Kill Decision

by Daniel Suarez

• ISBN10: 0525952616
• ISBN13: 9780525952619
• Publish Date: 19 July 2012
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Out of Print: 27 August 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: E P Dutton & Co Inc
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 390
• Language: English

Reviews

[leahrosereads]

4.5 Stars

The drones are coming! The drones are coming!

OK, confession: I love techno thrillers. I absolutely love them. They can be uber-corny, with the worst, most unrealistic plot lines ever, and I would still consume the novel as if it’s the most interesting thing I’ve ever read. I think as readers, we all have that one genre that just rarely does no wrong. For me, it’s books like Kill Decision.

Luckily for me, every Suarez novel I’ve read has been freaking enjoyable, and this one is no exception. Suarez did a masterful job at creating a realistic, albeit frightening scenario showing how technology can be used for terror.

"Technology spreads, Henry. That's what it does. That's why constant progress is necessary. Why we must always stay one step ahead. This is a teaching moment for those willing to learn."

Kill Decision follows mainly two people: Odin a super secret special ops soldier who’s out to figure out the truth behind the autonomous drones attacking targets around the world (including the US) and who is controlling them. Once he finds the bastards, he has every intention of putting a stop to their plans - namely with a gun, possibly with torture. He’s that kind of guy. Also, the story centers around Linda McKinney, a myrmecologist (a scientist who studies the social structure of ants). When her swarming model is stolen and used by the people creating the drones, her living is a real issue for them. Rescued by Odin, she “teams” up with him and his group of merry military men and helps the team understand the science-y aspects of the drones and how to stop them.


Now as I said, I have thoroughly enjoyed Suarez’s other novels and Kill Decision is no exception. However, like in his other novels, the science and techno jargon are explained in extreme detail. It can be daunting, and I was confused at times. Personally, I had to re-read several sections to understand what they were talking about, and that pulled me out of the book a little bit. It didn't bother me enough where I disliked the book, but it was a noticeable distraction.


Overall, I loved Kill Decision, from all the techy scary stuff to the good (and bad) guys I met along the way.

If you enjoy reading thrillers and wanted to give Daniel Suarez a try...well, I’d recommend [b:Daemon|4699575|Daemon (Daemon, #1)|Daniel Suarez|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1400913596s/4699575.jpg|4763873] and [b:Freedom™|7132363|Freedom™ (Daemon, #2)|Daniel Suarez|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1400763429s/7132363.jpg|7394861] first, but this is definitely worth reading.

[remo]

Tercera novela que cae de Daniel Suárez en un mes. Lamentablemente este señor no tiene nada más publicado, y habrá que esperar a 2014 para ver su cuarta novela. Se trata de un technothriller a la vieja usanza, con los acontecimientos precipitándose los unos tras los otros y con una idea y un armazón fantásticos. Me tuvo enganchado de principio a fin. El autor siempre les da a sus novelas el toque de "esto podría estar pasando ahora mismo y el gobierno podría estar ocultándonoslo", pero incluso con esa pátina de "quiero vender más" la novela es muy buena. Altamente recomendable.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

Unmanned weaponised drones already exist—they are widely used by America in our war efforts in the Middle East. But what would happen if these drones became so advanced that they are programmed to seek, identify, and execute targets without human intervention? Daniel Suarez is back to take a look at the real science and then take it one step further to show the frightening results.

Daniel Suarez is really becoming the go-to-guy for techno-thrillers that look at current technology and then show the possibility of what they can do. In his first series Deamon, Suarez looks at the possibility of a computer program running without human control and what it could do to make a new world order. In Kill Decision he takes a look at the unmanned drones and then builds on the existing technology to make a thrilling and frightening tale of the future of war.

This is a fast paced techno-thriller so don’t expect huge character development but Suarez did do a decent enough job at adding some depth to his characters. Sure I would have loved more to them but they never felt unreal or one dimensional. As far as the technology advances that he explore in this novel, that feels very real, like the natural progression of war and that is what is frightening.

This book is nothing special, it takes the standard thriller architecture and Daniel Suarez just builds from there. I wanted to read this book because I loved Deamon but even though the sequel Freedom TM did get a little far-fetched the series was really enjoyable and geeky. With Kill Decision I kind of felt like it was too similar but rewritten to make it feel like a war techno thriller instead. While it was fun to read, I never felt satisfied by the end result. I’m a nerd and I was hoping for more of the computer side of things not the war elements that I got.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/03/26/book-review-kill-decision/