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Kill Decision Mass Market Paperback – August 6, 2013

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,974 ratings

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A scientist and a soldier must join forces when combat drones zero in on targets on American soil in this gripping technological thriller from New York Times bestselling author Daniel Suarez.

Linda McKinney studies the social behavior of insects—which leaves her entirely unprepared for the day her research is conscripted to help run an unmanned and automated drone army.

Odin is the secretive Special Ops soldier with a unique insight into a faceless enemy who has begun to attack the American homeland with drones programmed to seek, identify, and execute targets without human intervention.

Together, McKinney and Odin must slow this advance long enough for the world to recognize its destructive power. But as enigmatic forces press the advantage, and death rains down from above, it may already be too late to save mankind from destruction.

DON'T MISS CHANGE AGENT, THE NEW NOVEL FROM DANIEL SUAREZ COMING APRIL 2017


"All the Little Raindrops: A Novel" by Mia Sheridan for $10.39
The chilling story of the abduction of two teenagers, their escape, and the dark secrets that, years later, bring them back to the scene of the crime. | Learn more

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"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."
--Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

"A confident thriller that leaves us wondering not
whether its fictional premise will one day become reality, but when."
--Kirkus Reviews on Kill Decision"

"A plausible account of how, and more importantly, why, the real 'skynet' might be created."
--Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, Inc.

"
Kill Decision is a fantastic techno-thriller. As someone who has designed combat robots myself, I found the technology depicted both accurate and chilling."
--
Alexander Rose, Roboticist & Executive Director of The Long Now Foundation

"Suarez's fiction is closer to reality than most people think."
--Chris Anderson, Author & Editor-in-Chief, Wired Magazine

"For me, Suarez is the Jules Verne of the digital age."

--Frank Schirrmacher, Author & Publisher of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)

From the Author

Daniel Suarez is the author of the New York Times bestseller Daemon, Freedom™, Kill Decision, and Influx. A former systems consultant to Fortune 1000 companies, his high-tech and sci-fi thrillers focus on the impact of technology-driven change. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dutton; Reprint edition (August 6, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0451417704
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0451417701
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.24 x 1.13 x 7.39 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,974 ratings

About the author

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Daniel Suarez
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DANIEL SUAREZ is a New York Times bestselling author whose books include Daemon, Freedom TM, Kill Decision, Influx, Change Agent, Delta-v, and its sequel Critical Mass (January 31, 2023). A former systems consultant to Fortune 1000 companies, he has designed and developed software for the defense, finance, and entertainment industries. With a lifelong interest in both IT systems and creative writing, his high-tech thrillers and realistic science fiction focus on technology-driven change. Suarez is a past speaker at TED Global, MIT Media Lab, and the Long Now Foundation -- among many others. Self-taught in software development, he is a graduate from the University of Delaware with a BA in English Literature. An avid PC and console gamer, his own world-building skills were bolstered through years as a pen & paper role-playing game moderator. He lives in Los Angeles, California. For more info visit, www.daniel-suarez.com.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
1,974 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the plot non-stop action and intricate. They describe the book as a good, entertaining read with great action scenes. Readers appreciate the well-researched, cutting-edge science and the entertainment value. They mention the pacing is fast and the writing style is consistent.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

143 customers mention "Plot"109 positive34 negative

Customers find the plot non-stop action, intricate, and exciting. They say the book is chillingly plausible and keeps them wondering at every twist and turn. Readers also mention the scenario is pretty scary, and the book is intellectually intriguing.

"...Full of military special forces action, political intrigue, and cutting edge science, it is reminiscent of Tom Clancy novels...." Read more

"...This story had pretty decent action, and while a lot of the book was Suarez's pattern of having characters get from point A to point B through..." Read more

"...Fast paced, (reasonably) believable characters and an excellent plot line...." Read more

"...The depiction of man-vs-machine fights was utterly terrifying, as it should be. In fact, all of the combat scenes were very well done...." Read more

113 customers mention "Readability"113 positive0 negative

Customers find the book entertaining, with great action scenes. They say the pacing is good and the desire to keep reading is good. Readers also mention the quality of work is worth the price.

"...This book was a very exciting read, as well as being technologically informative...." Read more

"...This one is a pretty good read, and he creates an excellent character in Odin, the leader of the sort of "special ops" group around whom all the..." Read more

"...He's using a Tom Clancy like style and, for a story like this, it works beautifully...." Read more

"...where you'll suddenly sit up straight and say "Holy cow, this book is really good," and then you won't be able to put it down again until the..." Read more

92 customers mention "Thought provoking"92 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well-researched, chillingly plausible, and mesmerizing. They appreciate the author's good at introducing facts not really known to them. Readers also mention the plot races across the world, with lots of tech wizardry. They say it's grounded in near-term science and the subject of drones is thought-provoking and timely.

