The Doomsday Equation

December 1, 2014
In the tantalizing prologue of this technological thriller from Richtel (The Cloud), a woman uncages a zoo lion for an unknown reason. Meanwhile in San Francisco, Jeremy Stillwater has developed a mind-blowing algorithm that harnesses big data to predict large-scale human conflict. Stillwater’s formula blends disparate pieces of information on “oil and food prices, temperature and tides, population density, migrations from rural areas and back,” and much more. His work is put on hold when his program predicts that the world will end in less than three days, sending him on a frantic search to verify the data, identify the specific threat, and attempt to forestall it. Richtel does a nice job of making Stillwater less than likable, but after the engrossing setup, the bulk of the book feels more like a cookie-cutter, race-the-clock suspense novel than something new. Agent: Laurie Liss, Sterling Lord Literistic.

It's the end of the world as he knows it, and he feels smug. Richtel's (The Cloud, 2013, etc.) thriller concerns the plight of one Jeremy Stillwater, a young computer genius whose conflict-predicting software lands him in the center of a sinister plot to detonate a nuclear device in San Francisco...an event that, according to his miraculous machine, will precipitate apocalyptic all-out nuclear war. The narrative's ticking clock/countdown structure-the program indicates the catastrophe will occur in a matter of days-effectively maintains tension as Stillwater evades assassins, untangles the motivations of business partners and government agents, attempts to uncover the secret religious organization behind the planned attack, and, most crucially, struggles to overcome his own toxic personality and feeble interpersonal skills to rise to the occasion and save the world. This emphasis on Stillwater's personal growth distinguishes this otherwise by-the-numbers techno-thriller, in ways both intriguing and off-putting. Stillwater is an extremely unpleasant protagonist, a bitter, superior know-it-all with an unerring instinct for going for the jugular in just about any human interaction. As the events unfold almost exclusively from his point of view, the reader occasionally may wish for the world to blow up already, just to be rid of the overbearing jerk. Ultimately, though, Richtel's characterization pays off; Stillwater is more interesting than the standard-issue bland adventure hero, and his gradual appreciation of other people achieves an authentic poignancy by the story's conclusion. While details of the plot (a serviceable rehash of familiar suspense tropes) may fade, Stillwater remains a memorable hero. A solid if unremarkable technological thriller noteworthy for its strangely unlikable-and compellingly strange-protagonist. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2015
Jeremy Stillwater is in for a shock. He's invented a computer that can use data from myriad sources to predict wars and other conflicts before they start. Trouble is, the machine isn't perfect; it makes mistakes, and the people Jeremy has demonstrated it to don't have any faith in its predictions. Now that the machine is rather insistently predicting the imminentas in three days from nowbeginning of a major global war, Jeremy has to somehow find out who's behind the upcoming conflict and stop it from happening. Sure, it sounds wildly implausible when you say it like that, but actually the story feels pretty believable. The author, who won a 2010 Pulitzer Prize in journalism, sells the premise through a combination of good writing and a solid conviction in the story he's telling. We really do believe that Jeremy and his computer are all that stand between an unknown villain (or villains) and global catastrophe. For thriller fans, the novel combines a nifty conspiracy with an adventure-filled race against time.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)