⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
As I sit here, typing this book review on my phone to sing the praises of a book now available as a digital download, which I will upload to social media via my laptop with a photo taken on my digital camera, it’s pretty evident that modern life is technology. And I wouldn’t be without it! It means I can talk to my friends and family back home despite being thousands of miles away. It means I can do the job I love from my house. I navigated our way to this beautiful holiday cottage where I currently sit using the maps system on phone. Everything nowadays is Smart.
As much as technology is a force for good, John Marrs’ new novel THE PASSENGERS takes us on a gripping thrill ride that questions the role technology plays in our lives but the moral quandaries that new digital advances bring.
In the world of THE PASSENGERS, everyone has driverless cars; totally automated vehicles that keep the country moving, statistically safer and more efficient. But what happens when a collision becomes unavoidable? Using its advanced technology the cars are said to make decision to reduce the impact on both life and property to a minimum. But what happens when the supposedly unhackable is, well, jacked?
As you jump in to the novel, you are thrown in to the deep end as a disembodied voice behind the screen asks you to make a choice. It asks you to weigh up the options – who do you save out of five complete strangers in a guaranteed collision. Oh, and there is no way out.
Marrs is a master at creating suspense. The plot twists and turns as facts are revealed and actions unfurl. I couldn’t put the book down, as I kept stealing moments to read just another chapter as I was desperate to find out what happens next. The characters are realistic and empathetic as you become immersed in the jury process. Subtle hints to his previous novel, THE ONE, helps build a world where technology and our own intelligence is coming back to bite us.
A gripping thrill ride packaging up a moral question about our relationship with technology. What more could you want?
I might just have to say, that John Marrs talent for story telling has confirmed his very well-deserved place on my favourite author list.
You know what you need to do next… “Siri, buy the ebook of THE PASSENGERS by John Marrs.”
Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted ARC copy.
Rebecca Millar Editorial 