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Fiction.
Science Fiction.
Suspense.
Thriller.
HTML:Daniel Suarezā??s New York Times bestselling debut high-tech thriller is ā??so frightening even the government has taken noteā? (Entertainment Weekly).
Daemons: computer programs that silently run in the background, waiting for a specific event or time to execute. They power almost every service. They make our networked world possible. But they also make it vulnerable...
When the obituary of legendary computer game architect Matthew Sobol appears online, a previously dormant daemon activates, initiating a chain of events that begins to unravel our interconnected world. This daemon reads news headlines, recruits human followers, and orders assassinations. With Sobolā??s secrets buried with him, and as new layers of his daemon are unleashed, itā??s up to Detective Peter Sebeck to stop a self-replicating virtual killer before it achieves its ultimate purposeā??one that goes far beyond anything Sebeck coul… (more)
To summarize the story without giving anything awayā¦ this is a book about our reliance on technology and how it factors in with human (and societal) evolution. It is a high-energy action-packed adventure with elements of espionage, game theory, and our innate ability to not see what is right in front of our face.
This is a really good book. It is well written and perfectly paced. It is equally unbelievable and plausible in parallel which really makes you think.
The major characters are believable and developed while the minor characters suffer slightly from stereotyping and trope fatigue but it doesnāt detract from the story.
The audiobook version is expertly narrated and I look forward to reading the next book in the series. ( )
(2009)Thriller of a poweful man who dies but unleashes a malevolent computer virus that turns out to threaten the world. Believable at first but quickly turns into comic book style violence and hard to believe climax. Doesn't really end as this is the first in a series. Won't bother with the sequel. Robin Cook:Daemon is an ambitious novel, which sets out not only to entertain, which it surely does, but also to challenge the reader to consider social issues as broad as the implications of living in a technologically advanced world and whether democracy can survive in such a world.The storyline portrays one possible world consequent to the development of the technological innovations that we currently live with and the reality that the author, Suarez, imagines will evolve, and it is chilling and tense (on www.thedaemon.com the reader can find evidence that the seemingly incredible advances Suarez proposes could in fact become real). Daemon is filled with multiple scenes involving power displays by the Daemon's allies resulting in complete loss of control by its enemies, violence with new and innovative weaponry, explosions, car crashes, blood, guts, and limbs-cut-off galore.As far as computer complexity, Daemon will satisfy any computer geek's thirst. I was thankful for Pete Sebeck, the detective in the book whose average-person understanding of computers necessitates an occasional explanation about what is going on. I came away from the novel with a new understanding, respect, and fear of computer capability.In the end, Suarez invites the reader to enter the "second age of reason," to think about where recent and imminent advances in computer technology are taking us and whether we want to go there. For me, it is this "thinking" aspect of the novel which makes it a particularly fun, satisfying, and significant read.
Damn you, Daniel Suarez! Or more appropriately: Damn you, Daniel Suarez' publisher! This book ends with almost nothing resolved. It just points to the next book, [b:Freedom (TM)|7132363|Freedom (TM) (Daemon, #2)|Daniel Suarez|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1276198151s/7132363.jpg|7394861], where (I understand from an author interview) the story really does end. Nonetheless, this is a fun thriller, comparable to a Michael Chrichton work. But like most thrillers, I would characterize it as "frothy": almost immediately upon finishing it, it seems insubstantial. It's like walking out of an action movie I enjoyed seeing, but knowing I won't spend a lot of time thinking about afterward. Except in Daemon's case, there are hints of an underlying sociological/philosophical viewpoint that I want to read more of. So I guess I will definitely be reading the sequel. Just not immediately. ( )
It takes a few chapters to get rolling, but worth sticking with it. Overall it has some fascinating ideas. The ending was a bit of a letdown, but it was clearly setting the stage for sequels. ( )
daemon (dÄĀ“mÉn) n. ā A computer program that runs continuously in the background and performs specified operations at predefined times or in response to certain events. Condensed from āDisk And Execution MONitor.ā
Dedication
For Michelle. No more bedtime storiesā¦
First words
What the hell just happened?
Quotations
Apparently, people thought nothing of hanging their personal fortunes on technology they didn't understand. This would be their undoing.
Every day was filled with surprises. What a change from the network affiliate. Her new boss was an undead automaton from hell, true, but no job was perfect.
Anyone who has ever tried to share pizza with roommates knows that Communism cannot ever work. If Lenin and Marx had just shared an apartment, perhaps a hundred million lives might have been spared and put to productive use making sneakers and office furniture.
In all, his outfit required nearly two thousand man-years of research and development, eight barrels of oil, and sixteen patent and trademark infringement lawsuits. All so he could possess casual style. A style that, in logistical requirements, was comparable to fielding a nineteenth-century military brigade. But he looked good. Casual.
Mammals of every species indulge in play. Games are Nature's way of preparing us to face difficult realities.
But if they're so successful, why haven't parasites taken over the world? The answer is simple: they have. We just haven't noticed. That's because successful parasites don't kill us; they become part of us, making us perform all the work to keep them alive and help them reproduce.
You never understood games. Maybe that's why the world was such a mystery to you.
How can you expect to handle the future if you canāt even handle the present?
He was just an idea - a collection of responsibilities with a mailing address.
Look, letās not turn this into a blamestorming session. Thereāll be plenty of time for that if we fail.
Humanity had always trafficked in oppression. Before the corporate marketing department got ahold of it, it was called conquest. Now it was regional development. Vikings and Mongols were big on revenue targets, tooābut Leland had dispensed with all the tedious invading, and had taken a page out of the Roman playbook by hiring the locals to enslave each other as franchisees.
Great. So if a dragon and a fairy show up at the castle, what the hell am I supposed to do with that information? Put out a warrant for their arrest?
If not in San Francisco, then where? Not Madison, Wisconsin, again, please, dear God.
Fiction.
Science Fiction.
Suspense.
Thriller.
HTML:Daniel Suarezā??s New York Times bestselling debut high-tech thriller is ā??so frightening even the government has taken noteā? (Entertainment Weekly).
Daemons: computer programs that silently run in the background, waiting for a specific event or time to execute. They power almost every service. They make our networked world possible. But they also make it vulnerable...
When the obituary of legendary computer game architect Matthew Sobol appears online, a previously dormant daemon activates, initiating a chain of events that begins to unravel our interconnected world. This daemon reads news headlines, recruits human followers, and orders assassinations. With Sobolā??s secrets buried with him, and as new layers of his daemon are unleashed, itā??s up to Detective Peter Sebeck to stop a self-replicating virtual killer before it achieves its ultimate purposeā??one that goes far beyond anything Sebeck coul
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Wikipedia in English (2)
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To summarize the story without giving anything awayā¦ this is a book about our reliance on technology and how it factors in with human (and societal) evolution. It is a high-energy action-packed adventure with elements of espionage, game theory, and our innate ability to not see what is right in front of our face.
This is a really good book. It is well written and perfectly paced. It is equally unbelievable and plausible in parallel which really makes you think.
The major characters are believable and developed while the minor characters suffer slightly from stereotyping and trope fatigue but it doesnāt detract from the story.
The audiobook version is expertly narrated and I look forward to reading the next book in the series. (