Karl Olsberg

Many scientists and philosophers including Neil deGrasse Tyson have suggested that our universe could actually be a simulation in someone else’s computer game. German author Karl Olsberg has used that premise to very good purpose in his novel, Delete. A young gamer is worried when one of her fellow players stops in the middle of the game, makes a cryptic remark, then doesn’t move again. After she is unable to find him either on- or off-line, she contacts the police.

At the same time, show more Chief Inspector Eisenberg of the Hamburg police is looking into a human trafficking ring when he makes a decision that saves a life but sends the investigation pear-shaped. After being reamed out by his arrogant commander, he starts looking for a new job. He is offered the lead of a new unit set up to investigate and possibly prevent crimes using computer technology. Trouble is, he’s only one in a long line of people who have tried the job and all of the others quickly gave it up. The unit exists as a cohesive team in name only. They are a smart but uncooperative bunch of misfits who have managed to do little more than get on each other’s nerves and Eisenberg knows little about how to deal with their quirks and even less about technology. But it has been made clear to him and the team that if they aren’t able to find and solve a case and soon, the unit will be shut down.

One of the team is a gamer and he comes across not only the disappearance of the young girl’s friend but several other disappearances that seem to have nothing in common except they stopped suddenly in the game, made odd statements, then vanished both from the game and from their regular lives. The team must discover whether these are just random disappearances that have nothing to do with the game or each other or if it is something more sinister at work. And then the young girl who reported the first disappearance vanishes.

Although Delete is a police procedural, the added science and perhaps science fiction elements really made it a suspenseful and compelling read. Although we know what is going on, the idea that this is all just on the surface never goes away even at the end. The translation by Caroline Wright is excellent and keeps the story moving at a nice clip. I really enjoyed Delete and give it a high recommendation for fans of police procedurals especially those who enjoy a touch of the unusual thrown in. This was my first book by this author but it definitely will not be my last.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bonnier Zaffre for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review show less

2023 Edit:
Vor allem jetzt mit der ganzen KI-"Kunst" wäre das ein guter Read. Vielleicht lese ich es in diesem Jahr nochmal, das Buch hatte mir in 2021 auf jeden Fall gefallen.

2021:
Krass. Also ich hätte nicht gedacht, dass diese Story mal so eine Wendung nehmen wird. Vor allem, weil das nicht mal im Genre enthalten ist. Aber vielleicht wollte der Autor einfach so den Plottwist nicht andeuten, lol.

Das Buch hat mir eine neue Sichtweise auf die Welt verschaffen. Ob das jetzt gut oder schlecht show more ist, weiß ich nicht. Es wird mich definitiv des Öfteren ins Grübeln versetzen, darauf kann ich jetzt schon Wetten.

Die Charaktere waren alle sehr gut durchdacht. Vor allem, als sich zwei Charaktere mal für andere Personen ausgegeben hatten, habe ich sofort (naja, nach ein paar Seiten) erkannt, dass die eigentlich zwei andere Personen sind, als die, die sie vorgeben zu sein. So sieht man halt, dass der Autor jedem Charakter ein einzigartiges Merkmal verschaffen hat, die sie voneinander unterscheiden lässt.
Klingt vielleicht selbstverständlich, aber ich kenne viele Bücher, bei denen jede Charaktere gleich und kaum unterscheidbar wirken, welche man leicht ersetzen oder gleich löschen könnte. Was hier nicht der Fall ist, auch wenn mir paar Charaktere so nervig kamen nach einer Weile, dass ich sie tatsächlich einfach löschen wollte.

Während des Lesens hatte ich mehrere Theorien aufgestellt, unter anderem habe ich auch 5 davon auf Amino gepostet. Mir wurde nie wirklich langweilig, ich wollte ständig wissen, wie es denn weiter geht, und vor allem, was Manuel denn nun schon wieder durchleben muss.
Andauernd verlangt das Buch, dass der Leser selbst mitdenkt, denn Symbole oder Codes sind überall versteckt. Ein Supergenie könnte wahrscheinlich schon der ersten Seite herauslesen, wie es es endet, aber da die Geschichte so viele Möglichkeiten und Wendungen zu haben scheint, will man lieber trotzdem weiterlesen, als sich auf irgendwelche Schlussfolgerungen festzusetzen.

(~ 2021) show less

A 15-yo boy finds himself in a white cube-shaped room. Empty. No doors, windows, furniture. Total silence. Except for a an Alexa-type voice named Alice. Alice responds to the following simple commands: "show me", "what is", "where is", "open", and "close".

At first the boy is in a bit of a panic so he keeps asking questions that Alice is not authorized to answer, such as: "who am I", where am I", and "why am I here". Eventually he calms down and starts giving Alice commands she can follow, show more such as "Open Google," which opens up a whole world of other command opportunities.

I was sucked in the instant he discovers "Eyestream" and creates himself a username and Gmail account. I wish the author had incorporated more of that into the story, actually.

Random stuff I liked but I won't go into any details as I don't want to spoil the plot or anything:

There are LOTR references.
Driverless smart cars and drones.
Pietercam
Intelligence vs Awareness

Many reviewers had major issues with the last chapter. I was so sleep deprived I realized I was completely zoned out by the end of the book and had to reread the last chapter this morning with fresh eyes and a fresh brain. The last several chapters, actually. They're short. It's a YA book. Anyway, the conclusion of the book made perfect sense to me. Very SciFi and philosophical so it took a few brain cells to process, but yah, I get it. show less

this book has so many layers, and i had no idea what was going on and who to trust i loved that though just kept me wanting to read