Thrill Switch

By: Tim Hawken

Narrated by: Molly Secours

A cyberpunk thriller like Ready Player One meets The Silence of the Lambs.

Detective Ada Byron is pumped to be assigned her first murder case–until she sees the crime scene. Someone has been killed exactly the same way as her father was seven years earlier. But, impossibly, he died using VR and the programmer responsible is still in prison. To see if this is a copycat or something more sinister, Ada must confront her father’s killer: the enigmatic Jazlin Switch. What she discovers will change the face of both the real world and the metaverse forever...

Content advisory: contains violence, references to sexual abuse and adult language. May not be suitable for some listeners.

©2022 Tim Hawken (P)2023 Seahawk Press LLC

Interesting listen...

This was an okay read, sort of slow-paced, but interesting and with great world-building. It ‘s sort of ‘police procedural - meets LitRPG - meets cyberpunk / futuristic. A likable female lead, and a totally twisted villain or 2 round it out.

3 stars.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️


Audio:
Seamless production, quality-wise with a pleasant narrator.

Reality VS Virtual Reality Thriller

A serial killer/torturer is on the loose in the worlds of reality and virtual reality. Detective Ada Byron discovers the murders resemble the atrocities committed previously by a since convicted and imprisoned programmer. Much like the Silence of the Lambs, Detective Byron must seek the help of the programmer, Jazlin Switch. How many more will die?

The author, Tim Hawken carefully blends the two worlds together in a way that eventually it becomes difficult to distinguish VR from Reality. His world-building skills are masterful and involve a portion of his characters having the mindset of those in a cult-like belief in order for this story to be successful. The plot twists are unexpected and are delivered down to the last few moments of the book. The storyline and plot twists flow smoothly. The characters are well-developed and some of them are very strong but with flows that make them more relatable. The dialogue moved the story forward and sounded authentic. Hawken reveals a dark, sadistic criminal which may prove to be a trigger for some as rape, molestation, and violent depravity are threaded throughout this book.

The narrator, Molly Secours speaks clearly and with a steady pace. This was an excellent book for her talented narration. This book takes the listener to some very dark places and Secours never waivers.

This is a thriller that doesn’t stop! I recommend this book highly to those who enjoy dark places and well-written suspense thrillers.

There were no issues with the quality or production of this audiobook.

Actually well written

I’m a sucker for subject matter. I don’t always expect the best writing when I dive into cyberpunk. Hawken crafted a well written story that is both captivating and interwoven with what I love about the genre.

Very interesting tale

I was given a free code for this book for an honest review and took the opportunity to get it seeing as I'm a big fan of Ready Player One and I wanted to see how this compared. The setting for this book is very different primarily because while the holos, is a central part of the story, much of the book takes place outside of this virtual world. That being said the story was very well put together with several twists and turns that I didn't see coming. The future tech is interesting and would make any internet geek envious. The writing is great and the characters are interesting and well-thought-out. What I really liked was the ending, it's another one of those twists and while it wraps up the story nicely it also leaves threads available to pull on for follow-up books. Being one who hates a story that is left so wide open you need to read the next book, so I found this very refreshing.

Future world stuff

I really enjoyed this story. I think someone who is a gamer may enjoy it even more. The characters were well written and described well.
Ada and Joon are great characters and I really enjoyed their banter. I kept thinking something could develop between them. Spoiler alert, it doesn’t. I would definitely be interested in the next book and I think there may be another coming…
Lots of gender fluidity and I do not have an issue with that. Some right wing people may have issues with it.
Narration by Molly Secours was excellent.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Free the body and the spirit will soar.

Great book! lots of fun twists and turns, and a great cast of characters. keeps you guessing right up until the end.

Good Story

I agree that this reads like a mashup up Ready Player One and Silence of the Lambs.

A Solid Cyberpunk Detective Story

The Narration was a solid match for the story/PoV and absolutely made it better. The story itself was actually a fantastic addition to the cyberpunk genre dealing with the intersection of virtual and real existence … kicking off with a real world murder linked to a virtual avatar execution. With a small nod toward the Silence of the Lambs, a LV cop uses periodic interviews with the virtual serial killer know as Switch when a “Spectre Slaughter” copy cat picks up where she left off after being “digitally” confined. Of course … there is a clock for finding the most recent potential victim. The “mind” games are afoot.

While the world building is pretty standard for the genre, it was still well done and entertaining. Then throw in a government conspiracy for just a hint at a dystopian element to the story and the story really finds its own footing beyond its inspiration. Overall there were enough twists and turns to keep the story interesting; however, if you are at all sensitive to course language, quasi rape fantasy, and other common triggering scenarios, you may want to give this a pass … although I did NOT find these to be gratuitous, some did make me a bit uncomfortable …

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#ThrillSwitch #FreeAudiobookCodes #KindleUnlimited

A cyber punk crine novel you MUST pick up!

*This book was given to me by the author at my request, and I provided this voluntary, unbiased review.*

5/5

The author had me hooked on the blurb alone. Excellent story that is fast-paced and I couldnt put this thing down! The narration was perfect and the plot was really well drawn out. Had me guessing a few different times and was happy with the ending. The ideas in this book are scary too, because they may become a reality someday! I loved the touch of crypto, mingled with modern politics, the digital world, and the noir police angle as well. It all melded together in a really compelling story. This one is right up there with Snow Crash in my opinion. I can't wait to see a second installment in this book's story!

thriller

Ada Byron is solving murders in virtual reality world, but that are also killing the people in the real world. Teaming up with FBI agent Joon. They find themselves using tips from a former Holos serial killer they follow the leads, You will trying to figure out who the killer is. This book was so fast paced. The ending was unexpected, and a great way to end.

I enjoyed the narration of Molly Secours, perfect for this thriller