Daemon

by Daniel Suarez

PremiumMassMarketPaperback, 632 pages

English language

Published Jan. 17, 2010 by Signet.

ISBN:: 978-0-451-22873-4

(158 reviews)

Already an underground sensation, a high-tech thriller for the wireless age that explores the unthinkable consequences of a computer program running without human control—a daemon—designed to dismantle society and bring about a new world order.

Technology controls almost everything in our modern-day world, from remote entry on our cars to access to our homes, from the flight controls of our airplanes to the movements of the entire world economy. Thousands of autonomous computer programs, or daemons, make our networked world possible, running constantly in the background of our lives, trafficking e-mail, transferring money, and monitoring power grids. For the most part, daemons are benign, but the same can't always be said for the people who design them.

Matthew Sobol was a legendary computer game designer—the architect behind half-a-dozen popular online games. His premature death depressed both gamers and his company's stock price. But Sobol's fans aren't the only ones to note his passing. When his obituary is posted online, a previously dormant daemon activates, initiating a chain of events intended to unravel the fabric of our hyper-efficient, interconnected world. With Sobol's secrets buried along with him, and as new layers of his daemon are unleashed at every turn, it's up to an unlikely alliance to decipher his intricate plans and wrest the world from the grasp of a nameless, faceless enemy—or learn to live in a society in which we are no longer in control...

Computer technology expert Daniel Suarez blends haunting high-tech realism with gripping suspense in an authentic, complex thriller in the tradition of Michael Crichton, Neal Stephenson, and William Gibson.

5 editions

Renato Lond Cerqueira reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Daemon, Book 1)

An interesting idea with terrible execution

2 stars

Content warning Spoilers: Discussion of plot

I found Daemon in a list of best sci-fi and the idea itself got my attention. It sounded like a mix of ready player one and Neuromancer.

The book unfortunately does not deliver.

It starts as a very "tech-intensive" book, with details of how some characters are doing hacks, penetrating into systems. And then those details fade away as the story progresses (which is not bad, but it feels weird to have such a difference in between).

I found it to also be of terrible taste when it describes a date rape for no good reason. I imagine the reason is to show how psychopathic the Loki character is, but that is well-established as he sends a partner to death, says he always felt an alliance with the nazis and so on. The date rape scene is bad and has no place.

As I kept advancing and the percentage in my Kindle kept going up, I kept wondering how the author was going to be able to close the several ends they opened, because there wasn't a lot of left. Well, they didn't. The book ends pretty much out of the blue and even has a "the end" because otherwise how could you even know?

I can't give one star because the story interested me and I wanted to know more, but not a good book, unfortunately.

Daniel reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Deamon, Book 1)

Read Daemon earlier this year

5 stars

Just joined and recently read this book. This author I have recently encountered and have enjoyed all of the books I have read so far. Basically I found the book to be about an AI driving the world into a more egalitarian society. There is a follow up to this book as well. A good science fiction book

ajft reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Deamon, Book 1)

Review of 'Daemon' on 'GoodReads'

4 stars

Thoroughly enjoyable and gripping, all very modern and believable, but just oddly dated and anachronistic. Published 2006 so no iPhone, and references to tech. that include plasma screens, cd roms, and someone on a call "twirling the phone cable"

essteeyou reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Deamon, Book 1)

Review of 'Daemon' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I did enjoy this a lot, but I feel like it got a bit rushed at the end, and there weren't many satisfying conclusions. Lots of characters were just killed off, or disappeared.

I think that each of the main characters could have had a slightly smaller book of their own to tell this same story in a bit more depth.

Maybe I just miss Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.

Tom Goetz reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Deamon, Book 1)

Review of 'Daemon' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Bad writing and hero worshipm of technology.

bbbhltz reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Deamon, Book 1)

Review of 'Daemon' on Goodreads

3 stars

I understand why people enjoy this book. There are, however, certain parts that really made me roll my eyes.

Pentapod reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Deamon, Book 1)

Review of 'Daemon' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Fascinating premise, average plot, terrible execution and ending. Suarez clearly did lots of work trying to get the tech realistic but then he goes into way more detail than necessary showing that off. His characters are almost entirely tough-talking men (there are exactly two female characters who get to "speak" in the entire book and they're terribly stereotyped and wooden). Here's an example of the writing: "She was a sexual hand grenade with the pin pulled out." Gag. And I am so, so tired of reading books consisting of an endless series of viewpoints of almost-identical pseudo-macho males talking and acting like they're wanna-be gritty film noir heroes.

The premise is interesting: billionaire computer genius dies, leaving behind a daemon program to carry out his mysterious agenda for changing the world after his death. Good cop, white hat hacker, and a handful of others race to find and stop the daemon, fighting against the general technical ignorance of the public and the desire of the government to cover everything up. Interesting in theory and the first half of the book wasn't bad overall, but the ending is a let down. Nothing is resolved, good guys and bad guys are seemingly totally arbitrarily massacred, maimed, or rewarded, and you're left wondering what exactly happened or why in the end.

Carl reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Deamon, Book 1)

Review of 'Daemon' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Fun, pretty accurate

franksbooks reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Deamon, Book 1)

Review of 'Daemon' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Started well, but aside from the interesting premise, it, like all screenplay style thrillers, lost the plot when it got complicated. John Grisham for the geeks. Sigh.

Dennis A V Dittrich reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Deamon, Book 1)

Review of 'Daemon' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

pro-libertate.net/20120507/181-read-daemon-and-freedom

Don reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Deamon, Book 1)

Review of 'Daemon' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Daemon covers popular technology topics in a near-future dystopia in the style of Cory Doctorow, with a healthy dose of Michael Bay style action. This book was written to make a blockbuster movie from. That being said, its been one of the most enjoyable futuretech reads yet! The plot lines and detail are real enough to be believable and Suarez has a fun, fast-paced writing style.

fluxmind reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Deamon, Book 1)

Review of 'Daemon' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This book would have been really great if it was released 10 years ago. Unfortunately for me, I am an IT guy so some of the dated technology really put me off. Some the ideas are pretty unique and I enjoyed that, however I wasn't that interested in the characters.

omega reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Deamon, Book 1)

Review of 'Daemon' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

amazingly good thriller about the current state of the world!

Paul J reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Deamon, Book 1)

Review of 'Daemon' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This book was pretty fast paced although not quite what I expected. There are twists throughout the story and my expectations constantly changed. It wasn't as clearly tied together as I would have liked but it was also one of those books I just kept reading. If you are interested in digital agents online then this book asks some really interesting questions.

Chris Hubbs reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Deamon, Book 1)

Review of 'Daemon' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

A well-detailed techno-thriller; something akin to what we'd get if Tom Clancy had written about 21st century cyber technology instead of 1980's military hardware. Fascinatingly complex, but plausible enough to be gripping. Looking forward to the sequel.