“THE CHAOS AGENT” by Mark Greaney (Berkley, 560 pages, $30).
Whoever controls the usage of artificial intelligence for weapons will management the world. That easy premise is all you really want to know if you decide up Mark Greaney’s “The Chaos Agent.” The thirteenth entry in Greaney’s high-voltage, ripped-from-the-headlines motion/espionage sequence poses the very actual query of how AI will affect future wars and the worldwide steadiness of energy.
Artificial intelligence has exploded into the zeitgeist over the past yr, a looming think about every part from laptop search engines like google and yahoo to writing and drawing packages. So it is smart that the specter of an AI-enhanced weapons system — “machines that assume like people, albeit higher, quicker and totally with out regret” — can be a pure lure for Greaney, who has a tendency to weave present occasions into his novels. The scary risk of “The Terminator’s” rogue Skynet AI system out of the blue appears hauntingly actual.
Not that Greaney’s ex-CIA operative/man on the run Court docket Gentry, higher often known as the Grey Man, is on the lookout for bother in his newest outing, thoughts you. “Hassle finds us. We do not have to go on the lookout for it,” he admits to former Russian adversary-turned-lover Zoya Zakharova early within the novel. “Half the planet needs me lifeless. And a minimum of one nation needs you lifeless. … One thing’s coming. It is nearer daily.”
True to course, it is not lengthy earlier than Gentry and Zoya are swept up within the newest disaster. Whereas hiding out in a Guatemalan village, Zoya is approached by her former Russian handler, often known as “Uncle Slava,” who seeks her assist in abducting a Russian engineer concerned within the improvement of an artificial intelligence system.
As Slava places it, the AI weapon, if it had been to develop into a actuality, would solely want a nanosecond to resolve who or what to assault and would work by itself, with out human oversight. Whoever will get ahold of the expertise first — be it the Russians, the Chinese language, the U.S., a company large, or non-public multimillionaire with nefarious designs — might doubtlessly rule the battlefield and the world itself.
“If each side have the identical tech, it will not be employed,” Slava states. “The world is made a safer place.”
Gentry needs no a part of the mission, however when a hitman — aka Lancer, “one of the crucial notorious killers for rent on the planet” and second solely to the Grey Man in his abilities — tracks Zoya as a technique of attending to the goal, there isn’t any turning again. Earlier than lengthy, each Gentry and Zoya are on a kill listing of high-profile scientists and engineers around the globe, a lot of them already assassinated.
However as any Grey Man fan is aware of by now, when you poke the bear, you higher end what you began or there might be hell to pay.
“You miss the work,” Zoya tells him at one level. “You miss making an impression. It is not a dangerous factor. You do it since you’re honorable. … No. You are a hero.”
Gentry does not like to make use of the phrase hero with regards to his deeds, however the time period suits. He might favor to function within the shadows, however his internal quest for justice sometimes wins out.
The story culminates in an all-out battle royal that may preserve readers turning pages lengthy into the evening and depart them thirsting for the subsequent installment within the Grey Man sequence.
Following on the success of final yr’s Netflix unique film starring Ryan Gosling, the novel is certain to draw longtime followers and newbies alike. And whereas “The Chaos Agent” contains a variety of characters from Greaney’s previous novels, the e book is totally accessible to new readers.
As typical, Greaney — who minimize his enamel writing novels in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan universe — additionally packs the novel with meticulous element and a spotlight to locales (a lot of which he has visited firsthand), weapons and high-octane battle scenes with out dropping sight of his characters’ personalities and the emotional weight heaped on them.
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Berkley / “The Chaos Agent”