The Minders

Starred review from December 14, 2020
In this high-octane near-future thriller from Marrs (The Passengers), a covert program to preserve the country’s most crucial records enlists citizens in a most unusual way. Two years earlier, the Hacking Collective infiltrated the network controlling autonomous vehicles, causing collisions that claimed over 5,000 lives. Subsequently, the Collective has launched massive ransomware attacks, leading to fears that the National Archives could also be compromised. The radical solution, to buy time while the security forces devise ultra-secure computer systems, is to take all its contents offline by converting the data into binary code that would then be stored in DNA and injected into people’s brains, where it could later be retrieved. Those living repositories, known as Minders, are selected after passing a test that’s aimed at people with synesthesia. Of course, the plan doesn’t go smoothly, leading to several violent deaths and the government losing track of the Minders’ whereabouts. The effective world-building includes showing how DNA research extends into other realms of society. This page-turner never sacrifices the characters’ humanity for the sake of plot. Marrs has definitely upped his game.

February 1, 2021
This near-future thriller has a really wild premise. The British government, concerned that its computer systems can be hacked by foreign governments, devises a procedure to take its secret files and implant them into five specially selected people. Individually, each of them knows some things, but together, they know everything: every secret, every lie, every dirty truth the government has buried deep in its computers. A recipe for disaster? Surely. Marrs, the author of The One (2018) and The Passengers (2019)--both of which are set in a time that is just around the corner--takes his wild premise and turns it into a very plausible thriller. His world of tomorrow is a logical and perceptive extrapolation from today's reality, and his characters are fully realized. The story? Well, let's just say it's exciting enough to keep you flipping the pages and smart enough to keep your brain fully engaged. Marrs isn't a name-brand writer yet, but this book might just make him one.

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