The Passengers was a non-stop thrill ride that was thought-provoking and kept you guessing at what was going to happen next. Tackling the future of autonomous vehicles, the influence of social media, and the value of human life in plausible situations. If you like twists and turns along with social commentary, this book is for you.

Fast paced book with plenty of twists. The first people we meet are the people who become hostages to a hacker using the automated cars to make several statements and reveal many secrets. Then we meet Libby who is an innocent but is also being used by the hacker to further his agenda.
This had a nice pace of action and revelation of everyone's secret. First it looks like this main message is against self driving cars but then plot twist happen.

One of the reasons I'm drawn to everything that John Marrs writes is that he takes the mundane and gives it a soapy spin. I mean this as the highest of compliments, because there's nothing I adore more than a unique idea that's brimming with drama, and I like for my psychological thrillers to contain not only the traditional aspects of crime fiction, but also the secrets hidden by our characters that pertain to their daily lives. I was slightly worried going into this one that the overwhelmingly large cast of characters would cause me to lose focus, but I should have known better than to not implicitly trust that the author knew exactly what he was doing.

If you've read the synopsis, then you know that the basic gist of the story is that manual cars are in the process of being outlawed, and the U.K. is moving forward into an era where only automated vehicles will be legal on the streets. That's right folks-automobiles are no longer controlled in any capacity by the driver. This is a scary, realistic premise, mainly because self-driven vehicles are becoming more popular by the day, and I'm one of those old curmudgeons who is terrified of a world filled with cars not controlled by flesh and blood. Drivers have now become referred to as passengers, and in the first part of the story, we meet a bunch of seemingly unrelated folks who's vehicles have been hijacked by an unknown entity, and they are all on a collision course that will kill each passenger in roughly 2.5 hours. Yikes! We also follow alongside Libby, a woman with her own issues who is on a board which reviews the black boxes of vehicles involved in accidents as per the Vehicle Inquest Jury. She's our eyes and ears outside of the passengers in the vehicles headed for collision.

Another reason why I love Marrs' novels is because he includes varying multimedia inserts, such as case files, newspaper clippings, internet articles, and perhaps the odd email or text message. In The Passengers, most chapters begin with information on how the laws have changed, how the vehicles are structured, and many other newsworthy tidbits. Tie that in with the fact that this is just a dang good story, I had to give it 5 stars. The pacing is quick and there is a growing sense of dread as the book progresses that gave me a difficult time putting the book down to do things like eating, sleeping, and just general adulting. One of the reveals towards the end had a whopper of a twist; all I could think of was how this would be the way Agatha Christie would pull off a reveal in the modern world! If you're looking for a tense thriller that'll cause your fingers to smoke due to the speed you're turning the pages, look no further. Highly recommended, friends!

I reviewed this book, and posted it on my book blog. I added a link. This is a 4 star book!

https://booksgaloremore.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-passengers-by-john-marrs-4-stars.html

If you own a vehicle that can park itself, you might want to think twice about turning the control over to its onboard computer, or, if you are planning to be first in line for self-driving transportation, you might want to reconsider-because what if someone one could take control and send you on a collision course to death? For every brilliant technological creation, there seems to be an equally or far more brilliant hacker out there who is one step ahead of the game. Worse, they could be on a path of vengeance. Readers will be kept more in the dark than they realize until the very end.

THE PASSENGERS by John Marrs is chilling in its premise, a tale of techno-terror and Big Brother and the unqualified world is invited to be judge, jury and executioners. The most terrifying part? This isn’t exactly far off the mark or just far fetched fantasy/sci-fi, as technology and a personal agenda fools the masses who are easily duped into believing what they see and hear not having all the facts. Again, sound familiar?

What should have been a slam dunk five star read for me, because I do love a twisted plot, became overly dramatic, felt too convenient. Don’t get me wrong, John Marrs can write and instead his mind is definitely a universe to be explored, but this one had some issues that left me feeling less than satisfied for many reasons. In a contemporary world where real life horrors are recorded, personal lives are publicly stripped bare to titillate and sound bites are manipulated to incite, this read just didn’t resonate with me.

I received a complimentary ARC edition from Berkley! This is my honest and voluntary review.

This was such a unique and exciting thriller! Working in auto insurance, autonomous vehicles and AI is constantly a topic of discussion and something I am very interested in. I was enthralled with the entire story. A great thriller read for anyone - there is nothing else like this out there!!

Thanks to Berkeley and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

4-5 stars! Can see exactly why Marrs is such a popular thriller writer. He is a very methodical at creating a tense, suspenseful, thrilling ride, which is hard to put down. This was my second book by him, but I enjoyed this one even more! Fast past and unputdownable!
Will highly recommend to the members of Chapter Chatter Pub!

