A Riveting Technothriller…

5 out of 5 stars

I don’t remember when I first read this but it was way before I was blogging.  It was one of those books that continued to stick out in my mind and I couldn’t really remember why.  So, I decided to pick it back up for a second read – this time on audio.  Man, am I glad that I did.  If I liked the book before I loved it more now.

Lincoln Child, known as half of the powerhouse writing duo with Douglas Preston writes of a future where you can be matched to a 90ith percentile of a person who is “perfect” for you.  It’s all done with AI and algorithms that are deeply protected.  But, suddenly two of the 100% matches (there are only 6 ever in the companies history) commit suicide.  Enter Christopher Lash, a gifted former FBI forensic psychologist.  He’s called in by Eden Technologies to investigate the suicides to figure out what Eden could have done to prevent them.

For a book published in 2004, this has a lot of forward-thinking technology in it.  63% of Americans had access to the Internet (which remembering back makes sense to me but still blows my mind).  AI was in it’s pre-infancy.  Child decided that online dating was going to be the next big leap in technology and why wouldn’t you shell out $25,000 for happiness.  We pay a lot more for college and that gets us nowhere anymore.

Reading this 14 years after it was published there were a few things that since AI has become more prevalent would make sense to add to this book – but it would have taken some of the legs out of it.  I liked reading what Child thought would happen back then and I think he was right more than he was wrong.

A riveting technothriller with surprises around every corner – I enjoyed Death Match in 2018 as much as I did when I first read it 10+ years ago.  It’s also a reminder that we need to be careful with technology and not let it run amok.

Book Description:

Death Match by Lincoln Child
Narrator: Barrett Whitener
Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
Published by Random House Audio on 2006
Genres: Technothriller
Brian
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