Title: Day One
Author: Nate Kenyon
ISBN: 9781250013217
No. of Pages: 304
Genre: Science Fiction
Origins: Thomas Dunne Books and NetGalley
Release Date: 1 October 2013
Bottom Line: Meh. Too much of a been-there, done-that feel to it.
Synopsis:

“In Nate Kenyon’s Day One, scandal-plagued hacker journalist John Hawke is hot on the trail of the explosive story that might save his career. James Weller, the former CEO of giant technology company Eclipse, has founded a new start-up, and he’s agreed to let Hawke do a profile on him. Hawke knows something very big is in the works at Eclipse—and he wants to use the profile as a foot in the door to find out more.

After he arrives in Weller’s office in New York City, a seemingly normal day quickly turns into a nightmare as anything with an Internet connection begins to malfunction. Hawke receives a call from his frantic wife just before the phones go dead. Soon he and a small band of survivors are struggling for their very lives as they find themselves thrust into the middle of a war zone—with no obvious enemy in sight.

The bridges and tunnels have been destroyed. New York City is under attack from a deadly and brilliant enemy that can be anywhere and can occupy anything with a computer chip. Somehow Hawke must find a way back to his pregnant wife and young son. Their lives depend upon it . . . and so does the rest of the human race.”

Thoughts: If the premise of Nate Kenyon’s Day One sounds familiar, it should. There are multiple stories about computers becoming sentient beings and turning on their human “masters”. Where the story excels is showing just how filled with computers our lives have become. The action set forth by John Hawke’s first inkling of the problem and his battle to get back to his family is fast, furious, predictable, but shocking at just how many computer chips humans have placed into everyday items. The list is long and quite scary because it shows just how dependent on technology humans have become. Regardless of whether one believes computers will develop sentience, it does not take a great leap of faith to imagine what devastation a terrorist with the right hacking skills could wreak upon the country.

In fact, much of Day One feels more like a terrorist plot than a doomsday story. Many of the scenes will be uncomfortably reminiscent of 9/11. The scenes in the office building are scary in and of themselves but particularly for those still haunted by the images and stories from the Twin Towers on that fateful day. Mr. Kenyon captures the feelings of impotence, chaos, fear, panic, and every other adrenaline-pumping emotion that occurred that day and siphons it into John and his little band of survivors.

The story unravels slightly as John gets closer to his apartment and the focus is less on the unseen enemy and more on what he will find at home, which a reader soon discovers has nothing to do with what he faces in the city. The urgency he feels to get home is not very well-explained. This portion of the story is very anti-climactic compared to everything else that occurs.

No one reading this type of novel should expect huge character development or even fully-realized characters. In this aspect, Mr. Kenyon does not disappoint. Even John is fairly one-dimensional, and a reader lacks the background knowledge to truly understand his motivations and fears. The rest of John’s band is practically nonexistent in their flatness, only serving the purpose to provide targets for the enemy and an audience to whom John can explain his theories. Again, novels like DAY ONE are not designed to involve any character development, so the story loses nothing by having such insipid characters.

Day One lives up to the expectation of being an entertaining but predictable doomsday novel about computers set to destroy humans. There are signs of brilliance in the creativity Mr. Kenyon shows with the insidiousness of the takeover, but that quickly fades as the story progresses down a very familiar and well-trod path of action and drama. The second plot surrounding John’s family is unnecessary and even detrimental to the overall story. None of the characters inspire much in the way of emotion, but the pacing is fast and the tension remains taut. Day One may not be award-winning literature, but it does sufficiently fill the need for interesting and mindless thrillers.