The December Protocol

By: Devin Hanson

Narrated by: Rhett Samuel Price

Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

For Amazon best-selling author Devin Hanson, the question is not how to achieve immortality, the question is what happens when we do?

Throughout the entirety of history, humanity has fought against sickness, old age, frailty, even death itself hoping for eternal life. Countless legends and stories share the same hunt: extend our lifetimes beyond the impossibly brief moment we have. Hanson imagines life beyond those legends and stories - a solar system where humanity has discovered the secret to immortal life, at an extreme cost. What horrors await a society that rests an economy on the most scarce resource man has ever known - eternal life?

Join The December Protocol in following three characters uniquely affected by the most amazing technological change humanity has ever experienced. Min, an ageless Earth-born marshal older than the very Martian colonies he fights to enforce a brittle and bleak law upon. Angeline, a young girl terrified by the social and scientific necessities prompted by the promise of eternal life. Marcus, a man brought to his knees by that emperor of all maladies, cancer, willing to pay the ultimate price for perfect health through immortality.

The December Protocol rockets the listener into the late 24th century and raises thrilling questions about how far mankind would go to preserve the most precious gift we've ever received: immortality.

©2017 Devin Hanson (P)2018 Devin Hanson

Entertaining And Thought-Provoking

The December Protocol was a unique story and challenged the listener to consider the morality of immortality. Would you want to live forever at another's expense? Is your life more valuable than someone else's? And just what lengths would you go to in achieving it?

Aside from the moral questions, this was a very entertaining and action-packed listen. The time just flew by as I was completely immersed in the story. With great writing, interesting characters and the occasional humor, I just couldn't stop listening. Rhett Samuel Price's narration was a definite highlight, with terrific character voices and pacing. He kept me engaged throughout and enhanced my listening experience. I was really wowed by The December Protocol and would recommend it.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This review is my honest opinion.

Damn entertaining

I am not usually a fan of contemporary science fiction but this book came recommended and I am happy to say it didn’t disappoint. The story draws you in and the characters are anything but one dimensional. I can’t say much without giving too much away but it was a wonderful ride and I’ll keep an eye out for new books by this author.

Fast Paced Sci-Fi

Great classic sci-fi takes place on Mars, where a procedure is legal for prolonging life indefinitely - but at a cost. This story takes you into the underground world of body snatching and ovaries harvesting, and the fight for justice on a planet of refugees and criminals.

Great

I enjoyed the story very much and the narrator did a good job
Thank you

edge-of-your-seat action and intrigue

What if you could live forever?  What would you be willing to turn a blind eye to?  Who would you sacrifice to have immortality? December Protocol is a probing story that demonstrates what could happen to society when their number 1 resource for survival is threatened with extinction as well as just how far humankind will go to live forever.

The main characters – Min, Angelina, and Marcus demonstrate the deadliness of immortality and the moral/ethical results of acting upon those desires.  Devin Hanson, the author, challenges his readers to examine these age-old questions through a thrilling, action-packed sci-fi novel guaranteed to leave you struggling to determine who is the most evil – the one seeking immortality due to a fatal disease or the one providing justice but also requires the main ingredient to maintain his immortality?

This is definitely a book that provokes thought long after the book ends while also being entertaining through the edge-of-your-seat action and intrigue.  The storyline flows smoothly and the characters are well defined.  The dialog is realistic as are the situations.  One cannot help but become immersed in the story as it unfolds.

Rhett Samuel Price, the narrator, performed this audiobook wonderfully!  Changing voices for each character is a monumental feat and one he pulls off well.  I enjoyed hearing Price read this book!

There were no issues with the audio quality or production of this audiobook.


Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator.

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

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Thought provoking and interesting!

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Excellent sci fi story that really focuses on the concept of immortality and it's cost, both to achieve it and once it is obtained. You get to follow three characters in the setting of a mars colony. I thought it was well written and narrated. If you like a good, thought provoking sci fi story, you should definitely check this one out.

Thought-provoking detective case on Mars colony.

Within a colony on Mars, a thriving criminal enterprise revolves around girls who are kidnapped and killed for the contents of their ovaries. The precious eggs are highly sought after, being vital to a medical procedure already outlawed on Earth, but on Mars it's quietly tolerated in the young and fragile economy. The procedure prolongs human life by thousands of years. A black market emerges on Mars, happy to supply the increasing demand for neverending youth and everlasting health. After two girls vanish from their school field trip, a detective that operates outside the law suspects they've been kidnapped. He vows to find them before their ovaries can be removed and their bodies discarded like trash.

December Protocol is one of the best sci-fi novels I've heard in a while. It's thought-provoking at its very least. I enjoyed pondering potential consequences of the immortality scenario deftly described by the author. I am once again blown away by veteran narrator, Rhett Samuel Price. His fantastic performances showcase a professional quality and experience that consistently enhance the author's story. Very well done overall, and highly recommended for scifi, biotech, detective, and crime fans.

