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Deadly Algorithm
93 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 1, 2024
About the author
Debra E. Blaine
5 books6 followersAfter decades of practicing medicine, I became an author. It was partly a creative diversion to dispel the moral injury facing so many doctors today and partly because I wanted to speak out about our culture in a companionable way.
But writing became so gratifying that it is now my priority. I started with thrillers, and very soon began to add science fiction-like themes. Those began as urban sci-fi, or situations that should be preposterous (like brainwashing the entire population), but circumstances ultimately demanded I move on to outer space.
Science fiction has always been an opportunity to describe what may come to pass if we are not vigilant about the choices we make. If I could have my wildest dreams come true, it would be to know my novels influence a few more humans to practice tolerance, compassion, and integrity, and make the world just a little bit better for our children.
I love animals and nature, and cats frequently appear in my stories. And in one case, the fate of our heroes literally hangs on a Maine Coon’s love for a little girl.
But writing became so gratifying that it is now my priority. I started with thrillers, and very soon began to add science fiction-like themes. Those began as urban sci-fi, or situations that should be preposterous (like brainwashing the entire population), but circumstances ultimately demanded I move on to outer space.
Science fiction has always been an opportunity to describe what may come to pass if we are not vigilant about the choices we make. If I could have my wildest dreams come true, it would be to know my novels influence a few more humans to practice tolerance, compassion, and integrity, and make the world just a little bit better for our children.
I love animals and nature, and cats frequently appear in my stories. And in one case, the fate of our heroes literally hangs on a Maine Coon’s love for a little girl.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 1, 2025
This novella is set in 2058 in the USA where the cost of healthcare has grown to astronomical levels. As a result, diagnostic tests that are routine today, such as MRI scans, are unheard of, apart from their use by the wealthy, and drugs are rationed. Conditions which once were survivable are now fatal due to lack of diagnostics, drugs and surgery. Only those who are either rich, or are important to the government, receive proper care.
Cassidy is the mother of two children, ten-year-old Matthew and four-year-old Jenna. Matthew is her son by her first husband who died following an accident. As one of the last students who could choose their course of study, she has degrees in software engineering and cybersecurity. (Psychological testing is now mandated to determine the career children should be placed in.) She has a government job at a library, reviewing and ‘archiving’ (locking away from most people) publications deemed undesirable,
Single parents are discriminated against, with their mental health called into question, so to avoid Matthew being taken into care, Cassidy remarried some years before. Her second husband is devoted to Jenna, but is a conformist who doesn't want to know about the injustices and Big Brother oversight. He always takes the part of the authorities against his wife.
Soon after her first husband's death, Cassidy used her skills and access to research his condition. She learned that he would have recovered if given the care that was once standard, but he wasn't special enough to justify the expense. She now fears for her son who has a keen sense of justice and an enquiring mind, even though she has repeatedly warned him to keep his head down and not draw attention. Bored with the small selection of approved books, Matthew is tempted into reading ones borrowed from his friend, Tommy, whose mother managed to hide a few.
Cassidy is summoned to the local health clinic where she is told she has diabetes and must wear an insulin pump even though she has no symptoms. There are hardly any real doctors left - most health workers just follow instructions from AI systems - but a real ex-doctor comes to her aid at the library when she becomes seriously ill just after being forced to wear the pump. He only gives his first name, but heads off an insulin-induced coma and gives her a few tips. Her boss tells her the man who helped her is David Banks who has clearance to study materials there though no longer officially a doctor.
Cassidy struggles with the pump and is forced to risk tampering with it, despite the danger of it alerting the authorities. Her computer researches reveal that a large number of people, doctors in particular, have died after diagnoses like hers. The state is murdering anyone who might be a dissenter. Cassidy's husband won't believe that she doesn't have diabetes and that the insulin pump would kill her.
The police visit her home after Matthew is reported for talking about 'The Call of the Wild', a banned book, borrowed from his friend Tommy. To prevent them from arresting Matthew and herself, she is forced to reveal that the book came from Tommy's mum, even though the other woman will be taken away. Predictably, her husband is furious that she and her son are causing trouble with the authorities.
Cassidy uses her skills to obtain the work and home addresses of David Banks. But when she goes to his home, she runs into some sort of government minder, and unwelcome attention turns onto Banks also. To save herself and her son, Cassidy must go on the run with Banks and Tommy, preferring an uncertain future to no future at all.
I enjoyed the story and found it absorbing, with engaging characters in the shape of Cassidy and Matthew. The evocation of a 'police state' in America resulting from corporate greed was all too believable. The ending leaves open the possibility of a sequel and the author indicates in an afterword that one is planned.
Overall I would rate it as a 4 star read.
Cassidy is the mother of two children, ten-year-old Matthew and four-year-old Jenna. Matthew is her son by her first husband who died following an accident. As one of the last students who could choose their course of study, she has degrees in software engineering and cybersecurity. (Psychological testing is now mandated to determine the career children should be placed in.) She has a government job at a library, reviewing and ‘archiving’ (locking away from most people) publications deemed undesirable,
Single parents are discriminated against, with their mental health called into question, so to avoid Matthew being taken into care, Cassidy remarried some years before. Her second husband is devoted to Jenna, but is a conformist who doesn't want to know about the injustices and Big Brother oversight. He always takes the part of the authorities against his wife.
Soon after her first husband's death, Cassidy used her skills and access to research his condition. She learned that he would have recovered if given the care that was once standard, but he wasn't special enough to justify the expense. She now fears for her son who has a keen sense of justice and an enquiring mind, even though she has repeatedly warned him to keep his head down and not draw attention. Bored with the small selection of approved books, Matthew is tempted into reading ones borrowed from his friend, Tommy, whose mother managed to hide a few.
Cassidy is summoned to the local health clinic where she is told she has diabetes and must wear an insulin pump even though she has no symptoms. There are hardly any real doctors left - most health workers just follow instructions from AI systems - but a real ex-doctor comes to her aid at the library when she becomes seriously ill just after being forced to wear the pump. He only gives his first name, but heads off an insulin-induced coma and gives her a few tips. Her boss tells her the man who helped her is David Banks who has clearance to study materials there though no longer officially a doctor.
Cassidy struggles with the pump and is forced to risk tampering with it, despite the danger of it alerting the authorities. Her computer researches reveal that a large number of people, doctors in particular, have died after diagnoses like hers. The state is murdering anyone who might be a dissenter. Cassidy's husband won't believe that she doesn't have diabetes and that the insulin pump would kill her.
The police visit her home after Matthew is reported for talking about 'The Call of the Wild', a banned book, borrowed from his friend Tommy. To prevent them from arresting Matthew and herself, she is forced to reveal that the book came from Tommy's mum, even though the other woman will be taken away. Predictably, her husband is furious that she and her son are causing trouble with the authorities.
Cassidy uses her skills to obtain the work and home addresses of David Banks. But when she goes to his home, she runs into some sort of government minder, and unwelcome attention turns onto Banks also. To save herself and her son, Cassidy must go on the run with Banks and Tommy, preferring an uncertain future to no future at all.
I enjoyed the story and found it absorbing, with engaging characters in the shape of Cassidy and Matthew. The evocation of a 'police state' in America resulting from corporate greed was all too believable. The ending leaves open the possibility of a sequel and the author indicates in an afterword that one is planned.
Overall I would rate it as a 4 star read.
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