The Singularity Race

By: Mark de Castrique

Narrated by: Eric Bryan Moore

Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

The Singularity - the looming point of no return when Artificial Intelligence surpasses human cognitive abilities, with consequences no one can foresee, and only a handful of people understand.

Rusty Mullins, ex-Secret Service, has never heard of the Singularity. He only knows that after the deadly challenges of his last job for security firm Prime Protection, he swore he'd stop risking his life on assignments. Then his good friend Ted Lewison, head of Prime Protection, asks him back for a routine mission guarding Chinese scientist Dr. Lisa Li and her seven-year-old nephew, Peter, and Mullins agrees.

The conference on AI bringing Dr. Li to Washington, DC, is barely under way when a team of assassins storms the room. The carnage is great but Mullins saves Dr. Li and Peter while the attackers kill the two other AI experts, along with Lewison.

His widow begs Mullins to uncover the power behind the group claiming credit for the assassinations. Is "Double H" homegrown, or part of a larger international conspiracy? Enter eccentric tech billionaire Robert Brentwood who requests Mullins continue to guard Dr. Li and Peter. Brentwood seeks the Singularity and believes Dr. Li holds the key. Mullins agrees in exchange for running his investigation through Brentwood's extraordinary computer resources.

The quest leads him on an unexpected path from Naval Intelligence and the Oval Office to a secret research lab in the North Carolina mountains. No one can be trusted - the race for the Singularity is a global winner-takes-all contest.

Yet, terrifyingly, a machine with capacity exceeding human intelligence can outstrip all controls while possessing no moral or ethical brakes. As the AI stakeholders go all out, Mullins must face his own singularity - the point of no return - when not just he but his family and Dr. Li's will become casualties in what amounts to war.

©2016 Poisoned Pen Press (P)2017 Poisoned Pen Press

Very entertaining and enjoyable

The synopsis tells you everything you need to know about the story except that’s it's very entertaining and definitley worth your time. It pulled me in immediately and held my complete attention from start to finish. It's a well written fast paced story with plenty of suspense, mystery and intrigue that keeps you on your toes and the edge of your seat at the same time. It keeps you guessing , you are never quite sure what is going to happen next. What happens when the technology becomes "aware". At some point that line is going to be crossed. In todays world with the leaps and bounds in technology this story will make you stop and think.

Great cast of likable and well rounded characters. All of them. Each one is distinct and has a unique personality. They all have a purpose or place in the story. There are not a bunch of needless characters running around. Which makes the story that much more enjoyable. Even though all the characters were great, I have to say Peter stole the show for me.

Eric Bryan Moore is just a pleasure to listen to no matter what he is narrating. He has one of those voices that just pulls you into a story and makes it come to life. His narration is clearly spoken with a nice even pace. Great character voices and accents. Both male and female. Each character voice was distinct. Even his voice for Peter was fantastic. The transition between character voices flows seamlessly. He brought the characters and their emotions to life. Very enjoyable.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily provided this review.

A topic of Interest

This is a topic that interest me very much, it was a great read with lots of twist and turns.
Some great characters that had you invested in them and their future.
Narrative was spot on, very enjoyable to listen.

The Singularity Race

This is a fun edge of your seat fast paced book. Someone is taking out scientist. And when ex secret service agent Rusty Mullins private detail is targeted he can't let it go. He must protect her at all cost and use all his resources to find out who is behind this attack. The story line is well developed an very creative. I loved the unique fake walls. The book narration is fantastic.

Wow, hang on to your seat!

Fast paced, well-written story that will keep you guessing all the while saying to yourself,crap this could happen! I received a copy of this book for an honest review, and in this instance I am happy to be able to give it a 5 star review. The characters are well written and the performance by Eric Bryan Moore brings them to life. I loved the voicing of the characters- spot on. A great listen and well worth your time and a credit.