I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge. This review is unbiased and the opinions expressed herein are 100% my own.

Good world building, fun action scifi story

First I want to thank Rhett Price for providing me with a review copy of this book. The story starts off a little slow as you follow three characters with nothing in common. If you stick with it, it is worth it as the story develops into a very good action adventure. The characters are all great with good development and growth through the story. I loved the world building that took place as the author explored the ramifications of a world where immortality was possible for some, but not all, and at a price. The narrator did a great job. A wide array of voices were used and he made the story come to life.

An original take on immortality

I really liked this book alot, from the basic science explained to the logical colony development. To be honest the only thing I didn't like was Devin's spot on portrayal of how easily morality can be manipulated when people are desperate. It's almost a scary prophecy.

Great book!

Humanity has achieved immortality, but at what cost? Could you imagine being able to live forever, free of disease? What would you do to be able to afford your monthly treatment to remain that way? What would you be willing to overlook and ignore? Could you ignore the fact that young girls are being kidnapped and killed for their eggs? There are many women willing to sell their eggs for a nice sum of money, bit where there's a lot of money to be made, there will certainly be a criminal element as well. This mostly takes place on Mars since Earth has banned this practice. This was an excellent book and my first by this author. I'd love to check out more of his work. The narrator isn't new to me though. I really enjoy Rhett Samuel Price! He's an excellent story teller who is great at expressing the emotions of the characters and great at doing several voices and accents for both sexes.

Trouble with immortality on Mars

Many books have featured the quest for immortality, but this one is more about the kind of world that would result afterwards particularly when the immortals need monthly doses of serum that can only be made from a woman's eggs and demand is so high that the black market trade in kidnapped young women is very lucrative to criminals.

While the books features numerous flashbacks to the time when the treatment was first invented and the aftermath of it that led to the titular December Protocol that outlawed it, the primary focus of this book is on three characters who all live on Mars in the 24th Century.

These characters each give a different perspective of the ongoing black market trade, you have Angeline who is a young martian girl who starts out as a victim kidnapped to fuel the black market supply. Then you have a colonial marshal named Min, who seeks to put a stop to this illegal trade even though he himself has undergone the treatment and requires legal doses of it on a monthly basis and finally you have a man named Marcus for whom the treatment (legal or otherwise) is his last hope since he is rapidly dying of cancer.

The author successfully builds a compelling overall story that intertwines these main characters along with a varied supporting cast and a well-described vision of the Martian colonies, but he has left things open-ended enough that he can return to that world again at a later date, not mention that other worlds have also been colonised in this book's universe.

On the whole I found the performance of the narrator to be a strong one, his speech was clear and he had distinctive voices for all the main and supporting characters, albeit I found his choice for the marshal to be a little overdone at times.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and the performance of it a lot and will definitely be looking out for further works from this author in the future.

[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]

review

not my usual genre, struggled to get going, but glad I persevered to the end

Limited resources and infinite time.

When a scientist is interviewed about the claim that she can give immortality to the world, the sceptical reporter laughingly asks, 'Who wants to live forever, anyway?'
Six years later, her claim is a fact with two differently working possibilities. But later, with hundreds of thousands already having become the new immortals and social problems growing, Earth passes legislation banning all of them from Earth, those who have received the Helix Rebuild being sent to Venus, whilst the more straightforward cell regeneration recipients were banished from Earth for life. Most of these went to the developing colony on Mars. Many died, the trouble being that the restorative injection had to be repeated on a monthly basis without fail or the body instantly starts to painfully destroy itself.

This cleverly plotted science fiction story slowly leaks historic and social facts about the two methods as the main story unfolds. In the relatively unrestricted life on Mars, an old Marshall, a title a little like an FBI agent - cum bounty hunter is asked by his new superior to look into the case of a missing girl, believed kidnapped. Reluctant at first since he has just made a literal killing and earned a fortune sufficient for him to retire for a while, he soon gets drawn into the search when he learns that not one but two girls are missing. And it helps that he'll earn another smaller bounty for finding them also.. A secondary arm to the story also follows a wealthy émigré to Mars, looking to get the treatment after a recent diagnosis of lung cancer. This is a fast action, gun shooting, blood gushing action thriller with well formed characterisations, atmospheric world building and a look at the potential difficulties for a society where human life, barring mishaps, can continue for centuries, if not for ever. Exciting and thought provoking, this is a really compelling read.

The book is further enhanced by the imaginative reading by Rhett Samuel Price, whose slightly gruff reading seems to capture the more gritty atmosphere of Mars. Every character, and there are many, is voiced convincingly and individually, whilst the connecting text is related at a good pace with clarity and good intonation. A fine performance.

My thanks to the rights holder who freely gifted me a complimentary copy of The December Protocol, at my request, via Audiobook Boom. it certainly exceeded.my expectations and had me rivetted to my player through the night. I will most certainly look out for further books from Mr.Devin Hanson in the future. Recommended.