Utopia

By: Lincoln Child

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 18 hrs

Publisher's summary

Fasten your seat belts - the white-knuckle thrills at Utopia, the world’s most fantastic theme park, escalate to nightmare proportions in this intricately imagined techno-thriller by New York Times best-selling author Lincoln Child.

Rising out of the stony canyons of Nevada, Utopia is a world on the cutting edge of technology. A theme park attracting 65,000 visitors each day, its dazzling array of robots and futuristic holograms make it a worldwide sensation. But ominous mishaps are beginning to disrupt the once flawless technology. A friendly robot goes haywire, causing panic, and a popular roller coaster malfunctions, nearly killing a teenage rider. Dr. Andrew Warne, the brilliant computer engineer who designed much of the park’s robotics, is summoned from the East Coast to get things back on track.

On the day Warne arrives, however, Utopia is caught in the grip of something far more sinister. A group of ruthless criminals has infiltrated the park’s computerized infrastructure, giving them complete access to all of Utopia’s attractions and systems. Their communication begins with a simple and dire warning: If their demands are met, none of the 65,000 people in the park that day will ever know they were there; if not, chaos will descend, and every man, woman, and child will become a target.

As one of the brains behind Utopia, Warne finds himself thrust into a role he never imagined - trying to save the lives of thousands of innocent people. And as the minutes tick away, Warne’s struggle to outsmart his opponents grows ever more urgent, for his only daughter is among the unsuspecting crowds in the park.

Lincoln Child evokes the technological wonders of Utopia with such skill and precision it is hard to believe the park exists only in the chapters of this extraordinary book. Like Jurassic Park, Utopia sweeps listeners into a make-believe world of riveting suspense, technology, and adventure.

Utopia - where technology dazzles - and then turns deadly!

©2002 Lincoln Child (P)2002 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Child proves he is capable of fireworks (literally) at the rousing conclusion." (Publishers Weekly)
"The blend of technological jargon and suspense results in a real thrill-a-minute read." (Booklist)

Loved it

My husband and I are both computer nerds and the technology described in the book kept me mesmorized. If you are not a computer nerd, it is still a good story, but that was the best part for me.

I would recommend for anyone. It was a very good suspense book and I would listen to it again.

Theme Park Thriller

This was the first book by author Lincoln Child and it is a thriller. A page turning, thriller. You can see some of the hallmarks that will later show in the Pendergast series, most notably the well educated villain whose individual eyes are a different color. A theme park is held hostage by a well armed and highly trained team who are after the tech the park is based on. The park is the design of a well read mind, though it would be hard to see young people, geeks and nerds in awe of lands based on Victorian London, a future section based on 50s sci-fi and wizards not named Harry Potter in Camelot. It was written before geeks and nerds took over the box office with Superheroes. Few would have seen Marvel and Lucasfilm being bought by Disney. Star Wars and Star Trek still had huge followings as well. I put that aside and just went with it. Well written, fast paced and a thrill a minute, this is a great book. The only other issue I had (besides the selection of park topics), is the fact that we never learned the backstory of the villain. It was only alluded to. There should have been a section to wrap up what happened afterward. It mentioned the hero and his friends but not how things changed or what was found. That's unfortunate. Scott Brick handled the narration beautifully.

Great story and terrific performance!

Never a dull moment. Loved every minute of the plot twists and awesome details. The performance is wonderful.

Superb Voice Performance

Big fan already of Child and his work with Preston so decided to grab this. Not at all disappointed. Very good story, paced pretty well with great narration/reading.

Good Read

Good book, kept me interested all the way thru. LOVE Scott Brick, I'd listen to anything he read.

Not what was expected

I was a little disappointed with this title, to tell the truth. I really did not like the narrator. He was annoying. Being a huge disney fan, I really wanted to like this story. But it just wasn't my cup of tea. It wasn't terrible, just not that engrossing. But other readers may enjoy it. I just didn't find it plausible.

As always these authors don't disappoint!

This storyline is interesting from the beginning! I love the performance it stayed interesting and entertaining.

Amusement Park of the Future

Any additional comments?

I have read all of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's collaborative books and loved them all, but this is the first audiobook I've listened to by either author. The story had just as many twists and turns as some of the new-age roller coaster rides it featured. Lots of technology references that helped to make the script believable. Enjoyed all the elements that were made into possibilities of a futuristic amusement park... Scott Brick is a superb narrator, capable of bring the emotions of the characters to the forefront of the listening experience. You could sense the excitement of the throngs of people waiting in line to experience the thrill of a new ride just being introduced into the park. I would recommend it to any reader that enjoy's the works of Preston & Child, but without giving the plot away... would caution not to read it if you are planning a visit to an amusement park in the near future!

Okay, but plodding

I did enjoy the book, let me be clear on that, but it took a long time for any real action to take place with the main characters. I did like Andrew Warne as a person, but I found the character indecisive and felt that there was too much time spent in his head. The amount of second-guessing he did, while understandable within the context of the events in the book, were tiresome after a while.
There was one major issue with the recording, and that was that there were 4 instances that I counted where the author repeated a line; a minor issue, but annoying all the same. This was jarring when trying to get into the world of the novel and lose yourself in it.
Over all a good book, and I definitely do not regret buying it.

Greatest

Recommend this one to everyone! Loved it! I did not want the story to end.