The Final System

by Anthony Tardiff

A vigilante hacker and a young politician must risk everything to destroy a chilling new advancement in artificial intelligence in this action-packed science fiction thriller about the blurry boundary between human and machine.

Decades ago, the Cybercrash destroyed the internet, and almost destroyed the nation. From the ashes rose OverNet, a new realm of cybersecurity created by tech genius Dr. Andrew Norman.

But gamer Jason Cromartie witnesses a brutal side to Norman’s system when his twin sister becomes a casualty of its algorithmic choices. Now Jason will do anything to bring down the man he holds responsible, even become a “phreaker” working for a dangerous hacker ring via Sprite, his secretive handler.

For Chloe Dunne-Carr, an ambitious politician who has reaped only the benefits of OverNet despite being one of Norman’s staunchest opponents, the algorithm’s growing control means raising her daughter in a world that’s losing touch with its humanity.

When Norman unveils the Final System, a revolutionary Artificial General Intelligence set to impose a new world order, Jason and Chloe find themselves pawns in Norman’s twisted game of man versus technology. Now, may the best player win.

Genres: Science Fiction, Thriller, Fiction

330 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication May 1, 2026

Reviews

[Brian Proffit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly gripping and thought-provoking

Wow, I am so glad I read this! It’s a great exploration of AI without preaching either way, while pointing out aspects that very much need consideration. All of this in an action-packed story with characters who are interesting and develop through the events. I strongly recommend this, and will look forward to other works from Tardiff.

[Kevin Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Final System, a solid debut novel by Anthony Tardiff, is a fast-moving dystopian thriller that highlights the opportunities, dangers, and moral dilemmas posed by artificial general intelligence. Set in the near future, following a cataclysmic event known as The Cybercrash, the story centers on hacker Jason and politician Chloe. A tragic car crash, in which a traffic-control algorithm makes a split-second decision to sacrifice Jason's sister and save pregnant Chloe, makes both characters wary of their AI-controlled society and of the agenda of its chief architect, Andrew Norman. When Jason and Chloe learn that Norman plans to unleash the Final System, which he claims is the first conscious and generally intelligent AI, they race to stop him before his creation upends the world order. Tardiff's world-building is strong, using ubiquitous smartglasses, MeNetIDs that assign everyone a trustworthiness rating, and artificial companions called panyons to create a dizzying yet believable fusion of the real and the virtual. The twisty plot moves at a swift pace, keeping you off-balance and engaged, even if the story and many of its tropes feel familiar. Some of the characters are underdeveloped, the over-the-top action in the second half of the novel feels cartoonish at times, and the author tends to over-explain what to glean from the plot rather than letting the story speak for itself. But if you are looking for a fun and thought-provoking read in the cyberpunk genre, this one is worth checking out.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Final System has one of those rarest of endings, ... one I didn't see coming. The story is pretty good all by itself, but the ending is just ingenious. Predictable? Maybe, but certainly probably not without forewarning. (now you have it). Not trying to spoil it for anyone, I've already had to rewrite this review twice, because I'm trying to keep it out of the realm of spoilers, (and still not doing a very good job of it). Trust me though, the entire story hinges on the ending. Seriously well done work here. If you're a fan of near disaster stories, then you absolutely don't want to miss this one. If you're a fan of cyberpunk stories, this one won't check all the boxes, but you'll want to read it anyway. Very well done, and now I need to go see what other things this author has written.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazon offered me a copy of The Final System for free and so I took a chance on this read.

Overall I enjoyed this quick and engaging story. There were a number of interesting characters, a lot of suspense, and a good poke at Elon Musk and other AI proponents.

That said, I reflected back to the 1970 Sci Fi film, Colossus: The Forbin Project, which was essentially the same story. I have not read the 1966 Sci Fi novel it was based on by Dennis Feltham Jones so I admit this is a comparison between a book to a movie.

Another concern is that, while I am neither into AI nor am I a computer programmer, I felt the abilities attributed to both by Anthony Tardiff to be a bit of a stretch. On the plus side, there was a bit of a twist ending that explained away some of my concerns and made the whole story even more interesting.

Overall, despite these few points, I had a good time reading this book.

[Amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advanced copy of this novel through the Kindle First Reads program.

This is probably the first time a First Reads book has properly wowed me to the point of including it on my favorites shelf.

The premise of this book was intriguing to me right away, but it was the characterizations of the protagonists that kept me hooked.

