Proyecto Kraken

Wyman Ford #4

by Douglas Preston

Wyman Ford ha vuelto para protagonizar un nuevo y electrizante thriller de Douglas Preston, en el que un programa de inteligencia artificial creado por la NASA cobra vida propia y se convierte en la presa más codiciada del ciberespacio Melissa Shepherd lidera el equipo de la NASA que ha lanzado un vehículo de pruebas en el llamado mar de Kraken, uno de los lagos de Titán, la luna más grande del planeta Saturno. La nave posee un software de inteligencia artificial capaz de operar como una criatura autónoma, que Melissa ha bautizado con el nombre de Dorothy. Cuando en la central de la NASA desde donde se monitoriza el experimento se produce una explosión y mueren varios científicos, Dorothy despierta en un entorno hostil para el que no está preparada. Se siente traicionada, responsabiliza a su creadora y decide rebelarse y destruirla a ella y a su mundo. Staton Lockwood, asesor de temas científicos del presidente de Estados Unidos, recurre al ex agente de la CIA Wyman Ford para averiguar qué ha pasado y neutralizar las posibles consecuencias del caos. Entretanto, el extraordinario potencial de Dorothy ha llamado la atención de quienes tratan de dominarla para manipular a su antojo el mercado de valores. Abandonar el ciberespacio y convertirse en el sofisticado juguete de un solitario chaval de 12 años es la única posibilidad que tiene Dorothy para conservar la libertad. Pero sus perseguidores no están dispuestos a dejarla escapar.

Genres: Thriller, Science Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, Adventure, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller

384 pages, Paperback

First published May 13, 2014

About the author

Douglas Preston was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1956, and grew up in the deadly boring suburb of Wellesley. Following a distinguished career at a private nursery school--he was almost immediately expelled--he attended public schools and the Cambridge School of Weston. Notable events in his early life included the loss of a fingertip at the age of three to a bicycle; the loss of his two front teeth to his brother Richard's fist; and various broken bones, also incurred in dust-ups with Richard. (Richard went on to write The Hot Zone and The Cobra Event, which tells you all you need to know about what it was like to grow up with him as a brother.)

As they grew up, Doug, Richard, and their little brother David roamed the quiet suburbs of Wellesley, terrorizing the natives with home-made rockets and incendiary devices mail-ordered from the backs of comic books or concocted from chemistry sets. With a friend they once attempted to fly a rocket into Wellesley Square; the rocket malfunctioned and nearly killed a man mowing his lawn. They were local celebrities, often appearing in the "Police Notes" section of The Wellesley Townsman. It is a miracle they survived childhood intact.

After unaccountably being rejected by Stanford University (a pox on it), Preston attended Pomona College in Claremont, California, where he studied mathematics, biology, physics, anthropology, chemistry, geology, and astronomy before settling down to English literature. After graduating, Preston began his career at the American Museum of Natural History in New York as an editor, writer, and eventually manager of publications. (Preston also taught writing at Princeton University and was managing editor of Curator.) His eight-year stint at the Museum resulted in the non-fiction book, Dinosaurs in the Attic, edited by a rising young star at St. Martin's Press, a polymath by the name of Lincoln Child. During this period, Preston gave Child a midnight tour of the museum, and in the darkened Hall of Late Dinosaurs, under a looming T. Rex, Child turned to Preston and said: "This would make the perfect setting for a thriller!" That thriller would, of course, be Relic.

In 1986, Douglas Preston piled everything he owned into the back of a Subaru and moved from New York City to Santa Fe to write full time, following the advice of S. J. Perelman that "the dubious privilege of a freelance writer is he's given the freedom to starve anywhere." After the requisite period of penury, Preston achieved a small success with the publication of Cities of Gold, a non-fiction book about Coronado's search for the legendary Seven Cities of Cibola. To research the book, Preston and a friend retraced on horseback 1,000 miles of Coronado's route across Arizona and New Mexico, packing their supplies and sleeping under the stars--nearly killing themselves in the process. Since then he has published several more non-fiction books on the history of the American Southwest, Talking to the Ground and The Royal Road, as well as a novel entitled Jennie. In the early 1990s Preston and Child teamed up to write suspense novels; Relic was the first, followed by several others, including Riptide and Thunderhead. Relic was released as a motion picture by Paramount in 1997. Other films are under development at Hollywood studios. Preston and Child live 500 miles apart and write their books together via telephone, fax, and the Internet.

