Daemon

I've just become a huge fanboy with one book.

That's to say I was rightly blown away. :) All right. To explain. What first seems like a techno-thriller with gamers and programmers and a murderer doing all his murders after his own death by cancer then quickly turns into a social and economical exploration based on the trends we're now facing.

This is a fun and complicated story filled with many twists and turns, awesome characters, and a world-changing creation that turns us all into players in a world-wide socio-economic game based on distributed network theory and game-development strategies. You know that little military idea of Game Theory? Why not take it to an All New Level and create for ourselves a Game Of Our Lives, so pervasive show more a virus and lucrative for all the players that it takes over every level of government, corporation, and home? It's like having the mafia become a super genius living in every computer and taking over everything purely by social hacking. It's beautiful.

I've seen a number of somewhat similar tales grace the page, but most of those are social hacking through social media. This one is a bit more fundamental than that. This one leaves us all alone unless it has something it needs, in conjunction with so many other people-pieces, that when they're put together, create major changes without anyone knowing exactly what was up until it happened. A computer god or Microsoft Design Strategy. Whatever. It's gorgeous.

And so strange that the novel still keeps up with it's techno-thriller ride, still managing a wonderful story while also exploring the depths of an entirely plausible and scary takeover of the world. :) By AI.

I totally recommend this fantastic SF. It is both fun and important for the field. :) Solid as hell and a pure delight, even with some of the more disturbing social aspects intact. No one is innocent. That's kinda the point. We deserve to be taken over by a computer parasite. :) show less

Boah, was für ein Buch! Aber gleich vorweg: Leute, die mit IT nichts am Hut haben, Netzwerke für Ausrüstungsgegenstände von Fischern halten und die Faszination von Computerspielen nicht mal ansatzweise nachvollziehen können, sollten die Finger davon lassen.
Nun zum Inhalt: Mathew Sobol, milliardenschweres Computergenie, erliegt Anfang 30 einem Gehirntumor. Just in diesem Augenblick sterben auf mysteriöse Art und Weise Mitarbeiter seiner Firma und bald wird klar, dass Sobol dahinter steckt. Bei der Untersuchung der Morde erkennen die Ermittler, dass ein von Sobol programmiertes Programm (der Daemon) dafür verantwortlich ist, doch sie sind nicht in der Lage die wahren Dimensionen einzuschätzen. Detective Pete Sebeck beginnt show more gemeinsam mit einem undurchsichtigen IT-Consultant Untersuchungen auf eigene Faust durchzuführen und findet sich bald in einem Netz aus Anschuldigungen und Vorwürfen wieder, aus denen es kein Entrinnen zu geben scheint. Unterdessen baut der Daemon ein weltweit verzweigtes Netz auf: Er infiltriert Firmen, manipuliert die Presse, rekrutiert neue Mitstreiter und falls notwendig, lässt er dafür Menschen umbringen. Niemand scheint ihn stoppen zu können...
Was diesen Thriller so beklemmend macht, ist, dass das Szenario, so utopisch es auch klingen mag, auf der Grundlage der heutigen Möglichkeiten durchaus vorstellbar wäre. Die ganze Welt hängt an einem Netz und wer sich dessen bemächtigt, hat die Macht - nicht nur virtuell. Diese Erkenntnis setzt sich in Sobols Buch nur langsam durch, für die Befehlshaber der 'letzten Generation' sind Hacker nur Gesindel, das (Zitat) 'zusammengetrieben und erschossen gehört.' Es ist ein Kampf zweier Generationen: Die, die nur in der realen Welt zuhause ist und die, für die die virtuelle Welt längst eine echte Heimat darstellt.
Suarez zeigt auf, wo und was überall manipuliert werden kann, kaum etwas ist noch sicher vor Zugriffen aus dem Netz (da fällt mir ein: Ich brauch' unbedingt ein neues Virenprogramm..). Spannend und überraschend, selbst eine Mini-Liebesgeschichte hat es in die Story geschafft - ein wirklich packender Thriller.
Vier Punkte gibt es 'nur', da die Verwendung von IT-Begriffen manchmal extreme Ausmaße annimmt: 'Er wollte einen schnellen Exploit, der ihm eine Remote Shell auf den Host mit Sysadmin-Rechten lieferte.' Das Buch ist auch ohne Verständnis dieser Fachausdrücke gut zu verstehen, aber etwas weniger (oder zumindest ein Anhang) wäre doch deutlich mehr gewesen. show less

