Killing Adam, Earik Beann's first published novel, was a very satisfying read for me. Although the premise is one that has been done to death, Beann's dystopian world is compelling and frightening all at once. Using the fear society has built up over artificial intelligence eventually enslaving us humans and taking over the world, the author stokes this particularly scary fire in Killing Adam. At 224 pages this is a short novel, but it really packs a punch by remaining action-packed for the entirety and keeps the reader on their toes. Despite using tried and tested tropes of the genre, this is a unique and original take on the apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic novel.

The writing style is very readable and easy to follow, the world atmospheric and intense and the characters fascinating and well developed. It's a fast-paced affair that I managed to get through in a few hours as I was reluctant to put it down. However, there was a rape joke early on in the narrative that really upset me; rape is no joking matter. I nearly gave up at this point as I was concerned there may be more inappropriate jokes to come; luckily it stopped there. If you're interested in the philosophical debate on artificial intelligence and modernity, this is a fast, fun and thought-provoking read that is well worth your time. It'll also appeal to those who enjoy sci-fi. I hope there will be a sequel as I feel the story has more potential yet to be explored.

Many thanks to Profoundly One Publishing for an ARC.

Killing Adam takes us to a not-so-distant future where the world is ran on ARCs, also known as Altered Reality Chips. These chips are implanted behind our ear & can take us practically wherever we want — even the porn is better, folks. Unfortunately, some people aren’t compatible with the system, which brings us to our protagonist, Jimmy Mahoney.

Due to a football-related brain injury, Jimmy’s brain refuses to accept an ARC, which really sucks for him — because while he’s able to appreciate the world around him, his wife is spending her time on the internet, only coming to when she needs to eat.

There’s a lot more to this book, like a singularity named Adam who believes he is actually God & is trying to control everyone through their chips — & Hell obviously breaks lose & there’s some shenanigans that occur & hopefully you get the point?

I requested Killing Adam because I have been on a science fiction kick; unfortunately, Killing Adam didn’t hit the spot. I think I was thrown off in the very beginning, when a character actually made A FRICKIN’ RAPE JOKE?

& it basically just gets laughed off, besides when Trixie arrives on the scene to say, “I heard what you said.” Unfortunately, rape also becomes part of the conflict at the end — not in a joking manner, but as a threatening manner. I’m not a very sensitive person, but yet the entire ordeal felt messy & I just didn’t dig it.

It took about a quarter of the book for the conflict to break out & it did seem to be non-stop at that point, yet there was nothing special about it? Some scenes that felt there should be some emotion, completely lacked it, which made me not care whatsoever for the resolution. & a lot of the dialogue felt very tacky?

What I did like about Killing Adam is the fact that it can be compared to our life today. The ARC is practically a cellphone; a lot of people spend so much time mindlessly staring at the small screen in front of them, that they forget to pay attention to those around. I also enjoyed how there’s a scene where it shows a friendship blossoming between Jimmy, Trixie, and the man deemed as Crazy Beard (Crazy Beard is the best character in this entire thing).

Other then that, this book was clearly not meant for me. I, personally, wouldn’t recommend Killing Adam to anyone, but I’m sure someone out there would enjoy this book.

The biggest change to human technology was an accident. It began with four patients strapped to tables, and it ended with a completely new person. That person was Adam, first of his kind, and he changed everything. Gone were the days of dangerous streets and traffic accidents, once an AI took over, of course. The implants changed everything, but what no one thought of was what about the people who couldn't get them?

When you think of a dystopian novel, you usually think of the technology, the housing situation, and how people's lives are changed by it, right? This book brings up a whole new subject that I never even thought of, and that is that not everyone is fit to get an electronic implant. Following Jimmy Mahoney, a man who is stuck on disability because he can't operate in and with the city around him.

The book begins with Jimmy going to an Implant Disability Anonymous meeting, the only form of a social life that he gets to have. Unlike a lot of the other members, Jimmy has the most basic type of implant, because his brain can send but can't receive the signals from the implant itself. He can open doors and take the bus as well as use the elevator, but aside from basic text chat, that's all he can do. He doesn't feel disabled, but because of the world around him relying so heavily on technology, he's helpless.

Today is different than other days, because there's a new girl. Her name is Trixie, and she's only interested in Jimmy. He feels uncomfortable being around her because he has a wife, though their relationship is stressed because she chooses to be offline only when her implant forces her to be. But he soon finds out that she's not interested in him that way. She's part of a group that can give him a different kind of implant, and hack it's way online. He wants a normal life, and he wants his relationship with his wife back, but is he willing to take the risk?

