Going Zero

A Novel

By: Anthony McCarten

Narrated by: Marin Ireland

Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

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

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.

Great story and narration

New author for me, but I always enjoy the reading of Marin Ireland and a twisty, suspenseful adventure, so I gave it a go.
Loved the story, hated to be distracted from reading. I plan to look up more reads by Anthony McCarten.

Incredible. Silly.

The plot & the story line make
no sense. The ending was weak. There were so many ways a real solution could have been developed. Instead we get an abbreviated conclusion that leaves us hanging.

Stayed up till 2 AM to finish

Great story lots of twists and turns couldn’t put it down. Very appropriate for the world. We live in right now.

very timely

if you ever enjoyed the TV show Person of interest, you'll love this book. we seem to be all digitally naked these days.

Just fabulous!

I loved it all! Great characters, story, timely subject. Great writing made it especially exceptional.

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!

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.