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Kill Decision
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 fa...more
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 fa...more
Audiobook, Unabridged, 13 pages
Published
July 19th 2012
by Penguin Audio
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I never realized this before but when the machines finally become self-aware and Skynet launches its attack on humanity, I’ve got the perfect place to hole up nearby. So while you all are being enslaved by robots, I’ll be safe in SubTropolis with a lifetime supply of liquor and books. Don’t bother knocking. I won’t let you in, and I’ll just turn up the music to drown out your screams.
I knew from Daniel Suarez’s previous books, Daemon and Freedom (TM), that he gives good techno-thriller with some...more
I knew from Daniel Suarez’s previous books, Daemon and Freedom (TM), that he gives good techno-thriller with some...more
38 likes · like · see review
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I really wanted to like this - but it just didn't grab me. At 175 pages in I feel I've given it as much of a chance as I'm prepared to. It's disappointing because I liked both Daemon (my review http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...) as well as its sequel Freedom TM (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...).
So what went wrong here? Unfulfilled expectations. The whole autonomous killing drone thing just didn't do it for me. For a start, I'm pretty sure we had an AI driven drone or two between...more
So what went wrong here? Unfulfilled expectations. The whole autonomous killing drone thing just didn't do it for me. For a start, I'm pretty sure we had an AI driven drone or two between...more
4 likes · like · see review
BOTTOM LINE/moved to the top: If this book has a sequel, I won't read it. But if Suarez writes another book that's not a sequel I'd buy it before it hits the shelves and read it as soon as I could.
This book was a let down. Deamon was great! I mean, I don't read books more than once usually but I read Freedom TM and Deamon more than once. They provide a fun window into a possible, even if not plausible, world of technology that was fun to explore.
This book has some uncovered plot holes the size...more
This book was a let down. Deamon was great! I mean, I don't read books more than once usually but I read Freedom TM and Deamon more than once. They provide a fun window into a possible, even if not plausible, world of technology that was fun to explore.
This book has some uncovered plot holes the size...more
2 likes · like · see review
Just finished this and my first impressions are this is a super fun read. I was curious how Daniel Suarez was going to deal with this topic and he came up with some great material that was presented in a unique way. I also think that he is evolving as a writer as he had some better characters and in particularly I thought the character interactions where much better then his first two books, which I also liked a lot. I don't want to give to many plot details out but it is a fast paced techno thr...more
Automated killer drones, government conspiracies, special ops, this thriller has it all. Author of the Daemon series and three stand-alone books, Daniel Suarez adds another bestseller to his repertoire.
High profile scientists and computer programming experts are dropping like flies as each are in the crosshairs of someone in high places for the expertise they provide. Soldiers with a highly secretive special ops team are actively working to both protect those who've been targeted and find the so...more
High profile scientists and computer programming experts are dropping like flies as each are in the crosshairs of someone in high places for the expertise they provide. Soldiers with a highly secretive special ops team are actively working to both protect those who've been targeted and find the so...more
Automated killer drones, government conspiracies, special ops, this thriller has it all. Author of the Daemon series and three stand-alone books, Daniel Suarez adds another bestseller to his repertoire.
High profile scientists and computer programming experts are dropping like flies as each are in the crosshairs of someone in high places for the expertise they provide. Soldiers with a highly secretive special ops team are actively working to both protect those who’ve been targeted and find the so...more
High profile scientists and computer programming experts are dropping like flies as each are in the crosshairs of someone in high places for the expertise they provide. Soldiers with a highly secretive special ops team are actively working to both protect those who’ve been targeted and find the so...more
Kill Decision is a technothriller/present day science fiction piece about the move from soldiers, to drones, to autonomous combat robots. The story is written from the present day and is current enough to include the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Daniel Suarez is an able writer but it left me unsatisfied:
*The technology is in a zone I like to call the present possible. The technology is entirely plausible and probably doable if a lot of bugs were shaken out. Given that, much like the mache...more
*The technology is in a zone I like to call the present possible. The technology is entirely plausible and probably doable if a lot of bugs were shaken out. Given that, much like the mache...more
It's absolutely terrifying how much power a few rich people could have with only slight advances above today's autonomous drone technologies. The message of this book is that we need an international moratorium on autonomous drones that can make the "kill decision" - that is, decide via programing and artificial intelligence who to kill and when to kill them, vs. the current practice of military drones being directed in the kill decision by actual people.
The writing was good, but the ending (whi...more
The writing was good, but the ending (whi...more
Thrilling, well-researched and nicely put together, yet as inspirational as a James Bond movie.