"...Full of military special forces action, political intrigue, and cutting edge science, it is reminiscent of Tom Clancy novels...." Read more

"...be a work of fiction, but, as other reviewers have noted, is based on solid research...." Read more

"...Even more so than Daemon, it's grounded in near-term science...." Read more

"...This novel is a masterful addition to the very sparse genre of robot ant science fiction thrillers, and this time [..." Read more

51 customers mention "Entertainment value"40 positive11 negative

Customers find the book exciting and thought-provoking. They say it's a nice techno-thriller with drone warfare as the central theme. Readers also mention the book is rich with action and laden with detail. They mention the last half of the book is very exciting and fuels the sense of danger.

"This "techno-thriller" novel is a conversation-starter and that's why it appeals as I am involved in a new effort to rein in the kind of technology..." Read more

"Kill Decision is an excellent techno-thriller, combining a plausible forecast of the development of autonomous robots, a cynical but not completely..." Read more

"...What I will say is that this novel was excellent, exciting, and hard to put down...." Read more

"...This fuels the sense of danger and excitement. Paranoia, after all, is just smart when everyone really is out to get you...." Read more

48 customers mention "Pacing"43 positive5 negative

Customers find the pacing of the book well-paced. They say it's a quick, entertaining read with great action scenes. Readers also mention that the pacing suddenly accelerates to warp speed at the half-way point. Overall, they describe the book as thought-provoking and timely.

"...Fast paced, (reasonably) believable characters and an excellent plot line...." Read more

"Wow, just wow!Kill Decision is a very fast paced technothriller. Even more so than Daemon, it's grounded in near-term science...." Read more

"...he still writes in a very intelligent, well researched, and well paced manner...." Read more

"...The key techologies were timely, well described, and backed with sufficient substance so that a reader conversant with them felt the author spoke..." Read more

47 customers mention "Writing style"36 positive11 negative

Customers find the writing style well-written, consistent, and concise. They also say the book is easy to follow and accessible to anyone looking for a good read.

"...As far as this book is concerned.. exceptionally well written. He's using a Tom Clancy like style and, for a story like this, it works beautifully...." Read more

"...Was it a bad book? No. Was it a smartly written book? You could say that. Was it compelling? Not really...." Read more

"...Regardless, I really like this author; his writing is compelling, and while not quite as succinct and imanginative as someone like Michael Crichton,..." Read more

"...Highly recommended.(Scale: * - unreadable, couldn't finish. ** - bad or very bad, but readable. *** -..." Read more

36 customers mention "Character development"28 positive8 negative

Customers find the characters wonderful, convincing, and dedicated. They also appreciate the author's ability to develop likable and despicable characters.

"...This one is a pretty good read, and he creates an excellent character in Odin, the leader of the sort of "special ops" group around whom all the..." Read more

"...Fast paced, (reasonably) believable characters and an excellent plot line...." Read more

"...I thought the two main characters, Lind and Odin are likable, compelling characters...." Read more

"...The main character seemed a bit unbelievable overall as she seemed to have experience with so many aspects of the impromptu situations she was..." Read more

12 customers mention "Visual quality"9 positive3 negative

Customers find the book's visual quality vivid, realism, and incredible. They also appreciate the great style.

"...The pacing is exhilarating, the storyline immersive, the backdrops so real you will think you are there...." Read more

"...to put down as Daemon for me, and the ideas and visuals put across are very interesting indeed...." Read more

"...Odin was the black ops guy who had no personality and was fairly one-dimensional and dull; we knew he was looking to get to the bottom of the drone..." Read more

"This was recommended to me and did not disappoint! Suarez is very imagintive and thorough in his research. The robot bugs were terrifying!" Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2014
Daniel Suarez hits another home run with "Kill Decision," this time with the subject of military drones. More precisely with autonomous drones, which are drones programmed to operate without human input and potentially able to determine when to deploy its weapons. Couple this with the increase of drone production around the world and this makes a very real scenario and scary novel.