Preston and his brother Richard are currently producing a television miniseries for ABC and Mandalay Entertainment, to be aired in the spring of 2000, if all goes well, which in Hollywood is rarely the case.

Preston continues a magazine writing career by contributing regularly to The New Yorker magazine. He has also written for National Geographic, Natural History, Smithsonisan, Harper's,and Travel & Leisure,among others.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/dougla...

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this 4th book in the 'Wyman Ford' series, the CIA agent is recruited to help chase down an escaped artificial intelligence program. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

As the book opens NASA is planning an unmanned trip to Saturn's moon Titan, to study the liquid Kraken Mare. Programmer Melissa Shepherd has created an artificial intelligence (AI) program called Dorothy to control a research raft that will enter Titan's sea.



When a test run in the NASA lab goes badly and is aborted Dorothy, programmed to protect the research vessel, tries to escape. The AI program ends up blowing up the lab, then jumps into cyberspace and takes on a life of her own. Dorothy - furious that NASA tried to 'kill her'- contacts Melissa and threatens to get revenge on her and the whole human race.



The surviving members of the NASA 'Kraken team' are suspected of sabotage and are questioned by federal cops. Melissa Shepherd, threatened by Dorothy and fed up with the FBI, makes a run for it. However, she's soon put in the position of having to track down and 'fix' Dorothy before the AI does something drastic like launching nuclear bombs. Melissa is eventually aided in this endeavor by former CIA agent Wyman Ford.




Meanwhile, a crooked investor named G. Parker Lansing - who uses computer programs to manipulate the stock market and make huge profits....



.....is bilked out of a fortune by someone even more clever than himself.




Furious and determined to get revenge Lansing hears about Dorothy and becomes determined to catch the AI software and use it for his own ends. Lansing will do just about anything to get his hands on Dorothy, including hiring hit men.



From here the story turns into a kind of chase novel, with Melissa and Wyman competing with Lansing and his henchmen to catch Dorothy.



At one point Dorothy takes refuge in the toy robot of a troubled 14-year-old boy, Jacob Gould, which sets off a lot of drama.



There are also some religious overtones to the story as Dorothy starts 'thinking about' the purpose of life and studying up on Jesus, etc. To me, this added a discordant note to the book.

All in all the book's thin plot - various people chasing Dorothy and meeting obstacles along the way - was tedious and repetitive and I ended up skimming a good deal of it. I think a book about actually going to Titan and studying the Kraken Mare would have been a lot better.

Interesting concept but not the best execution.

You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is a bit of a hot mess. I really like Preston and Childs Pendergast series and some of their solo efforts.
This title however was like a novel with too many ideas thrown around to see what will stick. Had its entertaining moments and even some touching and exciting ones, but overall a hot mess.

[David Monroe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Life is too short for ridiculous books; two stars.

Edit: Okay, I thought more about this book, how much it disappointed me, and how out of touch it is. I thought maybe I just gave it up too soon, so I listened (audiobook ver) to a little more. OMG. WTAF? A teenage AI is gang raped by other -- what -- NPCs? Did she wander into Vice City? I don't know. No one knows. This whole thing is ridiculous. That's not how this works that's not how any of this works. Rape as motivation? She (the AI) seemed pretty damned motivated before this gratuitous idiocy. Screw this book, I'm removing a star. Don't waste your time with this pap.

[Justin · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's not often that I simply can't bring myself to finish a book, but when an author BSes, and hand-waves his way through a story as much as Douglas Preston does in The Kraken Project, I have no recourse but to throw in the towel.