Fast paced and fun. I'm a slow reader, but this was like watching a movie. I was always dying to know the next plot twist. It made me think about how dependence makes us vulnerable to exploitation. And we're all dependent on something: income, family, technology, privacy, security, etc. Like good Sci-Fi, it also made me think about the limits of technology and its ubiquity.

I wanted to like it more. I didn't get the villain's motivation and it didn't seem to tie all his plans together. Maybe the next book explains more. Did he really think the inevitable social evolution would require so much violent coercion? Did he really think saving a corrupt world requires so many innocent deaths.

I know this is Sci-Fi, but I couldn't suspend show more disbelief with some parts and other parts seemed thin. Intelligence agencies were chronically shortsighted, and only decisive in retreat. And the hardcore, "leet", pierced, hacker-gamer-criminal-footsoldiers. Gag. And would such a vast conspiracy of losers really be so well contained? And the AI that somehow flawlessly exploits human psychology. I don't know. show less

Breathtaking thriller that seems to be about the dangers of our interconnected world and our vulnerability in light of our reliance on networked computers and the internet. But by the end, I think it's about the dangers of corporatism, and techies wreaking havoc look like the good guys (even if they don't hesitate to create lots of collateral damage).

I was exhausted when I finished the book. I liked the idea of the Daemon that could exert so much control technilogically, while I could have done without its ability to control killer, self-propelled automobiles that assert control a little too directly to feel I could suspend disbelief.

One of the best-written books I've read in a very long time.

The summary ... Matthew Sobol, a genius software developer who runs the largest gaming company in the world dies, causing a bunch of his employees to die in mysterious freak circumstances. A old not-technical police sergeant winds up investigating the case, and uncovers that Sobol's death triggered a incredibly complex piece of software ... the Daemon ... which is setting forth Sobol's genius plan to take the world in a new direction, no matter what cost.

This is a novel which could have become very hokey, but to his credit Daniel Suarez is an amazingly crisp writer given that this is apparently his first novel. The novel itself starts off as a murder mystery and is a good one show more to boot notwithstanding the subject matter. The scape increases to scale with the stakes of the story, but my favourite parts were in the first half of the book, where the technological savviness of the villain is counterpoint nicely by the "can barely use a computer" protagonist.

Speaking of technology, being a computer scientist I am usually disappointed when authors try to shoehorn technology into their plots (as I'm sure anyone versed in a field has to suffer when their field is the basis of a pop culture work) ... but beyond the scale of the story, every technological moment seems well-researched and respectful to technology.

What _isn't_ as respectful is the male-gaze that runs through the book. The book has a particular chapter which cruelly explicitly details the exploitation of a girl being being drugged and filmed in sexually compromising acts to introduce the evilness of a character, and in general the amount of stressing that that character cares little for life and enjoys inflicting violence on other people gets tiring and exploitative in its own right. The romances in this book seem incredibly shoehorned even if not entirely gratuitous, but with one exception (not knowing anything about the sequels) women become romantic candy with no depth to those relationships even though it's clear that Suarez could write compelling and strong women characters when he puts his mind to it. Relationship nuance between characters was not Suarez' strong at the time this book was written, anyway.

This is a book about hackers ultimately, which means a lot of the nerd ethos that is both its charm and its flaws show up here. The book implicitly espouses that kind of hacker cowboy can-do-anything-if-you're-smart-enough libertarianism that irks, although to its credit the book is quite happy to tell you how unsavoury its characters can be.

