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The Passengers by John Marrs

The Passengers was released by Berkley Publishing on August 27, 2019.  I was given a copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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A hacker is able to access the computers of eight self-drive cars, and he changes their GPS destinations so that they'll all collide.  The public will now have to decide which of the passengers they want to save with the limited information provided by the hacker.  The problem is, not everything is at it seems with the passengers.

This book was so incredible and I'm kicking myself for taking so long to get around to it.  I was annoyed that I couldn't sit around and read it all day.  If I would have had the time, this would have been finished in one day.  You have an aging TV star, pregnant woman, war hero, abused wife, illegal immigrant, a suicidal man, and a husband and wife in separate vehicles all at the mercy of the public and the hacker.  It was truly terrifying to watch the public's "mob mentality" form to support or gang up on the passengers based on the information given about them.  It hit a little too close to home, given that this is the way some of our public officials behave today, without the self driving cars.

The stories were heartfelt.  It was so easy to connect with each of the characters at different parts of the book.  I found myself on countless occasions trying to figure out who I would have chosen to save.  It truly is an impossible choice, especially given the way facts can be twisted to fit different agendas.

This book thoroughly freaked me out.  I won't even get an Amazon echo because the idea of it listening all the time freaks me out, and my cell phone is bad enough.  God help me if we ever figure out how to have self driving cars.  I definitely won't be setting foot in them now!

I loved this book.  It was part science fiction, part thriller, and all heart.  I'm glad it helped me end my 2019 reading journey on a high note.

Easy rating for me on this one.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 Stars

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