Tardiff created a near-future world overtaken by integrated digital systems, and it felt a little too realistic! Andrew Norman could easily be any one billionaire in our current world.

The twists were welcome surprises, although none of them felt out of place or disconcerting.

I would really recommend this book to anyone curious about AI ethics and how our increasingly digital lifestyles impact society.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of Amazon Prime's First Reads selections.
It is always a challenge to make an AI character / AI driven plot believable. Especially in this day when AI is making incredible advancements here in the real world. This story provides a unique (though not a brand new idea) solution to providing a 'person/personality' for the AI character. But what really made this story shine is the human social engineering that pulled the entire plot together. It reminds the reader how truly vulnerable humans are, and how easily they can be phished. With a few exceptions of overdoing smart-glass manipulation, this was extremely believable and entertaining.

[Jeff Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb, Intelligent and Twisty!

This was an exceptionally well written techno thriller with a fully fleshed out world and a couple of central characters that the author made you care about. It was incredibly full of action, and almost frustrating because every action scene led to another twist and then more action, with no real resolution until the end. Mystery remained over the Final System's motivations (or lack) and its creator's until the last pages. I have to give this a (for me) relatively rare five stars. The only thing lacking was a desperately needed epilogue due to a very abrupt ending (conclusive, but a good epilogue would have made it so much more satisfying).

[Desmond Shepherd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oof. If this had been written 20 years ago it'd probably seem a lot better. As it is, the author talks down to the reader as if they don't understand technology, especially since we're living it. The story is not very original and also goes off the rails for the last third of the book. The writing quality is along Young Adult novel lines but is rough in many spots. I did like the story (for the first two-thirds) so I'm rounding up to three stars. That said, I don't recommend this book.

[Samantha Glass · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is A LOT. Many entangled storylines and characters such that you may need a scorecard to follow along. Interesting takes on AI and what powers it can have/develop as well as the fact that lines between good and bad are rather blurred throughout. Many challenging questions are asked about the greater good and who gets to decide. Gamers and computer people should be able to read this on a different level. Nice.

[Isa M · Rating 5 out of 5]

SciFi with a difference

I'm not particulate technical although I do play about with ChatGPT making cartoon pictures of myself!
The chilling potential of AI has been captured and projected in to a very believable near future.
Left to Man this story might have become a reality.
Thankfully we have hope of divine intervention before then Rev 11:18

[Celina Rangel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A futuristic dystopian society essentially ruled by AI. Kind of scary to think it could be our world one day. It felt very realistic though and felt like it could be a movie. I don’t usually read this kind of sci-fi and I didn’t understand a lot of the computer/AI stuff, but I enjoyed the story! Kept me on my toes!

[MaryJude Schmitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

So Good and So Many Twists

I loved this! It is very different than any scifi book I have read and it is very relevant to today and the moral dilemmas we currently have with AI. Loved the characters, loved the story lines and I am usually hard to surprise in stories and this one surprised me several times. I highly recommend this book!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this book from Prime First Reads. It's the first book I've gotten that I've been excited enough to read right away .
Sadly, I didn't love it. No reason really, just never really grabbed me or pulled me in. I kept being reminded of other books, like Ready Player One.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, but somewhat confusing

I liked the hackers trying to fight AI. There were several layers of deception throughout the story. Still worthwhile and recommended if you enjoy dystopian fiction.

[Brand Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not recommended for Baby Boomers

In the context of a backdrop that was over my head, the author weaved a decent story. While I understand this futuristic view of the world probably isn’t far off, I guess at heart I’m a traditionalist who struggles to understand.

[Katharine Everson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Wild Ride!

What a book! Riveting and complex, with believable characters and plot. This will give you a lot to think about! I just hope we don’t ever live in this kind of world.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Story

Wow! This was a thrilling read. With AI everywhere now this really makes you think “what if” I loved this story!

[Roxanne J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, exciting story but too much technical jargon for me.

[Gareth Sefton · Rating 4 out of 5]

More twists than a twisty turny thing

So many plot twists. Some were obviously coming, some weren't.

Overall, not a bad story. The kind that would get made into a movie.

[Joe Anshien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just did not care much for the characters and it got so confusing keeping track of names and if they were real or cyber aliases, who was really who, and if they were good or bad.

[Jazzdude · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was more like a YA novel - the characters were simply drawn and felt interchangeable at times. There were significant plot holes and the big reveals at the end didn't feel believable.

[Dawn Russo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable

I enjoyed this story very much. It kept me interested right until the end. I would be open reading a continuation of the story.