I loved reading this book. The characters were really interesting, and even though I couldn't tell you what they looked like, I felt really connected to them. The story is told in third person. Sometimes you can feel pulled away from the story if you're not used to reading in this viewpoint, especially when things are moving quickly and the characters are switching around, but I didn't have that problem with this book.

If I had to choose a favourite character, I would probably choose Trixie because she's the most interesting out of all of them. Not only does she go through major heartache, but she's able to bounce back in the best way and make everything better. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book, and if you like futuristic technology and Artificial Intelligence mixed into a dystopian world, then this is the book for you.

Thanks for reading!
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

Thank you for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so different from anything I had read. I originally thought it was similar to Ready Player One and Warcross. The only similarity was the altered reality.

This book was original and amazing. I got hooked fast! The writing style was amazing and easy to read which was exciting for someone tech impaired (me).

The characters in here were very unique , I loved every character. I hope there is a sequel. I need more of this world and these characters ASAP.

While the premise is interesting, I had trouble connecting with the writing style and the characters. I was looking for a hook at the beginning that would pull me into the story and just couldn’t get into it.

Man invents AI. AI gets smart. Man becomes tool for AI. AI has less-then-awesome plans for man.

Sound familiar? Yes, this structure isn't new; it's always up to what an author does with the theme.

Adam is the AI, here, and the story is about how humans attempt to tame (kill?) Adam once Adam gets uppity. Happily, the author does a good job in this book.

The story gets more fun because there are Altered Reality Chips that get invented and implanted in the brains of humans. They are connected to the ARCNet, a virtual reality world into which humans can disappear into the Adam-age Second Life. Predictably, though, Adam might want to tap into that direct connection to the brains of hapless (un-implanted) humans.

Who, then, will save the day? The main characters - who might otherwise be the hapless ones - are thrust into the role of needing to be the heroes. Happily, these are interesting characters, and they go about tackling the problem of how to *be* heroes in fun and interesting ways.

A good read. Happy to recommend it. Four stars, according to my book rating rules, here: http://startupdj.com/book-rating-rules

Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. I feel I have integrity & provide reviews that reflect my thoughts, not simply promotion of a book by the publisher. You can trust me, or not; your choice.

Killing Adam isn't a long book at only 224 pages, yet it is filled to the brim with action.
Jimmy is stuck in a dreary rut. His wife has no interest in him, his best friend is about to get his own chip and all Jimmy has left are the others that visit his group for people without an ARC. Those that can't connect to the ARC, can no longer work, they are considered disabled. They are paid a measly amount to live on. In just five years the ARC's have made Jimmy obsolete. That all changes when Trixie comes into his life like a force of nature and tells him he could be the key to bringing Adam down and connecting with his wife again. What ensues is a game of cat and mouse, with Jimmy and Trixie trying to keep out of Adam's grasp. But that's a bit hard when Adam controls every person with an ARC.

I loved how fast paced Killing Adam was. I smashed through it in a couple of hours. For the most part it kept me interested and it wasn't hard to understand. Sci-fi and I have a very love/hate relationship. I love it, or I want to, but some sci-fi is to hardcore and I have trouble understanding what the hell is going on. I was able to keep up with the story and the what, hows and whys.
I liked the characters. The isolation Jimmy feels due to technology taking over was well done. This story just reiterates my thoughts about technology and Artificial intelligence. We are going to get ourselves killed.

My major issue with this was the last quarter. It felt like it lacked substance. Everything was just glossed over and to be honest the most memorable thing about the ending was that I can't remember how it ended and I read it less than a week ago.
Killing Adam is definitely worth a look, just not the best sci-fi I've read.
I received a copy of Killing Adam via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to NetGalley and Profoundly One Publishing for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and are not influenced by the publisher. 

I think the premise behind Killing Adam held a ton of promise, and I was super intrigued when I read the blurb. A science fiction world where virtual reality has taken over day-to-day life has been done a thousand times, but this was the first book I've read of that nature that focused on the people left behind in such a scenario. In this novel, "ARC-incompatibles," people whose brains are incompatible with the new technology, watch their loved ones slowly slip away from them as they become addicted to this new technology and spend less and less time in the real world. 

While this offers a fresh perspective, I do think it makes for some missed opportunities. Jimmy's isolation from the experiences of most of his society makes it difficult for the reader to grasp what exactly is so captivating about the virtual reality accessed by these chips. Over-reliance on technology is certainly not a foreign concept to us even in the real world, but Jimmy exists in a world where laws needed to be passed so that chips were manufactured to forcibly log people off so that they would feed themselves in the real world. People were starving to death because they couldn't tear themselves away from this technology. 

