Scott Britz-Cunningham

Code White, a near-future medical thriller, promises a love story enhanced by some cool speculative medical technology. Instead, soap opera vies with nanotech and artificial intelligence issues that don’t rise above the level of a bad made-for-TV movie. Here we go: a Luddite computer tech (huh?); a bomb in a hospital; an AI, waking up; a creepy ex-husband; a lover with a bad case of surgeon’s ego; Mr. Right doc; an unappreciated nurse; and a cute blind kid who needs his brain fixed by revolutionary new AI-controlled nanotech. I could stand to hear more about AI and nanotech and less about the rest. 3 stars.… (lisätietoja)

Interface by Scott Britz-Cunningham is a highly recommended science fiction investigative mystery.

In the future the governments around the world require everyone at age 14 to be linked by a brain implant called the Interface. It replaces cell phones and computers and has become something everyone depends upon for everyday life. All the information you need is immediately available and you can connect to anyone at any time. It is also illegal to not have the Interface, upon penalty of death.

Taikai Graf invented the Interface and has been presumed dead for years. His half-brother Egon is head of the USA's FATA, Federal Anti-Terrorist Authority, and he wields his power as a draconian threat. NYPD captain Yara Avril was married to Egon, but loved Taikai. Yara starts investigating a case of a man that has went on a bizarre rampage, when Egon and the FATA inexplicably take it over. It becomes clear that much more is going on and Yara fights to continue her own investigation which leads her to question the presumed death of Taikai and the wisdom of the implants.

Brain implants are an interesting premise for a novel, but the real focus is the investigation into where Taikai is and why he is taking his current course of action. There are a few scenes, however, that could have easily been edited out to keep the focus on the actual plot but these can easily be skipped over. The medical information provided to back up the Interface is realistic due to the author's background, but the actual plot requires some suspension of disbelief.

The writing is to the point and the plot, the investigation, is compelling. The characters aren't fully realized, but the real reason to read the novel is to find out why Taikai is on his present course of action, what is his end game, and, ultimately, to consider our current addiction to always being plugged in and what this could mean in our near future.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Keylight Books via Edelweiss.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2022/10/interface.html… (lisätietoja)

Ali O'Day is a rising young neurosurgeon, and it's the biggest day of her life. She's about to implant into the brain of a young blind boy the SIPNI device developed in collaboration with her estranged husband Kevin, and her lover Richard Helvelius, the medical center's senior neurosurgeon and Ali's professional mentor. If the device works, Jamie will see again. And then it can be used to repair other neurological damage, restoring for other patients the ability to walk, see, hear--it's a potential technological and medical miracle. Along with SIPNI, Kevin has also developed Odin, an artificial intelligence that provides enhanced information to the the surgeon--along with perhaps quite a bit more. There's film crew to record the surgery for posterity and national news ratings, and everything is focused on the great moment.

While they're in surgery, a "code white" is announced over the PA system. "Code white" is a bomb threat.

The hospital's new security director, Harry Lewton, has been running extensive drills on both the security technology and his security staff, but he hasn't been there long enough to know his staff well yet. He and the FBI agent on the scene have some history together that leaves them unable to fully trust each other.

What none of them knows is that there isn't just one bomb, and the bomber isn't an outsider.

This is a wonderfully written thriller, turning on the well-developed personalities and personal histories of key characters. The development of Ali and Kevin in particular is fascinating. There are real reasons why Kevin fell in love with Ali, and Ali with Kevin. It's not a shallow or superficial relationship--and the reasons for the death of their marriage aren't shallow or superficial, either. They both still remember what brought them together, and still struggle with what drove them apart.

And it's key to how the bomb crisis plays out.

Highly recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.… (lisätietoja)