Sunday, July 14, 2019

Sexy Nerd's #Book #Review Featuring...The Passengers...#ThePassengers #NetGalley #Thriller

You’re riding in your self-driving car when suddenly the doors lock, the route changes and you have lost all control. Then, a mysterious voice tells you, “You are going to die”. 


Just as self-driving cars become the trusted, safer norm, eight people find themselves in this terrifying situation, including a faded TV star, a pregnant young woman, an abused wife fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a husband and wife, and a suicidal man. 



From cameras hidden in their cars, their panic is broadcast to millions of people around the world. But the public will show their true colors when they are asked, “Which of these people should we save?...And who should we kill first?”




The Sexy Nerd ‘Revue’


I think I’ve discovered a new iconic book for the Millennium! Maximum Overdrive, iRobot and Enemy of the State meet The Passengers! Oh my, my, my what an exhilarating, terrifying, roller coaster ride of a story, if I ever did read one! Wow!!!! 

The era of the driver-less car has arrived. Oh sure, there were some that had Level 1 and 2 cars, which offered human total control or manual override, but anything above that grade the artificial intelligence took over. Libby was a dinosaur. She enjoyed having complete control of her vehicle (a woman after my own heart!) While she and her friends were out at a local pub, she felt eyes on her and with good reason. There was a gentleman sitting at the other end of the bar paying much attention to her. Hmm, sparks were in the air. 

Eventually, Libby strikes up a conversation with the stranger, and they find out they have so much in common. Time stood still for the wannabe lovers. All the noise surrounding them was suddenly silent as they were totally engrossed in each other’s conversation. One of Libby’s friends stops over to interrupt their vibe to tell her that one of their girlfriends is really sick from drinking too much and needed Libby’s assistance. Of course, Libby wasn’t really thinking about this chick, but she was a friend and had to go. 


However, before she went, she got in a kiss from the stranger, and off she went to the rescue. But doggone it, she met the man of her life and she never got his name. What the hell was she thinking? Try as Libby might, she could not find out his name. Looking for this mystery man was like a needle in a haystack. She even went back to the pub where they met hoping beyond hope that he’d end up stopping in, but of course, that wasn’t to be. Oh well, she missed out on an opportunity with a great guy, go figure! 

Libby was really bummed about not finding her mystery man and if it wasn’t for bad luck she’d have none at all because she was served with a notice advising her she had to serve jury duty. Oooh great, she thought! Once she and the other jurors arrived at court, things began to take a turn for the worse. Libby and the jurors were charged with finding out if the self-driving cars were at fault for killing several pedestrians or if it was human error. Hmm, you might think this was a no brainer, but you couldn’t be more wrong! 


As they are looking at the evidence presented before them, a hacker took over the computer and advised the jury panel that they were going to play an intricate part in a game of life and death, so to speak. Up on the screen were eight passengers in self-driving cars. Each were told that they had no control over the cars and were going to be driven to a remote location. But before each of them reached their destination, they were advised they would die in two hours and thirty minutes. Libby and the jurors were horrified to learn that someone took over these passengers’ cars. In fact, the artificial intelligence these cars used were “hacker proof!” Hmmph, yeah right. Nothing is hacker proof, as the passengers soon learned. 

Needless to say these eight passengers, as well as Libby and the jurors were in for the rides of their lives, literally! And readers, when I tell you this story was heart pumping scary, that’s exactly what it was! I found myself holding my breath waiting on the next chain of events to happen. OMG! I haven’t read anything like I was in a workout session since reading Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. What excitement! This story was Aaah-mazing! In fact, I’d go as far as to say this story is a modern day Lord of the Flies! Social media is a necessary evil and what this novel demonstrates is how we, as humans, have put so much of our faith in artificial intelligence. We’ve put entirely too much faith in electronics, so much so that you end up with a story like this one which isn’t too far off from reality. Absolutely terrifying! 

Hands down this story is silver screen worthy! I want to see this in an IMAX theater. I can just feel my heart pumping at the crazy events that consistently happened. There were so many shocking discoveries that left my jaw hanging. I could not believe how real this book felt. I loved every minute of it! 

The Sexy Nerd gives The Passengers five extra passengers to tag along! OMG, what an amazing story! If you love a good nail biting, edge-of-your-seat type of book, you’ve GOT to read this story! It will not let you down. Everywhere I turned, something was going on. No sooner had my heart rate returned to normal, the next thing happened and I was breathing hard or not breathing at all and it went on like that until the final page. Outstanding read! I encourage all my thrill seeker readers to give this a go! You will not be sorry you did. The Passengers comes out Tues., August 27, 2019. Make sure you grab it and prepare to get mind blown!




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