Having read both of Suarez' other books, this one was quite a downer. He demonstrated that he was able to build something as a prophecy or future vision that had drastic implications on everybodies' lifes and still didn't seem ridiculous, even keeping remarkably tight connection to the present status quo. If you want to see this again, look elsewhere.
The book starts with a blast, introduces the main ch...more
Having read both of Suarez' other books, this one was quite a downer. He demonstrated that he was able to build something as a prophecy or future vision that had drastic implications on everybodies' lifes and still didn't seem ridiculous, even keeping remarkably tight connection to the present status quo. If you want to see this again, look elsewhere.
The book starts with a blast, introduces the main ch...more
Sep 14, 2012
Trike
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-in-2012,
science-fiction
I thoroughly enjoyed Suarez's previous two books so I wasn't surprised to enjoy this one, too. I was a bit disappointed that he employed some of the typical technothriller cliches of the hot smart science chick falling for the brutally handsome warrior, but the rest of it plays so well and crackles with so much energy that I'm going to forgive him those sins.
What I can't quite get over, however, is the fact that this is basically just an update of Dean Ing's 1993 technothriller Butcher Bird. The...more
What I can't quite get over, however, is the fact that this is basically just an update of Dean Ing's 1993 technothriller Butcher Bird. The...more
I started recommending Kill Decision to my friends before I was halfway through it. Now that I've finished it, I have a longer list of people to recommend it to. Suarez writes a knockout thriller, and yes, it really should be opening in theaters everywhere before long. It's more military, and less cyberpunk, than his previous books, so it's going to appeal to a somewhat different set of folks as a novel. However...
I'm recommending Kill Decision to people because it raises serious issues that des...more
I'm recommending Kill Decision to people because it raises serious issues that des...more
Aug 06, 2012
Bill
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
cautionary-tale,
techno-thriller
Like his first two books, 'Kill Decision' is a non-stop edge-of-your-seat thrill jam. Suarez's grasp of bleeding-edge technology and modern warfare coupled with his ability to develop likable (and despicable) characters gives the reader a great read. His story development and his ability to shock and surprise the reader often comes into play. Our story begins with a series of mysterious airborne drone attacks that appear to be the work of the US military - except the US military has no knowledg...more
An okay techno-thriller tale. Alright, a better than okay thriller. Like Mr. Suarez's two previous novels, Daemon and Freedom, it is a forward thinking view of technology being used in menacing ways. The story starts out strong and is rooted soundly in technology that is plausible or already available. I would often find myself thinking, "Yes, that could certainly happen." The first part of the book is very engrossing and I found it difficult to put the book down. The paced slowed down as the te...more
I read, and really enjoyed, Daemon. But I never finished Freedom. I got too bogged down with the characters and the story was too familiar...
* SPOILER ALERT *
I heard about this book on a TWiT show and knew I had to read/listen to it. The tech inside the story is both fascinating and frightening. Suarez, as always, has done his homework and I felt it throughout the story. Although the character interaction was a bit predictable, the female professor has to end up with the lead military protagonis...more
* SPOILER ALERT *
I heard about this book on a TWiT show and knew I had to read/listen to it. The tech inside the story is both fascinating and frightening. Suarez, as always, has done his homework and I felt it throughout the story. Although the character interaction was a bit predictable, the female professor has to end up with the lead military protagonis...more
Oh, dear. This is a mess. In my opinion.
I loved Daemon/Freedom. I eagerly opened this one and, well, yuch. It was awfully choppy, with too short and quick action scenes, no character development, or meaningful emotion. There were conversations that made no sense or were dropped with no explanation early in the first ten or so chapters. Then, about a third into the book, at first I thought I was losing interest because I've never been in the military and the toys were not clear to me. But when I...more
I loved Daemon/Freedom. I eagerly opened this one and, well, yuch. It was awfully choppy, with too short and quick action scenes, no character development, or meaningful emotion. There were conversations that made no sense or were dropped with no explanation early in the first ten or so chapters. Then, about a third into the book, at first I thought I was losing interest because I've never been in the military and the toys were not clear to me. But when I...more
2 likes · like · see review
Autonomous swarming killer drones set in motion by mysterious powers can only be defeated by crack super-competent semi-rogue commandos who first rescue and kidnap the dedicated young professor of mycology whose ant colony research provides the key to defeating these stealthy four-rotored mechanical threats to world peace.
