Kill Decision
Daniel Suarez
Penguin Group
<p>The shocking techno-thriller that cements Daniel Suarez’s status as the heir to Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy—a terrifying, breathtaking, and all-too-plausible vision of the world’s near future.<br /></p><p>Unmanned weaponized drones already exist—they’re widely used by America in our war efforts in the Middle East. In <em>Kill Decision</em>, bestselling author Daniel Suarez takes that fact and the real science behind it one step further, with frightening results.<br /></p><p>Linda McKinney is a myrmecologist, a scientist who studies the social structure of ants. Her academic career has left her entirely unprepared for the day her sophisticated research is conscripted by unknown forces to help run an unmanned—and thanks to her research, automated—drone army. Odin is the secretive Special Ops soldier with a unique insight into the faceless enemy who has begun to attack the American homeland with drones programmed to seek, identify, and execute targets without human intervention.<br /></p><p>Together, McKinney and Odin must slow this advance long enough for the world to recognize its destructive power, because for thousands of years the “kill decision” during battle has remained in the hands of humans—and off-loading that responsibility to machines will bring unintended, possibly irreversible, consequences. But as forces even McKinney and Odin don’t understand begin to gather, and death rains down from above, it may already be too late to save humankind from destruction at the hands of our own technology.</p>Review<p>"Perfectly blending nail-biting suspense with accessible science, bestseller Suarez establishes himself as a legitimate heir to Michael Crichton with this gripping present-day thriller."<br /><em>     <em>--</em>Publisher's Weekly (starred review) <em /></em><br /></p><p>"A confident thriller that leaves us wondering not <em>whether </em>its fictional premise will one day become reality, but when. "<br /> --*Kirkus Reviews on Kill Decision*"<br /></p><p>"A plausible account of how, and more importantly, why, the real 'skynet' might be created."<br /><em>     --Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, Inc.</em><br /></p><p>"Kill Decision is a fantastic techno-thriller.  As someone who has designed combat robots myself, I found the technology depicted both accurate and chilling."<em>     <br />     --</em><em>Alexander Rose, </em><em>Roboticist &amp; </em><em>Executive Director of </em><em>The Long Now Foundation</em><br /></p><p>"Suarez's fiction is closer to reality than most people think."<br /><em>     --</em><em>Chris Anderson, author &amp; Editor-in-Chief, Wired Magazine</em></p>From the Author<p>From the New York Times Bestselling author of <em>Daemon</em> and <em>Freedom™</em>, comes a terrifying, breathtaking, and all-too-possible vision of the world's near future. In his new novel, <em>Kill Decision</em>, Daniel Suarez turns to the timely and increasingly important topic of combat drones.  The book tells the story of myrmecologist Linda McKinney--a scientist studying weaver ants--who is forced to team up with a Special Ops soldier after her research is stolen and used by unknown forces to power autonomous swarming weapons.  Suarez's well researched thrillers are based on real science and technology, and in <em>Kill Decision</em> he takes the very real implications of automated war to its next logical step. </p></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br>