First published 2009
Matthew Sobol lies dying, but his final creation waits in the shadows of the internet. The legendary game designer has programmed a daemon that monitors obituary websites, and when his death notice appears online, the program awakens. Detective Peter Sebeck arrives at a crime scene where two programmers have died in their locked office, killed by their own security system. The investigation leads to Sobol's company and the discovery that autonomous programs now control critical infrastructure across the globe. These daemons manage everything from car locks to airplane controls, from email systems to power grids. Sobol designed most of them to serve society, but his final daemon serves a different purpose. As each new layer of the program activates, it systematically attacks the interconnected systems that modern life depends on. Sebeck must join with an unlikely group of allies to decode Sobol's intentions before his creation destroys their hyper-connected world. They face an enemy with no physical form, one that turns their own technology against them. The question becomes whether they can stop the daemon or must accept a future where humans no longer control their machines.
Genres: science-fiction, mystery, crime, action, artificial-intelligence, cyberpunk
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-allies, man-vs-machine, technological-dystopia
432 pages · Hardcover · Dutton Adult