I borrowed it for my son, read it for myself, and enjoyed it well enough. It's not great literature. It's a techno-thriller. A single love scene is as sensuous as a concrete b...more
I borrowed it for my son, read it for myself, and enjoyed it well enough. It's not great literature. It's a techno-thriller. A single love scene is as sensuous as a concrete b...more
Some possible spoilers ahead. Maybe it comes with the genre, but I felt that its obsession with the capabilities of technology and the all-powerful behind-the-scenes cabal took away from the book. We see the viewpoint of a small number of ancillary associates of the conspiracy at work, but the man-power and expertise necessary to get together this new-wave army would be tremendously overwhelming. Granted, we're only supposed to see a sliver of the tale, and the angles from which we see it are de...more
“Kill Decision” by Daniel Suarez, published by Dutton.
Category – Mystery/Thriller
This book will definitely be of interest to the technocrat, the geek, and anyone who loves a connection between robotics and the animal world.
A drone fires upon Shiite pilgrims leaving thousands either dead or wounded. Of course, the United States is blamed even though the drone showed no US identification. The situation escalates when the United States becomes a target for similar drone attacks.
Linda McKinney, a my...more
Category – Mystery/Thriller
This book will definitely be of interest to the technocrat, the geek, and anyone who loves a connection between robotics and the animal world.
A drone fires upon Shiite pilgrims leaving thousands either dead or wounded. Of course, the United States is blamed even though the drone showed no US identification. The situation escalates when the United States becomes a target for similar drone attacks.
Linda McKinney, a my...more
“Everyone on the Internet is talking about television and everyone on television is talking about the Internet. The whole damn thing is a self-licking ice cream cone and you're blaming me?”
- Kill Decision
After the first two books by Suarez, Daemon and Freedom (TM), which I count to my all-time favourite Thrillers, the expectations were bound to be pretty high for this book.
Luckily, I had read up on a few reviews and already seen that the book wasn't nearly as good as the other two, so I went in...more
- Kill Decision
After the first two books by Suarez, Daemon and Freedom (TM), which I count to my all-time favourite Thrillers, the expectations were bound to be pretty high for this book.
Luckily, I had read up on a few reviews and already seen that the book wasn't nearly as good as the other two, so I went in...more
Kill Decision is a non-stop action thriller featuring advanced technology and an all too plausible near future scenario. This book drops you right in the middle of the action with a high-tech drone attack and just keeps going. The first part of the book contains a lot of information on high-tech warfare and some background science, which was as fascinating as the action sequences. Once this information is established, the action comes even faster in an almost non-stop ride to the finish.
This is...more
This is...more
This didn't quite have the wow-factor of Daemon or Freedom, but I still enjoyed it.
I did, however, have a few gripes.
First off, the part with the FBI agents doing the "interrogation"? Bleh! Horrible and should have been omitted. There were other ways that Ritter could have been introduced. No reason to waste the reader's time. If someone makes claims about covert military/terrorist actions -- during a time of supposed terrorist attacks within the U.S. especially -- I find it unlikely that agents...more
I did, however, have a few gripes.
First off, the part with the FBI agents doing the "interrogation"? Bleh! Horrible and should have been omitted. There were other ways that Ritter could have been introduced. No reason to waste the reader's time. If someone makes claims about covert military/terrorist actions -- during a time of supposed terrorist attacks within the U.S. especially -- I find it unlikely that agents...more
As with Daemon and Freedom(TM) before it, Kill Decision allows Suarez to take technology we already have and extrapolate it into the near future to thrilling, and terrifying, effect. In this case, the tech in question is unmanned drone tech, enhanced with tiny chemical sensors and run like a very aggressive ant colony. As far fetched as drones with ant brains may sound, the systems described here are definitely the sort of thing that either could be build now, or would require very little work (...more
This is an explosive novel. Like his two previous novels, Suarez takes onto the cutting edge of technology and gives you a what-if scenario. Starting with drone attacks, planned and unplanned, and then on to a myrmecologist, studying weaver ant social structure in Africa, and posting her algorithm structures of their activities on-line. Weaver ants are unique in that they are the most aggressive species and of the few species besides man that seeks out and destroys rivals. They don't just wait u...more
I became fan of Daniel Suarez with Daemon, and I found a better, more polished narrative in Kill Decision.
