Michael Crichton meets Stephen King (in his heyday). A computer mogul called Matthew Sobol designs the ultimate online game to take over society after his death.

The first half of the story is creative and exciting, in a Jerry Bruckheimer style, with AI-controlled houses and killer cars, but the conclusion is rather lost beneath the author's message about the state of our technology-dependent society (wealth and power are more important than human life, which is how Sobol manages to enlist so many drones to do his bidding).

A dark vision of technology and democracy, played out like a Hollywood blockbuster (or a shoot-em-up game). ( )

If-Then-Else=The End of the World? ( )

Masterpiece. ( )

I really enjoyed this book - a perfect blend of technology, plot, and suspense - I can't wait for the sequel. I was impressed by the restraint the author showed in not swamping the reader in technobabble, especially since the mechanism of the plot hangs on it. Very clever, and really exciting - I was disappointed to get to the end! ( )

Really well written book. I highly recommend this book to fans of William Gibson's work. ( )

Daemon breaks new ground for a tech thriller with the enemy coming in the form of a distributed network. Although such concepts are not entirely new, popularised back in the '90s with The Lawnmower Man, Daemon is a very different approach. This is evidently a labour of love, with great characterisation, engaging and realistic high-tech scenarios and a shifting balance of power which captivates the reader. Suarez scores with his narrative style too. It's short, punchy and easy to understand, even when the technology gets geeky. There are a myriad of dead-ends and awesome twists, which in other hands would create disbelief, however here they add to the sense of realism. It's far out fiction, with a great finale. A welcome debut novel. ( )

This debut novel has been compared to the works of Crichton, Clancy, and Stephenson, and for good reason. After a genius software developer dies, he unleashes a daemon (a multifunction computer program) that reacts to certain news stories. There's an incredible amount of technology (and a bit of techno-babble: the author explains the important things, but a few things are thrown in there for the true geeks as in-jokes) as the daemon begins its takeover of the financial sector. Yet there's an overarching theme of how prevalent technology is in our lives, which makes one wonder how we could prevent a techno-virus without using the Internet, phones, or TV and radio.

Sure, there are a few weaknesses in the book. There's a death-penalty case that ends within eight months of the crime. There's a house with more booby-traps than in all the Indiana Jones movies put together (after you finish the chapter, you wonder how the guy who lived there could move from room to room). There are characters that appear for a chapter, never to reappear; other characters that seem to be "throwaways" keep reappearing. And while artificial intelligence is always improving in the real world, the AI in the story is almost omnipotent. But the breath-taking pace of the book forces you to skip over these points and suspend disbelief to see what happens next. While the ending isn't completely satisfying (there's a bit of wrap-up, but enough is left for the planned sequel), you won't feel as though you've wasted your time on this novel, especially if you're a gamer. ( )

An entertaining read from the computer-takes-over-the-world genre by a first-time author. Some novel ideas. The plot is--not surprisingly--a little rough around the edges, but it would be a good beach read. Short bibliography included. ( )

I just read a really good book called Daemon by Daniel Suarez (his first novel) about what someone could do if they had amazing control of the internet, a lot of free time and lots of money

Matthew Sobol, the best game designer in the world, has died. With his death, a stunning series of events begins to take place, starting with the deaths of a few programmers, and extending to the endangering of the entire world. Very few people can hope to stop his plan.

The story is incredibly fast. There are no slow parts. There is lots of plot, lots of detail and many characters. It's similar to a Michael Crichton novel except better. More accurate stories, more realistic, more detailed, more interesting characters.

The book is a cross between The Stand and The Matrix, two of the epics of our time. Like The Matrix, technology plays a central role in this story, and like the former, it about what happens to the people who are trying to cope with the world changing all around them.

This is not a masterful piece of literature. It's book candy and really tasty. ( )

Fast paced tech thriller. I could not put this down as the plot sucked me in early and kept me up reading late at night. A deceased game developer unleashes an AI computer program on the world. Looking very forward to the follow up of this author's first novel that is due out in 2010. ( )

What a great technical thriller. I could not stop reading this book. Once or twice the author flirts with abandoning the story in favor of his first love, technology with lengthy explanations, but he pulls back from this danger and delivers a book that never stops moving. Add a star if you are some one who loves online games. ( )

I loved this book. Even though I am slightly technically challenged, the author explained terms in a way that is easily understood without patronizing the average reader.

