The Passengers is a fast paced, thriller. Imagine if you will, your self-driving car suddenly refuses to follow your programmed destination, the console goes blank, you are locked in and a voice speaks, âAlternative destination being programmedâ. Shortly after Claire finds she has no control over her car, a voice speaks telling her that in two hours and thirty minutes it is likely she will be dead. She is not the only one to hear this first of many messages.
Libby Dixon was chosen to serve on the Vehicle Inquest Jury. This group of people decides the cause of fatal vehicular accidents. During the onset of the meeting the jury learns about multiple takeovers and a hacker comes into play.
John Marrs has done it again. After reading his book, The One, I put his name on my to read list. He did not disappoint.
Libby Dixon was chosen to serve on the Vehicle Inquest Jury. This group of people decides the cause of fatal vehicular accidents. During the onset of the meeting the jury learns about multiple takeovers and a hacker comes into play.
John Marrs has done it again. After reading his book, The One, I put his name on my to read list. He did not disappoint.
England has taken the extraordinary step of passing laws to allow fully autonomous cars on their roadways and start phasing out driver-operated vehicles. There are some citizens, however, who insist the Government is moving too fast. The nightmare begins when 8 random citizens are hijacked in their driver-less cars by someone known only as the âHacker.â The Hacker announces to the world that they fate of these 8 people is in their hands. He will hold a poll to determine who should live and who should die. The world watches in perverse fascination as these âcontestantsâ are eliminated one by one. While the authorities race to try and find the Hacker, everyone wonders who he is and what his true agenda might be.
The Passengers by John Marrs is one of the best novels turned social commentary that I have ever read. This book is so much more than the typical hostage thriller. By the time you are halfway in, you will likely be doing some very deep thinking about the issues at the center of the plot. It is also a very timely book, what with the reality of self-driving cars sharing the road with driver-operated cars drawing closer every day. Passengers addresses some of the very concerns with driver-less cars that have been brought up and I encourage everyone to read it. I give it 5/5 stars.
*A copy of this book was the only compensation received in exchange for this review.*
The Passengers by John Marrs is one of the best novels turned social commentary that I have ever read. This book is so much more than the typical hostage thriller. By the time you are halfway in, you will likely be doing some very deep thinking about the issues at the center of the plot. It is also a very timely book, what with the reality of self-driving cars sharing the road with driver-operated cars drawing closer every day. Passengers addresses some of the very concerns with driver-less cars that have been brought up and I encourage everyone to read it. I give it 5/5 stars.
*A copy of this book was the only compensation received in exchange for this review.*
Sometimes a novel comes along that skillfully pushes the buttons on our primal fears. John Marrs' The Passengers is such a novel. From giving up control of the vehicle we're in, to how social media is used-- for good or ill-- as the foundation stone of public opinion, Marrs' fast-paced thriller kept me completely engrossed in his story.
In The Passengers, the government has an agenda and so do the people who hacked into the system controlling the self-driving cars. As we learn about each of the characters trapped in the cars and the hapless "jury" that has to make the final decisions on life and death, we become complicit in the decision-making. And it's not easy. The victims locked in the cars are afraid for their lives and become selective with the truth. Marrs adds twists to each person's history by having the hackers withhold key facts that the jury needs to know in order to make informed decisions, and these twists are like landmines on the routes those self-driving cars are traveling.
This book was well on its way to becoming another of my Best Reads of 2019; however, I'm sad to say that the ending unraveled a bit for me. One character's happily-ever-after ending came out of left field, and some of the knots the other loose ends were tied up in didn't feel quite right either. But... oh what a fantastic ride to my destination! (And I doubt very much that I'll ever willingly get into a self-driving car.)
In The Passengers, the government has an agenda and so do the people who hacked into the system controlling the self-driving cars. As we learn about each of the characters trapped in the cars and the hapless "jury" that has to make the final decisions on life and death, we become complicit in the decision-making. And it's not easy. The victims locked in the cars are afraid for their lives and become selective with the truth. Marrs adds twists to each person's history by having the hackers withhold key facts that the jury needs to know in order to make informed decisions, and these twists are like landmines on the routes those self-driving cars are traveling.
This book was well on its way to becoming another of my Best Reads of 2019; however, I'm sad to say that the ending unraveled a bit for me. One character's happily-ever-after ending came out of left field, and some of the knots the other loose ends were tied up in didn't feel quite right either. But... oh what a fantastic ride to my destination! (And I doubt very much that I'll ever willingly get into a self-driving car.)
