The Deus Machine

by Ouellette

In the future, a computer, a fatherless boy, and an heroic techno-expert joinforces to save the world from genetic annihilation.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Thriller

Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Dannye · Rating 5 out of 5]

A debut novel, The Deus Machine was extremely intense. With all the biomedical, genetic engineering, and computer science elements in this story, I feel that I've been on an incredible journey of scientific immersion and intrigue.

As I moved deeper and deeper into the story, I began seeing the possibilities of its being a blockbuster movie! I could just imagine the evolution of DEUS and the apocalyptic bio-plague that threatened not only the existence of mankind, but of DEUS and its child - the quickly evolving intelligence known as "Mouthball."

[Ranjana Prasad · Rating 1 out of 5]

I believe the author had a small audience (who are technical and bio-medical engineering experts) in mind when he wrote this book. I understand that the book is written in 9, hence the technology is predicted and out of today's age, but the book contains more technical descriptions than the real story. It makes you feel like you are reading a technical journal than a novel. I am a software engineer and even i couldn't understand (or sometimes put a lot of effort to understand) some theories of the DEUS machine, and i am wondering how it would go with a non-technical person. Never finished reading this book, since it took the fun out of it for me.

**SPOILER ALERT**
The machine generates DNA codes, the code may have any kind of information that is relevant to the behavior of a living being. If you tell me that the generated malformed DNA results in an unexpected creature in production, then its plausible. However what happens is the troublesome part of the DNA code (AKA Introns) starts to attack the machine. (It doesnt crash the machine, it starts acting like a living unit inside the physical machine. Seriously??) I cannot fathom to understand how a DNA has any kind of information or knowledge on how a computer works to achieve this. Even if in someway this happens, the DEUS machine is not so much of a masterpiece since it is not capable of even validating its own data for corruption. I stopped reading the book the moment i hit this debacle.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this is from The Pile, an uncorrected Advance copy from 1993, from either the first or second Waldenbooks I worked for back in the day. Reading a bio-tech sci-fi thriller almost 25 years after it was written was interesting. It was set in the late 2000's and I have to give it credit for two spot-on predictions. The author pretty closely nailed the timing and scope of the Great Downturn that we did actually (and probably do still) experience in the second half of that decade. The other being the fact that Washington DC did once again get an MLB team, although he missed which old name it would adopt (he opted for the Senators).

The frustration with a novel like this is that it spends a great deal of (sometimes tedious) time in laying out a vast array of technological predictions, while at the same time not getting the full scope of the Internet as a thing and having people waiting for a call at a phone booth. I put that aside by imagining that it was taking place at the time it was written. We were having a very fun recession at that time anyway and the science it espoused didn't seem too far-fetched for the early '90's.

All in all, it was interesting enough to finish, but not overly compelling.

[Jannelies (living between hope and fear) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Het is voor mij eigenlijk een hele verrassing dat ik dit boek bij Crimezone in het lijstje aantrof. Ik heb dit boek in 1994, toen de Nederlandse vertaling voor het eerst uitkwam, gerecenseerd voor een Science Fiction tijdschrift... Toen was 2005, het jaar waarin het boek speelt, natuurlijk nog een stuk verder weg. Ik citeer hier nu even uit die recensie van destijds: "Een verhaal dat je op de eerste pagina bij de keel grijpt, en vervolgens niet meer los wil laten. Begin niet op een laat avonduur aan dit boek, want het kost je je nachtrust."

Dan volgt er in die recensie nog een vergelijking met een ander erg goed SF-boek, maar daar zal ik de lezers van Crimezone nu niet mee lastig vallen. Feit is dus blijkbaar wel dat het boek de tand des tijds uitstekend heeft doorstaan én dat het nu een heel nieuwe groep lezers aanspreekt! Geweldig!

[Clemens Lode · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book with an interesting premise. It's a novel about artificial intelligence, artificial created life, and evolution.
It is a Sci-Fi Novel about biological warfare and how (the sci-fi premise of the novel) nature itself tries to protect itself (the genetic code). Central to the novel is a supercomputer that analyzes genetic codes and slowly gains self-consciousness. It plays in the year 2005 after a world-wide recession (so much for the “fiction”) where an underground organization tries to take over the government.
Hard to find but very interesting read 😄

[Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

What happens when man triggers Gods burglar alarm while trying to play with human DNA.
I'm not sure where Ouellette got his science from. But, it turns out that what was always thought of as "junk DNA", Introns, may be the very thing that triggers evolution. Ouellette did his homework!