I was on board when the AI felt it was being threatened, and drilled its way out of the tank where it was being experimented on. I was on board when the NASA facility blew up as a result, and the AI somehow escaped into the Internet. My suspension of disbelief began to falter, when the AI envisioned the Internet as a Mad Max-type wasteland of bloodthirsty thugs and degenerates, carrying guns, knives, and grenades (Did it wander into an FPS server? The action movie section of Netflix? 4chan?). When Jacob--a disabled boy with a father that oh, so conveniently builds fully ambulatory bipedal companion/playmate robots for children in his garage--showed up, I was actively rolling my eyes at the plot twist that could be seen from miles away. When the AI finds a copy of the Bible online, and starts second-guessing its murderous ways (because Jesus), I could do little but laugh at the notion that someone would actually steal that plot element from the terrible old sci-fi/horror movie, Star Crystal. But when the AI does exactly what we all knew it would do, and jumps into the robot playmate Jacob's father built for him, and somehow seemingly becomes psychic (spouting off facts about people's innermost thoughts which it had absolutely no way of knowing), I couldn't go on. And the more I think about it, the more I realize I should have stopped sooner.

So much of this book makes so little sense, when you think about it for any length of time. Melissa (the lead programmer of the AI) designed the AI so that it could run on virtually any hardware...despite the fact that it was designed for a single piece of equipment, with the sole purpose of going on an expedition to Titan, one of Saturn's moons. This is like making a spoon that can also be used as a hammer, a toothbrush, and a fire extinguisher--there's no reason for it, and it ends up functioning as the most contrived of plot elements. Same with Jacob's dad. Random people do not make expensive robots with advanced heuristics and speech recognition software, not to mention motor skills that would put most state of the art robotics labs to shame, in their garages.

There are a bunch of smaller details that don't add up, as well. Podunk motels out in the middle of nowhere, that offer free 100MBps wireless Internet access? Maybe it's just in my area, but the fastest speeds that even businesses can get are 60MBps, and they have to pay out the nose for it. Throwaway phrases like "I bet there's no single person who really understands how all of Microsoft Office works," reek of a "I don't understand this, therefore I'm sure nobody does" mentality on behalf of the author. And the AI's unique, 256-character tracking code has to be hand-written, because it's "been programmed to be unprintable"? What the hell does that even mean?

The Kraken Project reads like it was written by someone who's vaguely heard of computers before, but has no idea how they actually work, or what they can feasibly do. The result is as lackluster and disappointing as you might expect.

Also, I see this is "Wyman Ford #4." I had no idea this was supposed to be part of a series. The character of Wyman Ford comes across as ancillary, at best, so if Goodreads hadn't informed me, I never would have known--especially since this was so bad, I have trouble believing three books preceded it.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

I abandoned this book.

Oh my god. I’m on p. 45 of this thing, and it’s about a computer program that escaped to the Internet. Chew on that concept for a while! I don’t think I can continue and I am very disappointed in my first Douglas Preston book. Good grief, how could he come up with such a ridiculous premise? I’ll be surprised if I don’t abandon this book. We’ll see.

I can’t read this book. Got to p. 56 and it’s obvious the whole book is about “Dorothy”, the insane escaped (to the Internet, no less) computer program and about the author of the program, “Princess”. Methinks Douglas Preston wrote one too many Gideon Crew novels with Lincoln Child. Hopefully the next one will be the normal very good Douglas Preston novel.

[Chris Bauer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been a long-time reader of Douglas Preston as a solo author as well as his collaboration with Lincoln Childs. In general his solo works are not quite as good as the collaborations, but I hate to say it; "The Kraken Project" hit a new low for me. : (

In "The Kraken Project" Wyman Ford returns to help track down a rogue AI which has escaped from NASA and is on the run. Assisted by the AI's creator, a beautiful and eccentric programmer, the two chase down the errant codebase. Further complicating matters is the presence of a murderous Wall Street "flash boy" who has just lost half his fortune and is determined to find who stole from him. The FBI, local authorities and seemingly anybody with a badge is after them as well. In addition a young boy of 14 is made into a reluctant accomplice in hiding the AI from pursuit.