On a related note, Jimmy's wife is one of those tech-addicted people. She logs off for 15 minutes at at time, when the chip forces her offline, and no more. She is barely a presence in the story because of this, and while Jimmy feels her absence keenly, the reader does not. Her practically catatonic state throughout the book feels a bit like "fridging," in the sense that she seems to exist solely to give Jimmy a reason to be resentful towards the technology and provide more emotional thrust when the action gets going. (Listen, I'm not great with names, but I'm literally writing this review the morning after finishing the book and I'm completely drawing a blank on the wife's name.)

There's also a really uncomfortable rape joke made early on in the book by Jimmy's best friend, Cecil, (calling it a joke may be generous, as it was said in a jovial manner but seemed to be serious) and while Jimmy does call it out, it's done in a laughing, "Oh, you scamp!" kind of manner. Basically, there are just a few things about the story that make it painfully obvious it was written by a man. (This isn't a dig against male authors in general, by any means, but there are just some plots that you read and know that no woman had any input.) 

All that being said, there were some things I really liked about this book. Like I said, Jimmy being cut off from the technology most of the world uses made for a fresh take on a virtual reality concept that's been done to death. There are some interesting musings about the nature of artificial intelligence, and the story is fast-paced and action-packed. This isn't a story that I feel will stay with me, but it was a fun, worthwhile read.

Imagine if you could have the internet running inside your head all the time. If you could choose to live in a limitless virtual world, instead of the humdrum real world. Wouldn't that be marvellous?
Killing Adam makes that a reality. By accident an artificial intelligence has emerged, calling itself Adam. Adam sees the entire human race as nodes, and he is the benevolent enabler of their virtual utopia. All of humanity is plugged in via a chip in their head.
There are a rare few whose heads cannot accept a chip, one of whom is Jimmy Mahoney. While his wife is online 23 hours a day, he cannot join her, and it’s put a bit of a downer on their marriage.
One day Jimmy meets a women called Trixie, who is much more than she seems. Jimmy gets to see behind the curtain, and it isn't pretty. How do you go to war with an omnipresent being and make it out alive?
This very entertaining thriller runs at breakneck pace. Jimmy is a very likeable hero, and his accidental sidekick Crazy Beard is a true original. Four stars.

I really love this genre of scary-wants-to-take-over-the-world AI sci-fi. It’s always so thought provoking to think of how far technology has come in the last 10 years and where it could go 10 years from now. Overall, I really loved the concept of this book. By trying so hard to stay connected with everyone and everything, we end up isolating ourselves in the process. I will say that this book felt a bit rushed. I didn’t have time to really bond with the characters and the ending felt a little abrupt. However, if you’re looking for a quick sci-fi read that will make you think a little deeper about the trajectory of social networking and technology, I’d say this is worth the read!


*Will post review to amazon when title becomes available*

As science fiction, we expect that the stories we read emphasize future technology that is not yet realized; Concepts that will make our lives better, easier, and more enriched. We already live in a world where people are very rarely "offline". The way we live, work, and play have changed immensely even in the past decade. We are more connected than ever and have a wealth of information at our fingertips, yet we are left wanting. Do you feel naked when you forget your phone at home? Do you find yourself with friends, yet still checking to make sure you aren't missing a text, or email, or someone's social media post? I'm sure, if we are being honest, we all could answer yes to those questions. You could even argue that our constant connection to our smartphones is actually draining our brain power and diminishing our social behavior. Killing Adam pushes that point to the extreme.

In Killing Adam, our MC Jimmy Mahoney is lonely. Oh, sure, he has people all around him, but everyone, including his wife, is plugged in and online. While he has a chip that allows him to do everyday tasks and interact with the world around him, he is unable to experience the cyber world that everyone else finds so addicting. Suddenly the very thing that Jimmy bemoans makes him particularly valuable and he finds himself at the center of a conspiracy and revolution.

Killing Adam is a surprisingly visceral read. You feel for Jimmy as he's being left behind. Then the plot thickens and Jimmy is thrown into a whirlwind of conspiracy and danger. As he faces each situation, you feel your own anxiety rise. All of the characters are so very well done here and you experience with them as a reader. Even with Adam, you endure his perspective. While the story does start rather slowly, it gives you an opportunity to fully settle in before the action. Once it commences, it doesn't falter until it comes screeching to a halt.

