Kill Decision by Daniel SuarezMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Kill Decision is a near-future techno-thriller based on the disturbing concept of financial interests using technology to further their profit goals without morals or accountability. That's not a new idea, of course, there's been plenty of other books (and movies/TV/etc) based on the same idea of some shadowy conspiracy manipulating events with no regard for consequences to the world. I think Suarez does a fine job of implementing the concept using modern society and technology, so it didn't bother me that there wasn't much in the way of new ground covered.
The novel revolves around advances in autonomous drone technology, most notably vision processing and swarming behavior. I'm no expert in those fields, but I consider myself an informed layman, and it certainly doesn't feel like Suarez is reaching all that far past what's possible right now. What the novel proposes in these fields is advanced refinements of capabilities that we're already seeing in labs today - years away, not decades, if someone really wanted to do it and dedicated the resources.
It's not all techno-games, of course; there's plenty of interesting characters with personality in Kill Decision. The main character is Linda McKinney, a scientist who studies ants. Her work is co-opted by the bad guys, and she's saved from elimination by a team of black-ops soldiers. They proceed to spend the rest of the novel roaming around the world to stop the conspiratorial disaster. My favorite character was the heavy-metal-loving commando Foxy, right-hand man to team leader and hero Odin. All of it is well-written and engaging, if not particularly unique.
Kill Decision is a enjoyable read, fast-paced and interesting. The reader can just enjoy the action, or think a little deeper about some of the moral questions. (What kind of danger are we in from certain kinds of technological advances? Do we have any real control over bad actors using such technology?) Either way, I recommend it.