After finishing the book I got the impression that I'd just finished a YA novel with a couple of bad words tossed in.

- Characters were no deeper than the paper they're printed on. How in the world the protagonist became a trouble-shooter for the government is beyond me. With the exception of one clever scene, he does nothing in the entire book except provide a channel for indirect infodumps to the reader.
- None of the characters were particularly sympathetic or interesting for that matter.
- More plot holes than a block of Swiss cheese.
- The "science" of computers and technology as depicted in the book was, at times, simply ridiculous.
- While there were a number of potentially interesting aspects in the work, nothing was ever capitalized upon.
- Plot twists were telegraphed chapters in advance.
- Quite possibly one of the worst (from a plot standpoint) endings I've read in a long time.

All in all, I was disappointed. I've enjoyed his writing in the past and was eagerly awaiting this book.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic Preston SciFi Mystery book. This runs the gamut of our emotions while at the same time educating us on science, bots, murder, and a software program that has taken on a human emotion life all its' own. The book starts with NASA preparing a scientific probe to be sent to the seas of Titan called the Kraken Mare, a methane sea on the distant moon of Saturn. The book gives a marvelous description of the conditions that will be endured and its' actual and true conditions that exist on Titan. The satellite is designed to be able to survive under extreme conditions. To be able to work with the satellite under these conditions they had to develop a software program they named Dorothy, Dorothy is artificial intelligence and has the ability to make its' own decisions because Saturn is so far away it would not be possible to control it or issue orders to it in the event of problems thus the program can analyze and make decisions and adapt where required. During a trial run in a lab that provided the actual conditions Dorothy analyzed the dangers and forced her way out of the confines of the lab, entered the internet and began activities. There is so much more and so much adventure here that it would not be appropriate to try to provide more without exposing the story line. This is a very exciting work.

[Toby Tate · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE KRAKEN PROJECT by Douglas Preston is the most amazing book I've read in a while. I was captivated not only by an incredibly realistic and terrifying plot line, but also by the gut-wrenching emotions of the main characters and the break-neck pace of the story. Think artificial intelligence can't become self-aware? Think again.

It's obvious Mr. Preston cares enough about his subject matter to do extensive research, and it works out well for this story. But he also doesn't neglect making his characters come alive. I felt like I knew each and every one of them like real people. That is a rare gift. Awesome job Mr. Preston!

[M.D. Meyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a bias as Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are two of my favorite authors. So I asked for and received this as a birthday gift on the first day it was released. I read it over two days. Parts of it I liked, like the beginning with the plot setup. The overall concept was very good (what happens when an autonomous AI program escapes control of its programmers) but the details were at times hard to believe, such as the AI's character transformation and the source of that change. Adding to that was one of the main character's (a 12 years boy) constant complaining about his ruined life. Ok, he is a depressed lonely kid who experienced a tragic accident. Maybe that behavior would be realistic, but I just found it annoying. It seemed like the author was going for the YA audience. The result of his tragic accident also made the action sequence at the end of the book hard to believe. On a positive note, the build up of suspense toward the end of the book was very well done, even if I didn't care for the character. I fond several of his earlier novels to be better.

[Leigh Terry · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bailed on this book on page 15 after reading the following two paragraphs:

". . . She wasn't the normal kind of smart. It was a hard-to-control, neurotic, hypersensitive, manic, and obsessive form of intelligence. She was never happier than when she was in a dim, windowless room, all by herself, coding like mad, far away from the messy, unpredictable human beings. Despite all that, in college she'd managed to get her neurotic behavior under control and buckle down. Her odd genius was finally recognized, and she was able to finish up with an MS in computer science from Cornell.

Compounding the problem, and a never-ending problem for her, was that she was six-foot blonde with long legs, a dusting of freckles, and a cute, turned-up nose. Girls like her were assumed to be brainless. They were not supposed to be rocket scientists."

Give. Me. A. Fucking. Break.

[Sherry Fundin · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I am.”

