling himself a bit short. He's the king of techno-geek-thrillers, packed with plenty of thought provoking material, I'm pretty sure Saurez is true talent, and not just a one hit wonder with the Daemon/Freedom 2.0 series. Here's to Kill Decision's inevitable sequel!

Loved it! was like the movie "Enemy of the State"

the book was fun to listen to, kept me interested the whole time and was an interesting concept. it lacked a little meat in some places as there was more i wanted to know about certain people/groups, but maybe there'll be a sequel? well worth the credit. the main hero reminded me of "mike turcotte" from the "area 51" books by bob mayer. so if you liked those...

Hood till the end

It could of had a better ending or let's just say the last 4 chapters was lacking

Great book, hard to put down

What did you love best about Kill Decision?

I found the subject matter interesting, drones. I fly RC aircraft and after reading this I started thinking about making my own drone. Hopefully not a killer swarm.

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

I listened to Jeff Gurner before with Daemon and Freedom also by Daniel Suarez. Initially with Daemon I didn't like some of the voice accents. But they grew on me and I got familiar with them. Now, as I listen to the 3rd book, I like it.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I think its a great book. It would be hard to make it a good movie, where do you start to strip out detail, its all good.

Good but not the best in cyber technology

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

Yes if they have a credit to kill and some interest in Drones

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The most was the information on ant's.

Which scene was your favorite?

battle in the desert and safe house.

Do you think Kill Decision needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

This book was set up to be a series. I would hope the next book is a little less main stream and a little edgy.

Any additional comments?

This book was a little soft comp aired to the other Daniel Suarez books. The information was good but it did not develop into a hard hitting tech novel. It is good but seemed more like a Clive Cussler story, which again is not bad just not a solid as his other work.

suspense of disbelief

It's nice to read novels that don't utterly jar my suspension of disbelief by having a poorly researched, errant scrap of technology thrown in. With 'Daemon' and 'Freedom™' and now 'Kill Decision,' Suarez shows truly remarkable knowledge and effective research. His tech is uniformly near-term possible, which makes the stories plausible and engaging. The story in 'Kill Decision' is well crafted, with tension and movement. Also, I discovered a really great place to get Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches while listening to this, so it has that positive association going for it.

Another win

Suarez continues to take high tech and show the what ifs. His books will entertain and inform. The Boeing announcement shortly after the release of this book were chilling.

Talented writer

Is there anything you would change about this book?

While I think this writer is very talented his best work was Deamon and Freedom. Kill Decision explores software and weapons gone awry. Just who controls those weapons anyhow. You'll have to read the book to discover how twisted things can get.

Another winner from Suarez

If you could sum up Kill Decision in three words, what would they be?

Provocative, memorable and engaging

What did you like best about this story?

I like the underlying message that maybe human reliance on technology could be the next great failure of society and that the basis of the destructive tech has its roots in nature lends to the believability of the story.

What about Jeff Gurner’s performance did you like?

Jeff Gurner has the perfect voice for this sort of story, could be biased having listened to his performance of the other Suarez books but his voice seems to mesh well with the voice of the author.

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

This book makes you want to re-think the way things you take for granted as good could be slanted for bad just as easily.

Any additional comments?

I would love to see a sequel to this one to find out what happens next, but this has definitely made me a Suarez fan and you can bet I will be buying anything else he writes.

Modern day Techno-thriller done well

I picked up Kill Decision largely because I am a fan of Daniel Suarez's previous two books. All three books are - to borrow a phrase - Plausible. Thats the scary part about this book. If someone were to engineer flying drones or reverse engineer our own drones and use them against us - it could and probably would have nasty consequences. This book is well written, very well read and many of the facts check out. Personally I think it would be an excellent movie as well - but perhaps its a little too accurate. If you like modern day thrillers - this is for you. Its not science fiction - its almost science fact.