Pacific Storm - Kirjakasa

Published Dec. 21, 2020 by Mythic Island Press LLC.

ISBN:: 978-1-937197-33-9

(2 reviews)

Politics, terrorism, and heavy weather collide over Honolulu in a vividly imagined near-future thriller from the author of The Last Good Man.

Ava Arnett is a Honolulu cop, captain of the night shift in the autonomous Waikiki District. Nine years ago a massive hurricane hit the island. Ava remains haunted by the mistakes she made and the lives she failed to save during that disaster. Since then, she relies on HADAFA, an AI designed to observe, analyze, and predict human behavior. HADAFA monitors her actions, and its assessments guide her decisions.

Now, another Category 5 hurricane is approaching Honolulu . . .

In the hectic hours before landfall, Ava stumbles into a terrorist conspiracy – and HADAFA begins to glitch. She can no longer rely on the AI. She must decide on her own whether or not to trust a mysterious federal agent named Lyric Jones – knowing the wrong …

Politics, terrorism, and heavy weather collide over Honolulu in a vividly imagined near-future thriller from the author of The Last Good Man.

Ava Arnett is a Honolulu cop, captain of the night shift in the autonomous Waikiki District. Nine years ago a massive hurricane hit the island. Ava remains haunted by the mistakes she made and the lives she failed to save during that disaster. Since then, she relies on HADAFA, an AI designed to observe, analyze, and predict human behavior. HADAFA monitors her actions, and its assessments guide her decisions.

Now, another Category 5 hurricane is approaching Honolulu . . .

In the hectic hours before landfall, Ava stumbles into a terrorist conspiracy – and HADAFA begins to glitch. She can no longer rely on the AI. She must decide on her own whether or not to trust a mysterious federal agent named Lyric Jones – knowing the wrong choice could lead to greater devastation . . . and a war no one will win.

1 edition

Thom reviewed Pacific Storm by Linda Nagata

Review of 'Pacific Storm' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This was a page turner, a thriller, and perfect for the plane trip to a wintery Europe. The author has done some really interesting world building here - an AI that can predict crime and anti-social behavior, a future society with a "social" rating used for jobs and housing, and a Hawaii that was hit devastated by a tornado and about to be hit by another. The politics in this novel is also interesting - an insular US government only concerned with the continental US, a Chinese government that stepped in to eventually take over, and Islanders who are caught in the middle. The author is one of these Islanders in real life, and I bet her take on this is accurate.

This book is more near-future thriller than full science fiction. Nagata has written that also, a far-future series, and I look forward to reading another of her books …

This was a page turner, a thriller, and perfect for the plane trip to a wintery Europe. The author has done some really interesting world building here - an AI that can predict crime and anti-social behavior, a future society with a "social" rating used for jobs and housing, and a Hawaii that was hit devastated by a tornado and about to be hit by another. The politics in this novel is also interesting - an insular US government only concerned with the continental US, a Chinese government that stepped in to eventually take over, and Islanders who are caught in the middle. The author is one of these Islanders in real life, and I bet her take on this is accurate.

This book is more near-future thriller than full science fiction. Nagata has written that also, a far-future series, and I look forward to reading another of her books soon.

dare

rated it

February 18