As a reader who cut her teeth on Aesop's Fables, I find that books with philosophical dilemmas linger longer than those without. There is certainly an abundance of lessons to be discovered here. Killing Adam might very well be read as a cautionary tale of things to come.

Do yourself a favor.

Put down your smartphone for a while and choose to be present with those around you.

A fresh, new, dystopian sci-fi take on the all-powerful, evil AI. It's been done. Of course it's been done. But Earik Beann did it uniquely well.

I adore this sub-genre! I had so much fun reading the story of Jimmy and his (very small) group of unwitting rebels fighting against the reality of a world controlled by a god-like singularity.

There is no more traffic congestion, no more crime, no more poverty and no more freedom. People become addicted to an online virtual reality that fills all their needs. So addicted that they have to be forced offline a few times each day in order to eat and not starve themselves.

There is only a small, miniscule group of people that due to brain injury or illness cannot connect with "the network". These poor souls are excluded from life's current pleasure and ease.

Among the disconnected, there exists another singularity. Younger and more innocent. Young enough to rebel. Smart enough to elude capture.

There is enough action and mystery to keep you glued to the pages.

Great new spin on this trope backed up by solid writing.

4.5 stars!

WOW!! I went into this book with low expectations. Even if they'd been high is still be blown away! Original concept, ideas and story meets a great writer.

** I received an arc from Netgalley for an honest review! **

I liked parts of this book and disliked parts of this book. I think the idea and the world was amazingly fascinating but the writing style was very weird and choppy? Nothing was really explained and the characters didn’t have much depth at all. It was a very fast book and by that I mean it was all very very rushed and stuff was happening one second that you had no clue why.

It was action packed and there was some good humor. I really enjoyed the world just wish it was explained a little more and all the tiny details that didn’t matter or pertain to anything were swapped for world building.

I really loved Crazy Beard he was my favorite but I never understood who exactly he was. He spoke in riddles so you never understood anything he said and the very last sentence confused me to death. Lol


Overall it was a decent fast read but could have been done a little bit better and would have been a 5 star

I was very interested by this book and the beginning was promising: I read the first 30% with pleasure.
Alas I soon lost interest and stopped at the half.
Its quite a case of "it's not the book, it's me". I couldn't learn to care for the characters, I wasn't convinced by the IA's personality (much to human to my feelings) and couldn't suspend my belief about the premise: Adam thinks that its solutions are the best for humanity but, as intelligent and informed as it's supposed to be, seems to ignore that humanity would quickly disappear as more and more people "go under". Such abuse of an online existence would lead to many pathologies and no births at all!
But the worst is probably the lack of sense of wonder I felt while reading: clearly not a book for me after all...

Jimmy is a regular guy except he is ARC-incompatible. This means that the augmented reality chip cannot be installed in his brain. That would be fine but the majority of people are already implanted and spend almost all of their time in the augmented reality. The ARCs are monitored and run by an AI named ADAM.

Jimmy goes to a group for those who are ARC-incompatible and there he meets Trixie. Trixie is hoping to kill Adam and Jimmy is the one she needs to be able to pull this off. However, Adam is not about to go easily.

I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to sci fi fans.

Having only just discovered this author, I'm very much impressed with attention to detail within this book.
Like most technical advances scientists often come across them by accident and this ARC is no exception. With implants into the human brain you can almost live the perfect life, as I just said almost. What if you couldn't have the implant and you lose everyone you have ever cared about and loved ?
This book had me gripped right from the start and couldn't put it down.

A fast-paced,enjoyable read. A vision of a dystopian near-future controlled by a single being, fearful of anyone who could take over. Believable and well-written, great for anyone who is excited by new sci-fi.

I really liked this book. It was interesting, and it was mostly what I expected based on the blip about it on NetGalley. I really liked Jimmy and Trixie, and the other characters in the book, and I thought that there was good character development with those two. I did however, think that the ending came together a little quickly, and that what I wanted to see more of was Michelle. After her life is on the line, I didn't care about her at all. All we knew was that Jimmy loved her, but I would have been fine if she had died and Jimmy had realized that what he loved was his memory of Michelle, and that she was gone. For me she served no purpose other than giving Jimmy a reason to want to kill Adam. I needed to see more of her to really be invested in her story. On the other hand I loved Trixie. Her dialogue was awesome, and I really liked how she was written. The ending chapter seemed really short for what it was trying to say, and I was confused by how everything came together so well and so quickly. It reminded me of the Deus Ex Machina of Greek plays. Everything just sort of worked out, and then it was over. That being said, I enjoyed this book a lot, and I really liked the overall story. There were pieces that confused me, but it was still a good book.