WELL it wasn't until the /acknowledgements/ that I realised that this was by the author of THE ONE which HA that explains the DNA matches that were subtly put in there. (How did I not pick up on that earlier? Well, let's use the excuse that I was too absorbed...)

Fabulous premise that was executed in a perfectly fine way. Solid four stars. I was so conscious of how I was really enjoying this and savouring the mystery and wanting to know what happened that I actually managed to slow down and take my time reading this. Excellent balance as I kept looking forward to reading more, but never felt like I needed to know what happened.

The framework of the plot of this book was the odd part. The whole entire jury aspect was strange and perhaps not entirely necessary. It worked, but perhaps could have been more elegant.

I observed in my review of THE ONES that Marrs is quite an unemotional writer, and I stand by that. This works excellently when describing cars exploding and Hacker voices being piped into camera-laden rooms. <spoiler>But I mainly stand by this because the romance at the end??? Why??? Just why??? Entirely unnecessary. Added nothing. Almost detracted. Sure, it was set up a little bit... but... it wasn't necessary. We don't need happy endings, especially to books like these.</spoiler>

An incredible premise very well done. Definitely a thrilling read well worth picking up.

Marrs does it again, but even better this time. Great edge of your seat reading, hard to put down. I love how he makes you feel for the characters and the way he makes them each so human, with secrets and faults. Hard book to put down.
#thepassengers, #netgalley, #indigoemployee

Driverless vehicles sound like a dream come true. They cut down on traffic and accidents while allowing drivers to be passengers, where they can focus on other tasks rather than driving. However, one morning everything changes when eight cars no longer follow the dictates of their passengers. Someone has hijacked the system and is broadcasting it all over social media. What happens when people are forced to decide who lives and who dies?

I love the concept behind THE PASSENGERS and John Marrs executes it perfectly! He even throws in a hint at another book of his, THE ONE, which I’ve now added to my TBR pile. THE PASSENGERS is a high adrenaline thriller that kept me up far later than I intended as I just had to know what would happen next.

THE PASSENGERS is told through various points of view, although Libby Dixon is the primary character we follow. I don’t want to risk spoilers because part of the thrill of THE PASSENGERS is the unveiling of the lives of the characters as the story line progresses. John Marrs doesn’t hesitate to immerse readers into a world where social media dominates and prejudices and ideology matter more than truth, resulting in a stunningly good science fiction thriller.

THE PASSENGERS is one of those books that on the surface is an exceptionally well-done futuristic thriller. However, peel back the layers and there is just so much more to this phenomenal tale. Not only is it a cautionary tale about technology, but even more so THE PASSENGERS shows us just how dangerous perception can be when only part of a story is given. THE PASSENGERS is a must read for everyone who loves a good high tech thriller!

*review is in the editing queue at Fresh Fiction*

This is a scary novel because it could really happen. Self driven cars are reality and we could find ourselves in the predicament of 8 people. Cameras hidden to broadcast entrapment in the car and letting the public decide who lives and who dies.

With an interesting description and great reviews, I really really wanted to like this book but I just couldn’t get into it and stopped at 25%. I think my big issue was that there were so many characters and I was having difficulty keeping track of who was who. Like I said, I really wanted to like this one so I will definitely try and give it another shot in the future.

I have no idea how this author escaped me until now! I absolutely fell in love with this book, and I usually error on the side of caution when dealing with mystery books. This book is fascinating and grabs your attention from the get go. I would recommend this to someone who is looking for that something different. This is an easy read but makes you really think about life and the people out there.

This book is a fast-paced roller coaster ride. I really liked the premise of AI controlled vehicles being hacked and used to hold hostages. The motive behind the hackers behavior is good, but some of the wrap up at the ending seemed rushed and not very satisfying to this reader. For example, there was little preparation for the main character falling in love and marrying Matthew. The rushed ending is the reason that I did not give this book a higher rating. Overall, I enjoyed this thriller.

I loved the author's first book, The One, but I was less enthusiastic about this one. The premise was intriguing, having to do with hacking of driverless cars, but the execution was a bit clunky. The elements for a nail-biter were all here; bits of information released over time, cutting away at the brink of a climax, but somehow it just missed. The characters were sketchily drawn and a bit stereotypical, which undercut the tension. It's still a fairly decent read, but now what I had hoped.

Started off super slow as the author tried to introduce multiple characters. Once that was out of the way the plot and pace picked up and it was a nonstop thrill ride. I finished it in one sitting.