Professor Linda McKinney was a myrmecologist studying African weaver ants. They were one of the few extirpator species on earth (along with humans) - meaning they sought out and destroyed rival organisms, even their own species, to maintain absolute control of their territory. McKinney had written an algorithm to predict the swarming action of the weaver ants, a technique that had enabled them to survive for thousands of years. Someone with nefarious intentions wanted that software and when it was stolen, professor McKinney became expendable. Rescued from a drone attack by a man known as Odin, McKinney was whisked away to safety.

Odin was an operative in a secret branch of the special operations delta force unit. He was tasked to uncover the source of a series of drone attacks perpetrated on US soil by an unknown entity and bring those attacks to an end. The government was covering up the nature of the attacks to prevent widespread panic, and was passing them off as terrorist bombings. But someone inside the government didn't want Odin to succeed in his mission, and soon Odin's group and professor McKinney were under drone attack also. The race was on to stay one step ahead of the drones while toppling those responsible for their actions.

This book was scary because drone technology is already here, and is increasing in its scope every day. The case made for autonomous drones is a compelling one - all our enemies would need to disable a human operated drone is a good jamming device to disrupt the signal. The next logical step would be to incorporate a "kill decision" into the drones to ensure their missions were completed. The technology exists for such actions to occur. The only thing standing in the way are the politicians (and we know how reliable they are) and the general public who elects them. Daniel Suarez has raised the alarm to the dangers in this book. It is up to us to use this information wisely.

This book was a very exciting read, as well as being technologically informative. Full of military special forces action, political intrigue, and cutting edge science, it is reminiscent of Tom Clancy novels. If that is your cup of tea, then you will enjoy this read as much as I did.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2023
It's still irritating that he relies on lazy exposition so often, but this book was better than some of his that I've read. "She could tell he was going through a range of emotions" - hiding lazy exposition inside a character's thoughts is still lazy exposition, it's just disguised slightly better. This story had pretty decent action, and while a lot of the book was Suarez's pattern of having characters get from point A to point B through obstacles and dangers, there were also plenty of action sequences to liven things up. This one is a pretty good read, and he creates an excellent character in Odin, the leader of the sort of "special ops" group around whom all the action takes place.
Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2013
This "techno-thriller" novel is a conversation-starter and that's why it appeals as I am involved in a new effort to rein in the kind of technology that Dan Suarez warns of in "Kill Decision." Our campaign seeks the adoption of an international treaty that would require human beings are always "in-the-loop" or meaningfully involved in decisions to select target and engage or use force. This review looks at the real-world lessons provided by Kill Decision.

In his book Suarez imagines a world where drones are no longer controlled by humans, but instead are fully autonomous. It may be a work of fiction, but, as other reviewers have noted, is based on solid research. Suarez is not only a best-selling author, but a technical expert who has spent years developing software and database systems, including for the defense industry.

He is concerned with "autonomous combat drones" that would "fly themselves and make a kill decision without human involvement." The drones that Suarez warns against in Kill Decision are "autonomous--programmed to find and kill their victim, and then to self-destruct." He depicts the many dangers that armed drones could pose if this technology is not checked and permitted to become fully autonomous. The opening chapter, entitled "Boomerang," depicts a nightmare scenario of an unidentified and uncontrollable US Reaper drone malfunctioning over a religious shrine packed with pilgrims and launching missile strikes before it self-destructs, causing multiple casualties in the process.

Odin, the main male character, is a US soldier working for a secret government agency who is tasked with identifying who is behind a wave of terrorist bombings on US soil that turn out to be a series of anonymous drone attacks. Early on Odin observes that armed autonomous drones would be "a revolution in military affairs" as they would "combine all the worst aspects of cyber war--anonymity and scalability--with the physical violence of kinetic war."

The main female character is Professor Linda McKinley, a "myrmecologist" or scientist who studies ants, specifically weaver ants, apparently one of the most war-like species on earth. Throughout her career McKinley says she has repeatedly turned down military-funded research grants so she is horrified to learn about the development of a new military technology that seeks to "imbue a machine with the mind of a weaver ant."

In Kill Decision, Suarez depicts swarms of small autonomous drones designed to cut through metal and the closing chapters of the book are a rollercoaster ride as the two heroes try to stop a swarm of hundreds of thousands of metal-eating drones that are cutting ships apart and demolishing their contents.

Suarez proposes that "cheaper, more manoeuvrable, and expendable" autonomous drones could completely alter modern warfare. Throughout Kill Decision, he warns against their proliferation or an arms race as dozens of countries and private companies rush to develop of autonomous armed drones. He is also troubled with who could own autonomous armed drones and the idea that they could "be quietly controlled by a small number of unaccountable people."