The action hits in the first few pages and doesn't really stop. I hated to put the book down, but found time to grab some spare moments and managed to finish it in three days. I have already recommended this to several friends. ( )

READ THIS BOOK!!! It is a techno-thrill ride that you just can't get off ... even if you wanted to!

BEST, TRUE QUOTE: "“Daemon is to novels what The Matrix was to movies. It will be how other novels that rely on technology will be judged.” — Rick Klau, Strategic Partner Development - Google ( )

Daemon as it applies to Computer Science is defined by dictionary.com as:

A program or process that sits idly in the background until it is invoked to perform its task.

And that’s exactly what this Daemon does. It sits idly in the background until computer genius Matthew Sobol dies of brain cancer. Upon his death and subsequent obituary notice, his Daemon is unleashed on the world in a bloody, twisting, turning path of suspense and intrigue.

This story took off from the first page and it kept me guessing. I’d say it kept me guessing up until the end, except there really was no end. The sequel, Freedom, is due out in 2010.

There is a lot of technology talk and gamer-speak involved in the book but I didn’t find that it hindered my enjoyment of the book. In most cases, the context of the story gave me a general idea of the meaning. The rest my gamer-nerd son filled in for me.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot because it would be easy to accidentally give a spoiler. If you like technology, suspense, and intrigue then I can recommend Daemon. ( )

A good read, ending was predictable ( )

Thrilling book describing how an MMORPG environment could be harnessed to take over the world. The characters in this book actually seem to know their way around real computers.

A solid debut novel from Mr. Suarez. This highly suspenseful techno-thriller/dystopian sci fi tale is centered around a genius computer game designer, Matthew Sokol who has passed away. But his legacy is sinister indeed - a computer program, aka a "daemon," so complex it sets up a series of fatal events and ensnares various people in its plans, stating with the dispassion of the program that it is that they will die if they don't cooperate. More than mere terrorism, Sokol's program has designs far beyond what anyone could imagine.

The writing's fairly tight, with plenty of action and suspense. You really get a feel for the motivations of some of these people lured into working for the program. The book is tech-heavy, for obvious reasons, but its largely pretty accessible even to those not in the know, like myself (although having a basic working knowledge of computers and gaming may help). Gamers may appreciate it as well: a MMPORG plays a key role in the ongoings, and aspects of gaming culture are highlighted (adding some quite enjoyable moments of levity.)

To some degree its a fairly heavy book, in that it explores questions like, "just how secure are we.. really?" and examines the stability of our society as a whole. But it doesnt force you to dwell on the subjects, and there's more than enough intrigue and action to enjoy it purely on those points. ( )

An excellent fiction (I hope) look at how computer gaming could cross the barrier into the real world, and what the results of that crossover would mean. Good characters and a variety of plot aspects and action intensity make the book one to be highly recommended. ( )

Terrific book! The style reminded me of Michael Crichton mixed with a Terminator like story line. The book was darker than I expected but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. ( )

A game becomes reality. This is the story of a genius computer programmer who leaves behind the ultimate in logic bombs - a massively parallel distributed system, that threatens human life. As an IT programmer myself, I'm tossed back and forth between the disbelief and thrill of the possibility of this. The story seems to take some odd twists and turns, but I think it pulls itself together for the most part in the end. Overall, an exciting (especially in the audio version) thriller with a technological bent. ( )

http://fora.tv/2008/08/08/Daniel_Suar... ( )

Exciting, fun thriller. Looking forward to the sequel. ( )

The most Crichtonesqe novel since Crichton

Few readers were more saddened by the premature death of Michael Crichton than I was. Ever since his death (and truthfully even before it) I’d read any novel that promised to introduce “the next Crichton.” Invariably, I’d come away disappointed. Until Daemon. Daniel Suarez’s debut novel gave me hope for the future of smart, complex techno-thrillers. What a read! What a find! Thank you, Amazon Vine!