3.5 stars
Pretty exciting book overall. I thought the plot unique, but I especially liked how it ended, it definitely surprised me.

I think I’ve discovered a new iconic book for the Millennium! Maximum Overdrive, iRobot and Enemy of the State meet The Passengers! Oh my, my, my what an exhilarating, terrifying, roller coaster ride of a story, if I ever did read one! Wow!!!!

The era of the driver-less car has arrived. Oh sure, there were some that had Level 1 and 2 cars, which offered human total control or manual override, but anything above that grade the artificial intelligence took over. Libby was a dinosaur. She enjoyed having complete control of her vehicle (a woman after my own heart!) While she and her friends were out at a local pub, she felt eyes on her and with good reason. There was a gentleman sitting at the other end of the bar paying much attention to her. Hmm, sparks were in the air.

Eventually, Libby strikes up a conversation with the stranger, and they find out they have so much in common. Time stood still for the wannabe lovers. All the noise surrounding them was suddenly silent as they were totally engrossed in each other’s conversation. One of Libby’s friends stops over to interrupt their vibe to tell her that one of their girlfriends is really sick from drinking too much and needed Libby’s assistance. Of course, Libby wasn’t really thinking about this chick, but she was a friend and had to go.

However, before she went, she got in a kiss from the stranger, and off she went to the rescue. But doggone it, she met the man of her life and she never got his name. What the hell was she thinking? Try as Libby might, she could not find out his name. Looking for this mystery man was like a needle in a haystack. She even went back to the pub where they met hoping beyond hope that he’d end up stopping in, but of course, that wasn’t to be. Oh well, she missed out on an opportunity with a great guy, go figure!

Libby was really bummed about not finding her mystery man and if it wasn’t for bad luck she’d have none at all because she was served with a notice advising her she had to serve jury duty. Oooh great, she thought! Once she and the other jurors arrived at court, things began to take a turn for the worse. Libby and the jurors were charged with finding out if the self-driving cars were at fault for killing several pedestrians or if it was human error. Hmm, you might think this was a no brainer, but you couldn’t be more wrong!

As they are looking at the evidence presented before them, a hacker took over the computer and advised the jury panel that they were going to play an intricate part in a game of life and death, so to speak. Up on the screen were eight passengers in self-driving cars. Each were told that they had no control over the cars and were going to be driven to a remote location. But before each of them reached their destination, they were advised they would die in two hours and thirty minutes. Libby and the jurors were horrified to learn that someone took over these passengers’ cars. In fact, the artificial intelligence these cars used were “hacker proof!” Hmmph, yeah right. Nothing is hacker proof, as the passengers soon learned.

Needless to say these eight passengers, as well as Libby and the jurors were in for the rides of their lives, literally! And readers, when I tell you this story was heart pumping scary, that’s exactly what it was! I found myself holding my breath waiting on the next chain of events to happen. OMG! I haven’t read anything like I was in a workout session since reading Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. What excitement! This story was Aaah-mazing! In fact, I’d go as far as to say this story is a modern day Lord of the Flies! Social media is a necessary evil and what this novel demonstrates is how we, as humans, have put so much of our faith in artificial intelligence. We’ve put entirely too much faith in electronics, so much so that you end up with a story like this one which isn’t too far off from reality. Absolutely terrifying!

Hands down this story is silver screen worthy! I want to see this in an IMAX theater. I can just feel my heart pumping at the crazy events that consistently happened. There were so many shocking discoveries that left my jaw hanging. I could not believe how real this book felt. I loved every minute of it!

The Sexy Nerd gives The Passengers five extra passengers to tag along! OMG, what an amazing story! If you love a good nail biting, edge-of-your-seat type of book, you’ve GOT to read this story! It will not let you down. Everywhere I turned, something was going on. No sooner had my heart rate returned to normal, the next thing happened and I was breathing hard or not breathing at all and it went on like that until the final page. Outstanding read! I encourage all my thrill seeker readers to give this a go! You will not be sorry you did. The Passengers comes out Tues., August 20, 2019. Make sure you grab it and prepare to get mind blown!

I received a copy of this book from netgalley in return for my honest review. This book was so good. It kept my attention and really kept me guessing!!!! I never knew what was going to happen next!!!! I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery!!

I was given this book by NetGalley and the publisher for my honest review. A driverless car? Not sure I’m ready for something like that but I wonder if that’s in the near future. I just can’t picture being brave enough to ride in one. I could not get interested in this book and I could not connect to any of the characters so I DNF at 25%. Other people seemed to give it 5 stars but it just wasn’t for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.