Going Zero

A Novel

By: Anthony McCarten

Narrated by: Marin Ireland

TWO HOURS TO VANISH.

ONE CHANCE TO ESCAPE.

ZERO ALTERNATIVES.

Ten Americans have been carefully selected to Beta test a ground-breaking piece of spyware. FUSION can track anyone on earth. But does it work?

For one contestant, an unassuming Boston librarian named Kaitlyn Day, the stakes are far higher than money, and her reasons for entering the test more personal than anyone imagines. When the timer hits zero, there will only be one winner…

From four-time Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Anthony McCarten comes a breakneck, wickedly entertaining thriller for our times, a twisty, action-packed novel reminiscent of the best Michael Crichton technothrillers.

©2023 Anthony McCarten (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Current day "technothriller" with a conscious

This story is too real and a telling tale of our "public-private partnerships" and vanishing privacy.

Great entertainment

Smart, mostly believable. The narrator is solid and the story moves along briskly. Great fun!

Good Book

Kept my attention throughout. Interesting premise and fairly good story. Good narrator, too. Worth the listen for sure.

Fun, fast-paced read

This was a well-done techy thriller. I didn’t think too far into the possible plot holes and was able to enjoy it. I felt like it lost me a bit at the end but overall I thought this was a good audible.

Solid Narration, Challenging Listen

This one is tricky because I have a feeling if I'd read the physical book I might have enjoyed it more. The performance/narration of the text was very good, but it's one of those books that would have me turning back to earlier chapters/pages to reread portions to see if they were playing fair. Audio books make that trickier, so I found myself losing faith in the story and being less interested in the resolution as we got closer to the end.

Still and all, interesting concept and solid characterizations made it worth the ~10 hour investment. 6/10 would recommend.

Tight story, excellent narration.

This very timely story moves crisply and compellingly. The narrator is excellent. One of the best I’ve ever heard. She manages to do the various character voices in a convincing yet non-cloying way.

Timely, scary, entertaining

A great look into the issues of privacy and the companies that store, share and abuse our personal data. A wake up call about the surveillance state. Also a well told story full of twists and surprises and a heroine who is easy to root for. The narrator is very good—but not truly great. The ending is not quite up to the level of the rest of the novel, but that’s more a statement about how strong the rest of the novel is than a critique of the denouement. Grading on a scale of 5=perfect, I’d rate this around 4.6-4.7.

Interesting premise

I like the concept it was an interesting premise. I like the development the background of the characters and I like the plot twist. I will see what other books this author has written.

Hated the ending

Loved the premise and most of the story, but the ending really pissed me off!! That’s why it’s only 3 stars.

PRIVATE INFORMATION

Anthony McCarten creates a fictional story that fits today’s truth about a brave new world revealed by Aldous Huxley in 1932 and reinforced by George Orwell in 1949. The striking revelation and threat in “Going Zero” is that our human desire for recognition drives society to accept the intrusion of government and big business into our lives. The popularity of the former company Twitter, today’s Reddit, internet users, and ubiquitous mobile phone’ users show how addictive recognition has become to the young and old. That need for recognition conflicts with the right to privacy. McCarten shows how important and harmful right to privacy’s loss can become.

The flaws of society are only magnified by the surreptitious use of private information. McCarten shows human self-interest is unlikely to change in a surveillance driven society. As long as human self-interest revolves around money, power, and prestige, private information should be protected.