Daemon is the story of… Well, it’s a little hard to summarize. The catalyst of this novel is the death (from brain cancer) of Matthew Sobol. Sobol is the young, multi-millionaire genius behind a computer gaming empire. Specifically, he made his fortune designing MMORPGs, and if you’re like me, you’re a reader who doesn’t know squat about Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Games. That’s okay, you’ll get educated along the way.

So, Matthew Sobol spent a lot of time thinking about society and the world we live in as his death approached, and apparently he found it lacking. Or, perhaps, the tumors in his brain drove him mad. Take your pick. In either case, Sobol set in motion an elaborate plan that would be kicked off, only after a computer read of his obituary in the news. That was the catalyst that released the eponymous computer daemon into the world.

For those that don’t know (i.e. me), a daemon is a process that runs in the background and performs a specified operation at predefined times or in response to certain events. And that’s precisely what Sobol’s Daemon does. The obituary triggers the murders of some of the programmers that took part in the daemon’s creation—in quite creative ways, I might add. And that is literally the start of the novel, and how we get introduced to homicide detective Peter Sebeck. Pete is our everyman, the one who asks the questions about technology so that the reader doesn’t have to. And initially, it seemed that Sebeck would be the protagonist of a fairly typical police procedural. I could not have been more wrong.

First, rather than have a single (or a few) protagonists and antagonists, Suarez tells his tale with an ever-expanding cast. It’s very hard to tell who will be a major character and who will make a brief appearance, never to be seen again. And even among the more major characters, don’t get too attached, because no one is safe in this novel. This daemon is playing for keeps. Through the computer attacks, it is almost as if Sobol still lives (all the while begging the question: How do you punish a dead man?). He makes phone calls. He sends videos. And he punishes anyone who gets in the way of his destructive plans. He also rewards those who help him, because even the most powerful computers in the world need occasional human henchmen.

The way Sobol recruits from among society’s disgruntled and disenfranchised reminded me so much of Randall Flagg in Stephen King’s The Stand that I’m inclined to believe it’s Suarez’s homage to the man. I found it a little hard to believe how many people were willing to sell their soul to the daemon, but what do I know. Interestingly, none of the heroes in this novel is all good, and none of the villains is all bad. It certainly made for more interesting reading. Sometimes I couldn’t even figure out who the good guys were.

Crichton has long been criticized for writing underdeveloped characters. Suarez, quite frankly, isn’t even trying to develop many of the characters, sometimes populating entire chapters with characters notated only by the agencies they represent: CIA, FBI, NSA, DARPA, and so on. The stakes in this novel certainly do expand beyond the Thousand Oaks Police Department. The daemon is an enormous, world-wide danger.

The pace of this novel is relentless, and more than a few plot twists took me completely by surprise, including an enormous shocker in the final pages. The novel comes to a satisfying enough conclusion, but quite a few threads are left unresolved. I was sort of okay with the things left up in the air—food for thought, you know—but Publisher’s Weekly promises a sequel. I am so there! ( )

Excellent, high octane thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Matthew Sobol, computer game designer created a daemon, a computer program that activates upon his death. A program that takes over many of the world's computer systems, and blackmails highly talented people into helping it achieve its goals. Goals that seem to include world dominion. ( )

This started out fantastic. A dead game developer triggers software after his death. Interesting concept and I must say the first half of the book was well executed. It was suspenseful and as a software developer myself, it was pretty believeable. Trust me I was writing code in my head on how to do some of the things that this daemon was doing.

Second half of the book became a bit of a chore to plug through and was really just quick disjointed chapters on how the daemon was building it's army. Interesting in their own right, but just didn't seem to go anywhere with it.

Ending seemed a bit forced and just like a word count was met and needed to wrap up some loose ends. Plenty left open however for a sequel which I've heard is in the works. I'll be sure to pick it up as the concept is one I enjoy and can relate to and I can imagine a dozen different directions the storyline can progress to.

http://www.wordsforwords.com/blogs/in... ( )