Steve Berry – New York Times Best Selling Author
“This one imagines a world that is both frightening and fascinating, the possibilities leaving you cold, damp and anxious. There’s a cutting-edge current to every page that’s hard to resist, so get ready to engage your heart and your mind.”
Midwest Book Review
“What if you could live forever, in a digital universe? What if digital immortality was available for all – including a ruthless terrorist who has you in his sights? What if the two of you played a deadlier game in this digital realm than any virtual reality adventure could offer?
All this and more make the thriller Not So Dead exceptional. While some sci-fi in the realm of LitRPG gaming novels already have stories based on digital living, what makes Not So Dead something different is the fact that it embeds a firm thriller element throughout, reaching beyond a relatively obscure genre fan set to tweak the hearts and minds of the general-interest sci-fi or thriller reader looking for something different.
Its plot and premise may lie in a digital universe, but the mechanics and story of Not So Dead have their roots in something far greater than formula writing. Just look at the chapter titles, for one clue of this difference – “Spy Vs. Spy,” “Rook to Queen Eight,” “Quantum State,” and “The Rumble Down Under,” to name just a few of the many intriguing chapters and twists this story takes.
There are obstacles to this winding investigation in both digital and non-digital worlds (“…based on your login, we know who you are and have programmed in a block against speaking with your digital self. We have done the same for each of us. It’s just too dangerous.”), there are progressions forward and backward in the investigation (“I felt like we were living in that old Mad magazine cartoon, Spy vs. Spy. Don’t know why that came to mind. The war on terror has really been more like an endless game of Whack-A-Mole. Sometimes you’re ahead and sometimes you’re behind. Despite what Frank said, I had the uneasy feeling that, at the moment, we were behind.”), and the fact that the characters have a vivid immediate feel to them in both arenas adds tension and realistic involvement to the plot: “I felt like a little kid being left behind and left out. But on second thought I was happy not being involved in another confrontation. My nerves were frayed like ropes about to snap.”
The result is a powerfully-wrought tale of intrigue, terrorism, and threats to immortality that use powerful psychological involvement to keep readers exquisitely on edge until the final surprise. It’s a story designed to reach far from the LitRPG/gamer sci-fi audience and into the hearts and minds of the sci-fi reader who enjoys investigative drama and thriller elements to spice a complex read.”
2017-09-07
A debut novel explores the possibilities that technology offers to terrorists. Levin plumbs his career in high-tech and his degree in philosophy to ask important "what if" questions. Primary among these is whether people could live forever through computers. This idea leads the protagonist, Sam Sunborn, down a slippery slope. "Can you imagine a world where we can live on beyond our physical lives in a digital world?" Sam asks. "Where we could still interact with our loved ones, read and enjoy all the ‘pleasures of the mind' just like when we were alive?" Unfortunately, Sam's research draws the attention of the Barinian terrorist The Leopard, who sends gunmen after Sam's team, resulting in the physical death and virtual rebirth of his mentor, Frank Einstein (no relation to Albert). The Leopard, a master strategist, is seeking vengeance for his family, killed by U.S. drones: "These were the so-called virtuous Americans, killing indiscriminately based on shaky intelligence." Sam figures that the best defense is a good offense. So he gathers a band to inhibit The Leopard's plans, including his own employees, some young hackers from the U.S. Cyber Command, police detective Al Favor, and Rich Little from Homeland Security. They largely block The Leopard's scheme to take over America's air-control system. But then the group must devise a way to stop his master stroke: sabotaging nuclear plants across the nation. Levin's biggest accomplishment is to make readers ponder which scenarios terrorists could actually accomplish. While people may not yet be able to live on digitally, otherwise, as Levin explains in his Author's Notes, "all the science and technology in this book is currently available and being deployed." He also provides links for those whose curiosity has been piqued by his novel. Levin's pacing is admirable. His story never drags, despite some very technical passages, and leads up to a satisfying twist ending. He's developed highly believable characters, including the terrorists, who many times end up being one-dimensional in this genre's tales. Best of all, many of them survive so that future series installments are possible. But the author has set the bar high with this promising, well-crafted debut. A tense, high-powered techno-thriller.