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a great book, but the mutant animals engineered by the renegade computer are brilliantly twisted.

[Peter Heinrich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool creepy-crawlies. Slightly underwhelming ending.

[Thrift Store Book Miner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a wild ride with a lot of different elements. It's part techo-thriller, part sci-fi, part horror, part political thriller, and is also a story of personal struggle. It was written in 1993 and takes place in 2005. A lot of it foreshadows technology that is in development in our present day. The story weaves in and out of different subplots; has explanatory sections about computer science, virology, and genetics; and ties all these together into a fast paced thriller.

The first half reads like a partial prophecy from 1993 of where we are now in 2024 with Artificial Intelligence and gene editing technology. There are two interlocking secret projects involving a partnership between the US government and a private sector technology company. One part of the project involves the creation of a self-teaching AI system that has the potential to become sentient. The other is a secret laboratory that works to develop genetically altered viruses and designer drugs. When the AI system learns how to fabricate organisms through genetic modification, all hell breaks loose.

Though the first half of the novel lays out scenarios that could be possible either in the present or the near future, the second half spins off into the realm of wild imagination. The book starts out somewhere in between Michael Crichton and Robert Ludlum, but then the story careens into a high-tech, semi-modern HP Lovecraft story. The AI gene synthesis program creates creatures straight out the Cthulhu mythos, and things get WEIRD. There are also human monsters as well.

On top of the techno-horror aspect of the novel, there are engaging human elements to the story. The characters struggle with mental health issues, broken marriages, personal obsessions, failed careers and struggles for acceptance and validation. The personal struggles of the characters lead to both heart warming and heart breaking scenes, interwoven among the scenes of technology gone amok.

Towards the end of the novel, Pierre Ouellette pulls out all the stops and brings everything together into a bang-up climax. His writing makes the reader imagine the unimaginable as the tale escalates into a vortex of suspense and terrifying wonder. The book's complex array of subplots and sub-genre elements all converge into a hard hitting conclusion. This is a book that has the potential to satisfy a wide range of audiences as it makes so many different elements work together to make an exciting story that stands in a class of it's own.

[RH · Rating 1 out of 5]

A supercomputer, DEUS, gains the power to improve itself and create life. After interactions with a genetic laboratory computer, DEUS creates a plethora of mutant new life forms that swarm the earth. It is Riley’s task to make sure the computer’s powers cannot be used by the wrong people. Together with his girlfriend, he needs to find a way to stop the spread of these mutants and keep the computer from falling into the wrong hands.

Asking the computer to design a virus that will kill them all seems the solution. Per helicopter they travel into the heart of the mutant zone the release the virus and kill all of its modified life forms.

[marg hembroff]

Decent story but too discriptive

[LVGEN · Rating 1 out of 5]

Degenerate sci-fi book

[Austin Lasater · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 2/3 of the book was outstanding, 5 stars. I felt like the last bit just didn't carry the same heft. Still enjoyable though.

[Vicky · Rating 1 out of 5]

So bad and boring I couldn't finish it.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started out not liking this very much at all, but it grew on me. It's sort of an awkward book to read in 2014, because it was written in 1993 predicting life in 2005. I didn't realize this when I started reading, so I was annoyed by the authors word choices (portaphone vs cellphone, for example) and I couldn't figure out why the technology was so wrong in some places. For example, the big important computer programmer guy has security set up to prevent people hacking into the big important computer. The security consists of pop stars showing up on the screen to ask you security questions.

...uh, okay. This is DEFINITELY a book from the early 90s.

Anyway, the good guys in the book are decently drawn characters. The bad guys are one-note and way to evil to be realistic. Did Counterpoint really need to be a murderous pedophile? He was pretty horrible even without that character trait. Also, the bad guys have kind of ridiculous early 90's bad guy names, like Counterpoint.

The giant bugs were pretty disgusting. I definitely woke up screeching one night after reading this book before bed--I had a dream that a giant centipede crawled up my leg. Kudos to the author for making monsters scary enough to enter my dreams! Also, it should be noted that Ouellette was only three years off on his prediction of a major country-wide recession. That was a little eerie.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I was not amused or charmed in the slightest by Jessica's "surprise" at the end, but I did enjoy most of the story.

[grundoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Remember back in 2005 when unemployment ran way into double digits, there was a mortgage crisis, financial markets were on the verge of collapsing, an AI became sentient, and Portland was a battleground for two species not quite our own? Yeah, me neither, but he did project fairly well a dozen years into the future, missing mostly just with timing and Moore's law... certainly better than many. Thing is, he took a good understanding of concepts and stretched just about every element way (way!) into silly thrillerville, and ultimately dismisses one side of a real conundrum - which side to root for - with a little wave of the hand. A better-than-average thriller, that could have been a great deal more.

[Scott Alter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book way back when, not long after it was published. I first heard of it in People Magazine, in an article that asked celebrities what they were reading now. I don't remember which male actor was reading this, but it sounded neat, so I got it from the library. I remember it being science fiction like I'd never read before, with implications of a transcendent power safeguarding its secrets while guiding us along.

The fact is, there is a lot I don't remember about the story. Therefore I'm putting it back on my "want to read" shelf. I'm hoping it lives up to my memory.

[Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being written in 93, the descriptions of the technology are obviously going to be clunky. I could see this being made into a bad movie based on a pretty good book. I give this 3 stars because I give things I really like 4. 5 is reserved for truly fantastic bullshit. It's a quick read but it is a bit dated, that's all I can say. Bought it for 50 cents at the new book store with too many books and not enough customers.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I found interesting in this book was how, when written in the early 90's it called out the mortgage crisis of today... Kind of freaky.

The book has aged well and I found it an enjoy read. Like many books written in that time, it speculated a little richly in how far computer technology would go (or not go).

[Edwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1993, this book is prescient regarding the economy and current state of the country, missing the "Downturn" by only 2 years (he had it as 2006). There is also the Mortgage March, reminiscent of the Occupy movement.

Predictions aside, this story starts out slow with good character development and builds into a page-turning frenzy to the last page. I enjoyed it very much.

[Cathleen Ash]

Espionage, intrigue and a bit of cyberspace! This book is believable, even though it’s fantastic! You would think you were hanging out on the west coast of the United States, but everything’s a bit different – thanks in part to a government conspiracy, an extremely intelligent computer program and network lines crossing global boundaries. And that is just the beginning.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a combination of really, really cool versus really, really corny. Overall I was a sucker for it, though, because I grew up in the area where the main action takes place. Always fun to read about major techno-biological mishaps in one's own backyard.

[Amy Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 star science thriller (top 10% of the genre) with heavy sci-fi elements. For my full review, see ScienceThrillers.com

[Niyi Akinrinmade · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was pretty much ahead of it's time, exploring the perceived dangers of tampering with the human genome. It's a must read

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fact that I almost put it down numerous times during the first 200 pages wars with the fact that I tore through the remainder with fairly enthusiastic curiosity. There's a lot wrong with this book, even if one makes allowances for its publication date. It's obvious the author did NOT read William Gibson's first four books or anything by Bruce Sterling!
The basic plot line was interesting enough to carry the whole book but there was a lot of extraneous scenes and subplots that added nothing but extra pages. The Rat Bag character got entirely too much attention. Both he and Counterpoints spiritual delusions of their own shitiness were absurdly unnecessary.
I normally love info-dumps, especially those about computers or biology. These were not done skillfully and they were FAR too long.
And yet....I had a good time with this book! I liked Michael and Jessica and poor Jimi! Mouthball was quite amusing, albeit a totally unrealistic portrayal of an AI coming to fruition. Weirdly enough...this would, indeed, make a pretty good movie.

[Bret Kinghorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where to start? The story starts off VERY slow and feels like a textbook for a 1990's computer science course. It limps along at the start, giving out way too much detail about things that a lot of people don't care about. And it goes deep into those details. The book is set in `the future' from the publishing date, which may account for some of details, but all in all, its a bit much. (maybe this book is one that changes as time wears on?)
The story itself was good. A Biological event, tied into a massive, self-learning, supercomputer, with some shady government characters tossed in to spice things up a bit. In fact, the only reason I gave it three stars is because the story picked up at about the halfway mark.
Parts, though, seemed to have no breaks, making it seem that a character was in two places at once. If you are/were a computer lover, who enjoys the programing aspects of it, and likes a decent story, then you'd enjoy it. If you are not a computer fan (like myself), its not bad, but you may find yourself skipping pages of computer technical lingo (like I did).