In "Kill Decision" the driving theme is one of terrorism: anonymous haters destroying things out of a malice that is at best dimly understood. Destroying by way of autonomous "drones" programmed with encoded rules enabling them to make their own 'Kill Decision'. The terrifying behaviors seen in Hitchcock's "The Birds" are far more deadly here, with swarms of high-tech killing machines acting with less moral restraint than the Terminator. The result is less sci-fi than a fast-paced techo-thriller set in the near future. The book projects a frightful specter of how terrorism and war might evolve. As a radio-controlled flight enthusiast with several 'multi-rotor' aircraft I recognize the plausibility of the scenarios Suarez presents - they are relatively straightforward projections of real and present dangers. Suarez himself suggests in this TED talk that we build policy and technology to forestall such chilling probabilities. Powerful stuff.I read this before Suarez's "Daemon" and "Freedom" and based upon the reviews that may be the right order. I am even more taken with the latter books, largely because even deeper issues of modern economics and politics drive their plots. Many thoughts. First, Suarez repeated his annoying habit of using a lot of unfamiliar acronyms. Thank goodness for online resources' However, he did throw in the occasional explanation and the overall numbers used decreased as the story continued. So, he's showing improvement. Even if he had included a glossary of sorts, I would have been appeased. Despite the book ending up as a real page turner, I was disappointed that many answers weren't forthcoming in the end. Suarez really knows his stuff. That's what makes his books so appealing to read! What's really scary is that today I stumbled across a New York Times article that mentioned a new computer chip designed by IBM. It's an attempt at recreating the computing capacity of the human brain. The article went on to talk about how these chips could be used in drones! It's like fiction brought to life! Or Suarez saw this coming ages ago, and it's only starting to come to the layman's awareness. Needless to say, I will always be a Daniel Suarez fan. I still vividly remember scenes and dialogue from his previous duology, (Daemon and Freedom.) that was largely about a kind of Google Glass becoming mainstream. I eat this stuff up! Thank you, sir!!
What do You think about Kill Decision (2012)?
Clever combination of Tech, Science and Conspiracy theory all rolled into one
—chris
Loved every book I have read by Daniel Suarez. Looking forward to Influx.
—daddyandben