Edge of your seat thrill ride

This is another book I chose to listen to simply because of the narrator. The author is new to me no longer! I loved this book and plan to listen to everything else from this author asap; though, I plan to start with "The 13th Target" because I'm told that's where the main character in "The Singularity Race" made his debut.
"The Singularity Race" is a fast paced, edge of your seat thrill ride that keeps you guessing. I was pulled in from the very first scene and couldn't put it down. Luckily, I started it on a Saturday night because I ended up staying up all night to listen straight through! Excellent book! The narration is fabulous, too! Eric Bryan Moore does an outstanding job giving each character a unique voice, even the female voices and child voices are perfect! Overall, its an awesome book with stellar narration that's most definitely worth a listen! I received a review copy at my request and voluntarily reviewed.

Suspense filled thriller

With Eric Bryan Moore narrating this techno thriller, I knew I was in for an incredible listen. What I didn't expect was how engrossed into this book I would get. From the very start, the character of Rusty Mullins took me into his world to find the killer of his friend, and the possibility of a super smart computer. There are so many well developed sub plots that all intertwine making this an incredible whodunnit. So many times I thought I knew the villain, but Mark de Castrique would introduce a new fact or character, changing the entire answer. From the Oval Office to the Navy, to the billionaire's compound in North Carolina there is no one to trust, lots of information to sift through and of course, Apollo the ultimate computer to watch become smarter. There is family to protect, Dr. Li with her son Peter(he steals the show) with her own secrets, the President of the United States, assassins, burner phones, baseball games, secret meetings, secret service agents, and so much more to make this thriller full of mystery and intrigue. The scary part of this whole book is how true it could be in today's world. That fact made the book that much more exciting and I had to find out how it ended.

Eric Bryan Moore gives his narration the flexibility needed in a book like this. He is able to to take the rough sound of a detective type voice and flip to the Chinese woman of Dr. Li with seamless transitions. You can hear his ability to convey the surprise, fear, sadness and enthusiasm throughtout this book depending on the context of the situation. Add in Peter at age 7 and you can appreciate the talent of his performance.

AI is outthere

Well this book was simply great. It had all fiction, facts, suspense, a bit of romance…i must be honest i did have a bit of a hard time follow all the characters mentioned in the first couple of chapters, but all was crystalized in chapter 4/5 and after that it goes smoothly. So don’t be discouraged.

I was trying to figure out who the perpetrator was from beginning and somewhere in the middle i had my eye on one character and i was right, happy happy me . I loved the story there was a main stream story regarding the AI and the super computer and the side-lines story of dr. Li and her nephew. I also loved the ending which was perfect, it gave closure to everything in a very subtle way, nothing actually ended but everything began from start. The narration as always by this narrator was superb, how he gave every characters his own voice and it sounds that it doesn’t take him an ounce of effort. Really recommend this book. Enjoy

The Singularity Race

The premise of this book is AI infiltrating and taking over the digital world was realistic and a bit scary. I love the protagonist Rusty and the other characters were developed well and relatable. It was very suspenseful at times and not easy to see how the ending would play out.

What a ride!!

This was my first Mark de Castrique, and I wasn't sure what to expect. Somewhat familiar with the current AI developments, I thought he did a perfect job of eerily mixing fact with fiction. He didn't get too "techie," at least not for me, but made it real enough, with real factual information to make it feel real. The use of real companies and even the current "Deep Learning" AI that is currently being used in cars, tablets, cellphones, etc, make this story feel all too real. Clearly, the author did his homework. Mix in ex-secret service agent turned security agent, Rusty Mullins, and we have us one heck of a mystery. Rusty is not some 20-30 something year old pin-up detective, which made him all the more interesting. He was older, wiser, more experienced and cool under pressure. Just the person you want guarding your back when your life is in danger and you have no idea who is friend or foe. Friends are enemies and enemies are friends.

This book was chosen as a group listen, and I just can't wait to get started talking about so many aspects of it. Characters were intriguing, mystery well thought out with me wanting to move faster to find out what was going to happen next, but not wanting to miss a thing.
And the narration! Not my first listen of EBM. He always brings something to a narration that makes it enjoyable, and yet he still always seems to surprise me. His narration of the kids was great, and spot on. He grabbed you from the beginning with Rusty, making you become enthralled with the quiet, humble man who loved his family and was just doing his job, but that was clearly the hero. EBM played each character with such realism, it was hard not to get caught up in their fears, concerns, and anxieties. I loved it and want more. This should be a series.