Continuing on the topic of autonomous "intelligent" forces, this book presents a scenario different than the one on his previous books, but one that sounds closer to reality, with good arguments supporting it. This books develops on the militar side, which I am certainly not an expert, but manages to give a good descriptions while keeping the tedious parts away. The story is never short of...more
Continuing on the topic of autonomous "intelligent" forces, this book presents a scenario different than the one on his previous books, but one that sounds closer to reality, with good arguments supporting it. This books develops on the militar side, which I am certainly not an expert, but manages to give a good descriptions while keeping the tedious parts away. The story is never short of...more
This is another amazing book by Daniel Suarez. I first heard he had a new one when I was sitting in the audience at TWit in Petaluma, CA. This story combines great action, high tech, intrigue and all the fun of a Jason Bourne or James Bond movie.
The story focuses on Professor Linda McKinney and how she becomes involved in a plot to use autonomous drones to wreak havoc in the US and internationally. The story is very current and could and might be happening today. There is a lot of cloak and dagg...more
The story focuses on Professor Linda McKinney and how she becomes involved in a plot to use autonomous drones to wreak havoc in the US and internationally. The story is very current and could and might be happening today. There is a lot of cloak and dagg...more
Daniel Suarez's first two books, Daemon and Freedom TM, were about the dangers of making efficiency the highest virtue in society. This new book Kill Decision is about the danger of making efficiency the highest virtue in warfare, specifically through the use of automated combat drones. Is there such a thing as being too good at making war; so good that it places a species in existential peril? Suarez makes the cases that there is, that autonomy in warfare is imminent and that it is just as dang...more
During January this year, I was witness to a most interesting event. It was a cool weekday morning, and I had just stepped out of the elevator onto the floor where the offices for my department are located when, lo and behold, I looked out the windows lining the hallway and watched as none other than Jeremy Renner dashed over the roofs of the residential area just behind my university, pursued by cameras. The sight, of course, would have been startling on any other day, but I already knew what w...more
This is a solid and exciting kick-ass techno-thriller. Prepare to be bewildered, but pleasantly so, for the first 4-5 chapters...the pieces will all come together. And it's a jagged, scary ride Daniel Suarez takes us on.
At this very moment (real-time now, not the book) drones are all over the damn place. America has fallen in love with drone warfare. This from a December 25 NYT editorial (when no one would read it, but that's how the NYT covers it's bases), "The drone go-ahead, signed in Februar...more
At this very moment (real-time now, not the book) drones are all over the damn place. America has fallen in love with drone warfare. This from a December 25 NYT editorial (when no one would read it, but that's how the NYT covers it's bases), "The drone go-ahead, signed in Februar...more
This is a solid thriller, sort of a next-generation Tom Clancy work, well grounded in some excellent and compelling science - not just about unmanned, weaponized drones and what they might mean for future warfare, but also about key characteristics of ant behavior (and how they might be modeled/mimicked for battle) and the intelligence of/symbiosis with ravens. I particularly appreciated the political science involved, from the acknowledgment that contemporary governmental power ultimately rests...more
This was a very enjoyable book, a modern thriller. I had listened to Daniel Suarez's previous two books and loved them. This book has similar elements while being a separate story. The central mystery are drone attacks that occur and the team that is dispatched to find out who is responsible. It is a roller coaster ride with strong characters. There were great sequences where the action was intense. In addition to the great action there is the whole question of drones, especially autonomous dron...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Some of The Girls: What are you reading today? 9/24 | 1 | 4 | Sep 24, 2012 12:06pm | |
| The Sword and Laser: Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez | 12 | 180 | Sep 07, 2012 10:55pm | |
| The Sword and Laser: Kill Decision Giveaway Contest! | 34 | 183 | Jul 24, 2012 09:23pm | |
| Book tour? | 1 | 11 | Jun 20, 2012 07:44pm |
Daniel Suarez is an independent systems consultant to Fortune 1000 companies. He has designed and developed enterprise software for the defense, finance, and entertainment industries. An avid gamer and technologist, he lives in Los Angeles, California.
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“Everyone on the Internet is talking about television and everyone on television is talking about the Internet. The whole damn thing is a self-licking ice cream cone and you're blaming me?”
—
3 people liked it
“They’re called sock puppets. We create armies of artificial online personas – user accounts that espouse views certain interested parties want espoused. We flood forums, online comment sections, social media. ... It’s amazing what a few people and a little money can accomplish online. Our puppets have turned whole elections. … Everything the public sees is managed. If there’s a valuable brand to protect – whether it’s a person or a dish soap – these fuckers are out there protecting it, shaping the narrative. I mean… who the hell follows dish soap on Twitter? How does anyone believe that shit’s real? (p. 292-294)”
—
2 people liked it
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