The second half of the book plays less with the contrast of nontechnical man vs. machine, though I still enjoyed the real-world-Matrix promised by the book's basic narrative conflict. It ends on a not particularly satisfying cliffhanger, but it's obvious that there's another book to follow up on the story and the whole thing was written well enough that I could go for some more.

In summary, the premise is interesting and the technical realism of the book is incredibly admirable. The story is a good yarn as it grows from a tight local scope to a rabid world-is-at-stake technoepic. The characters are not particularly nuanced and you can expect a book focused on the sausage party of epic hacker culture to espouse some of those sausage party views as far as characters and narrative tropes go.

Really looking forward to the second book. It's good to read a book that feels as much science fact as it is science fiction, especially in the relatively new-to-fiction world of software development. show less

Reservations be dammed! That's right, I almost didn't read it.

Ever wonder what’s going to become of those "@$(^$#%" kids in your basements playing video games? Well, Suarez has found a place for them and he makes it count. No same old plot line here, you know, the good, the bad and the ugly? Just when your standard character is lined up to save the day—pow! Right in the kisser. You’re hanging a U-turn. What the hell was that? And trust me, you want to know where this one is going. And it won't be where you thought. Just when you think Suarez has stretched technology to the limit, and even a bit beyond, you find out there is more out there and it’s being done. Who knew?
You take your not so typical megalomaniac (Mathew Sobol), show more throw in the fact that he’s dead, add a pinch of global data mining, GPS guidance systems, computer-generated and programmed manufacturing machines, international banking, global economics, CIA, FBI, name the agency it's in there. Then peel and dice a willing and ready disenfranchised subculture. Simmer slowly with inherent, but predictable corporate greed base. You get the idea, or you will. Sobols plan seems to have predicted the most basic human behavior and uses it to stay one step ahead. Have you ever had the urge to hit the gas when the patrol car’s lights come on behind you, all the while knowing you’ll never outrun his radio? Try outrunning a powerful computer or thousands and you’ll get somewhat of an idea of what all those institutions are up against.
You don’t do Tech? Well me either, that’s why I almost skipped this one. Suarez delivers a plot, plausible characters, and writing that brings a flavor to tech we can actually digest and dare I say, appreciate. There’s no small thinking here; Suarez’s writing is engaging and his ideas are current and provoking. There was a good chance that this book was going to get the five stars out of me but…………………………..

The book just ended, kind of like this review. Grrrrrhhhhh!

He got me. Damn, I want that second book. show less

“Daemon” by Leinad Zeraus is a great contemporary science-fiction novel. It reads like a worst case scenario of our networked society gone horribly wrong.

The death of Über-Game-Designer Matthew Sobol sets a surprising chain of events in motion. Before his death Sobol designed a computer program that automatically scans the internet for news of his death. After his death this daemon starts automatic protocols which in the end destabilize the global economy and challenge national security.

With his novel Leinad Zeraus emphasizes different aspects of our time which are very seldom addressed in so-called serious fiction. Zeraus’ characters are mostly digitally natives who are battling an older generation who fondly plays with the idea show more of “shutting down the internet”. He shows the emerging culture of Multiplayer Video Games and weaves them as layer into reality, a layer which remains invisible to most onlookers. Yet the author does not restrict his story to the digital realm. He also addresses issues of the ongoing privatization of security and shows a world which is increasingly governed by global corporations.

“Daemon” reads at times like a dramatization of non-fiction books on computer security, sociology, economics and futurology. The author points among others to works by P. W. Singer, Kevin Phillips and Jared Diamond. This stylistic device reminds of Neal Stephenson who explicitly anchored his “Baroque Cycle” on the works by the French historian Fernand Braudel. This process is greatly entertaining because it shows the rather abstract ideas of non-fiction writers in glorious technicolor. It also gives the novels more relevance and grounding in present day science then can be normally expected from fictional work. show less