June ScaredyKIT: Techno-thrillers

TECHNO-THRILLERS



According to Wikipedia a techno-thriller (also known as technothrillers) is a hybrid genre drawing from science fiction, thrillers, spy fiction, action, and war novels. They include a disproportionate amount (relative to other genres) of technical details on their subject matter (typically military technology); only hard science fiction tends towards a comparable level of supporting detail on the technical side. The inner workings of technology and the mechanics of various disciplines (espionage, martial arts, politics) are thoroughly explored, and the plot often turns on the particulars of that exploration.This genre began to exist and establish itself in the early 20th century with further developments and focus on the genre in the mid 20th century.

Some examples of the sub-genre are:

Dark Matter
Digital Fortress
The Andromeda Strain
Cryptonomicon
The Atlantis Gene
The Jack Ryan books
The Ice Limit

What will you be reading for June's ScaredyKIT?

Don't forget to add it to the wiki. (And I'm so sorry for putting this out so late).

I'll have a look to see if I have anything that qualifies. Sounds scary!

I was thinking about reading The Andromeda Strain.

>3 NinieB: I love Michael Crichton. It's been years since I read it, but I remember Andromeda Strain being pretty intense.

>4 virginiahomeschooler: That's what I'm looking for!

I am also going with a Michael Crichton books for this month's theme with Micro.

I have a few options that came up via tagmashes, so hopefully they really do fit! :-)

Shift / Hugh Howey
Dance of Death / Douglas Preston
The Circle / Dave Eggers

I will have to go to the library for this one!

Daemon by Daniel Suarez shows up as techno-thriller, and was also recommended. so fits the TBRCAT as well.

I had forgotten but Richard Preston has 2 good books that would fit: The Hot Zone and THe Cobra Event which are medical thrillers in the vein of The Andromeda Strain.

hoping to get to The Seventh Plague by Jame Rollins. Always a fun read from him.

Reading Brimstone by Douglas Preston and Lee Child

I read the Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton. I am not sure, but I think I saw this movie maybe in the early 70's. I can't remember anything about the movie, so the book was "new" to me, except it's one of those things that you vaguely remember but can't recall where and when. I found the book to be of an average read. It was probably more exciting in the 70's. I also found the book full of science terminology and those parts were quite boring for me. I would say the high point of the book are the many tensions which are contained within and not so much the actual storyline. 304 pages 3 stars.

I finished Daemon and it was very good. I also found it very timely WRT to cyber security threats.

Just finished The Seventh Plague. I do enjoy the Sigma Force series, a lot!

I have completed Micro by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston. Unfortunately this was an unfinished manuscript of Crichton's that was completed by another author and it did not work for me.

>16 DeltaQueen50: I used to gobble up Crichton's books, but I didn't like his later ones so much. I think I stopped reading him before he died.

I have added a thread for July here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/308305

The Circle / Dave Eggers
4 stars

When Mae manages to get a lucrative job (well, the job itself isn’t lucrative, just the chance to work there) with The Circle, she is thrilled! The Circle is a huge tech company and, to her surprise, there is so much more going on at The Circle than just work, so many social events. As the days go on, Mae is expected to be more and more social, online and in-person. Though it seems very difficult to keep up, Mae manages to do so, but there are drawbacks to all this online activity…

I listened to the audio, and had no trouble following without losing interest. I really liked this. It was hard to fathom how she could get more and more sucked in to that life and not realize the implications. I guess I felt like she had been brainwashed, like a cult. In fact, pretty much all of them had “drunk the Kool-Aid”! It was an interesting tale of taking social media way too far.

>16 DeltaQueen50: I always find that his later books feel like they were written with making a movie in mind. He stopped developing his characters and increased the action and visuals.

Just managed to squeeze in David Wong's Futuristic Violence & Fancy Suits which provides everything it says in the title.

Sorry for the late update. I finished two books for this challenge.

The first was Null States by Malka Older, the second book in her political sci-fi thriller series, The Centenal Cycle. There are lots of interesting futuristic ideas about democracy and the collection of information in this series.

The second was Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel, about scientists discovering and trying to unearth parts of a gigantic robot-like machine buried deep in the ground in a much earlier age. The structure of the book is in the form of interviews, like World War Z by Max Brooks.