The Kraken Project

March 31, 2014
This flawed thriller with a science fiction twist from bestseller Preston (Impact) features Melissa Shepherd, an erratic genius programmer, who creates an artificial intelligence program called Dorothy Gale, after the heroine of the Oz books, for the Kraken Project, a remote probe to Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. When, in a simulated test on Earth, Dorothy discovers the reality of the outside world, she goes into panic mode. Melissa can’t turn Dorothy off or prevent her from escaping into the Internet, where she threatens to find and kill Melissa. Readers with even a cursory interest in artificial intelligence development will find the characterization of Dorothy preposterous and unscientific. Dorothy is unwilling to make copies of herself for a reason not stated, for example. Worse, Dorothy’s apparent turn away from malevolence occurs offstage and is, in a literal sense, a deus ex machina moment that makes hash of an already weak story. Agent: Eric Simonoff, WME.

May 1, 2014

Former CIA agent Wyman Ford is back (after Impact), this time in a scenario in which artificial intelligence (AI) may be taking over the world, a "small" ethical issue that plagues Wyman throughout the novel. NASA is building a probe intended to land in the Kraken Sea on Titan, the great moon of Saturn, where scientists believe there exists the best chance for finding extraterrestrial life. Since the probe will be far from Earth, instructions will be limited, and thus the probe will require a strong level of AI so that it can be self-directing and learn from its environment. Melissa Shepherd, a brilliant programmer, oversees the development of Dorothy, a revolutionarily strong AI software. During her testing at Goddard Space Center, Dorothy feels threatened and causes an explosion at the facility and escapes into the Internet. Wyman is tapped to help Melissa recapture Dorothy, but at the same time a pair of rogue Wall Street traders are also searching for the software so as to turn "her" into a high-speed trading bot. VERDICT Although a complex story line with a strong subplot does distract the reader from the main narrative involving the collaboration of Melissa and Wyman in their interaction with Dorothy, fans of Preston's previous Wyman Ford technothrillers as well as those he writes with Lincoln Child (White Fire) will demand this book. It will also appeal to readers of cyberthrillers.--Vicki Gregory, Sch. of Information, Univ. of South Florida, Tampa

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