Suarez presents an imaginary US government position that requires "there's always a human involved in the loop to make what they call the `kill decision' - whether to shoot or not." This book was published in July 2012, only five months before the real Pentagon issued its first-ever policy directive on autonomy in warfare requiring the Department of Defense to do exactly that by permitting fully autonomous weapons systems that only deliver non-lethal force.

But unlike legislation, policy can be challenged and changed therefore Suarez asserts that new law is necessary to address the dangers of war by fully autonomous weapons. Kill Decision describes the need for "an international legal framework on the proliferation and use of lethally autonomous robots."

Suarez therefore welcomed the April 2013 launch of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, a new international civil society coalition coordinated by Human Rights Watch that seeks to prevent the creation of the weapons he warns about in Kill Decision.

In his July 2013 TED Global talk in Edinburgh, Suarez urged his audience to make sure that autonomous armed drones "remain fiction" by banning their development and deployment. Through his work and his public statements, this fiction writer has joined a new movement concerned with preventing the real and not fictional threat of fully autonomous weapons.

Readers who found this novel "scary" or "terrifying" should not hesitate to channel that fear into positive action by supporting Suarez's call for a ban on fully autonomous weapons and joining the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Dr Abhishek Gupta
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in India on June 5, 2017
Nice Thriller.
くまちょっぷ
5.0 out of 5 stars よく考えると不思議な話なのだ...
Reviewed in Japan on July 1, 2020
ITコンサルタント出身の作者、ダニエル・スアレス。本作(2012)のタイトルになった『 Kill Decision 』については、翌2013年に同じたタイトルで TED Talk でスピーチをしている。

私はこの TED Talk から本作のテーマを知り、本を手にとった順番だ。そして、読み終えての感想は、とても良い意味で期待が裏切られる話の構成だったなというもの。

主人公たちが誰と戦っているのか。ここが面白いところなので伏せておくが、読了後、ジワジワと「はて!?」と不思議な感覚に包まれるだろう。スアレスはなにを想定していたのかを想像すると楽しさが増す。

ダニエル・スアレスの作品郡については、遺伝子操作モノ「 Change Agent」(2017)を読み、次いで処女作「 Daemon 」(2009) と続編「 Freedom 」(2010)と読んできた。

著者は "人間らしさ(humanity)" についてメッセージがあるのではと思う。「 Daemon 」「 Freedom 」の連作ではそれが色濃くでていたが話の構成はクネクネしていて、言葉づかいも私にとっては難解だった。一方、「 Change Agent 」については話の構成や言葉選びが読者にとって優しい感じにと変化がでている。

翻って、本作『 Kill Decision 』は、まさしくこの中間過程にあるという雰囲気。一冊にまとめきれなかった感も出ていながら、著者のテーマに対する研究力の高さ、熱心さも話にしっかり織り込まれている。

主人公のうちのひとりは昆虫学者である。それが、人工知能やドローンとあのように結びつくとは... とても興味深く読むことができた。

私はたぶんダニエル・スアレス自身に興味があるので本作も星5つ。

だけれども、あえて言うならば。著者のメッセージは話の2/3ほどでうまくまとまっていて、あとのバトルシーンは必要性がなかったようにも思う(ただ、テクノスリラーなので必要、たぶん)。しかし、それもこれも著者の作品に対するチャレンジ精神の表れだと受け止めている。

変わらずメッセージは "テクノロジーの進化における、人間らしさへの問いかけ" にあると思う。素敵な作者と出会えてうれしい。
Jgoulart
3.0 out of 5 stars A guerra anônima
Reviewed in Brazil on June 18, 2014
Cada vez mais a guerra se tornou impessoal e letal. Esta história mostra com muita riqueza de detalhes um mundo onde os inimigos são desconhecidos, e a morte atinge rapidamente e sem contemplações.
Recomendo a leitura para quem ainda tem dúvidas do que o nosso mundo se tornará em um futuro breve.
O autor demonstra um bom domínio do assunto, certamente uma leitura interessante.
lalondejp
5.0 out of 5 stars The ned turned author.
Reviewed in Canada on August 5, 2013
That's what I walked away thinking about this wonderful book. The technology is possible and the drama is in no short demand, I am now looking at ordering his first two books. If I can fi nd them in hardcover.

After Patterson, Baldacci, Cusler and W.R.Griffin, welcome Suarez to my collection

J.P.Lalonde
the Fan
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 28, 2014
Excellent & frightening book. ?Shape of things to come. Let's hope not. A well researched, fast paced, action-packed thriller! Well worth a read.