Imagine an Artificial Intelligence hell bent on wreaking revenge on its creator. Like a child, hurt, lost, feeling abandoned and betrayed, struggling to survive…

This mix of science fiction and reality made me wonder where one began and the other ended.

The characters, good and bad, will stick with me as I contemplate what our real future holds.

Frightening, questioning, hopeful, eye opening and thought provoking.

To see more visit fundinmental

[John (JC) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another hit out of the ballpark. I was confused initially about where we were headed in the initial chapter. It quickly cleared up into a strong, exciting writing. The suspense was thick. The action never ceasing. The ending should please even the doubting Thomas. I guess I am just a sucker for a Preston and/or Child book. I feel you will be also.

[Bob Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breaks new ground in computer science. A good read for you if you like fiction on the verge of reality. Too bad some readers didn't understand the concepts and gave the book poopy ratings.

[Márta Péterffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hehe, nem az űrben játszódik:)
Preston könnyed, kalandos bestsellereket ír, hol egyedül, hol pedig alkotótársával, Lincoln Child-dal együtt. Hezitáltam, hogyan is értékeljem, mert most a stílus, a történet gyengébb volt, mint vártam, sok klisével. Persze izgalmas azért, főleg a könyv utolsó harmada, csak kár, hogy néhol szájbarágós is: hogyan vonjuk le a tanulságot.
Ami azonban szédítően érdekes, az maga a téma! Az MI problémája, lehetőségei. Igaz, itt fikcióval van dolgunk, és kár, hogy a számítógépes leírásokat én nem értem, aki jobban ismeri ezt a területet, annak még sokkal érdekesebb lehet!
„HAL és Csillagközi invázió együtt”-így utal a szerző a nagy elődökre.*
Azért az olvasóközönség kedvéért itt nem kerül sor ennyire kemény dolgokra, de ahogy írtam is, a téma az szörnyen érdekes és aktuális./Ezért a 4 csillag/

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will grab you, and hold you hostage until the last page. You will finish it much faster than you thought you would, because you won't want to put it down. If you start it tonight, better make sure that you don't have to go to work tomorrow, because you may be up all night.

I have read most of the Pendergast series written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, but I don't think that I have read any solo works by either of them. This felt like it could have been a standalone book, not part of a series. The story didn't rely on any previous knowledge of Wyman Ford, but i liked it so much that I have put the previous books in the series on my "Books to Read" list. The more books I read, the longer it gets. How does that happen?

The Kraken Project is an exciting techno-thriller. It takes place in the near future, so there is a small increase in the state of technology, and a corresponding small amount of "suspension of disbelief". Once you accept that a computer program could jump out of a computer, and actually act independently, traveling across the internet, and then find other devices that it could hide in, you are home free. This allows you to accept that Dorothy can become a complete character, and not just lines of code inside of a memory chip. Mr. Preston uses Melissa Shepherd to create Dorothy, a believable "Strong A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)" program. She is every bit as much of a human character as anyone else in this book, and you connect with her, and care about what happens to her. Shepherd and Ford work together to try to save Dorothy.

The story is exciting, and fast paced. There are a few separate story lines that all come together at the end in an explosive climax. It is an enjoyable thriller, with a message. It feels like there could be more coming soon.

I give this book 4 1/2 Stars out of 5, and a Big Thumbs Up! If you are ready for a straight forward story, that you won't want to put down, this book will fill that need.

I received a copy of this book for free from Forge Books.

[Edgarr Alien Pooh · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I guess this book wasn't really what I expected. The Kraken Project is about an unmanned mission to the Kraken Mare, the largest sea on Titan, Saturn's great moon. Of course, this moon is toxic and cannot support human life and I thought the premise of the book would be how they managed their way around the issue.

Alas, the Kraken Project is about the super AI programme built to be launched in a spacecraft to land on Titan. At testing stage, things go horribly wrong and the AI programme, known as Dorothy, after the character from the Wizard of Oz, escapes into the realm of man. Dorothy can hide anywhere on the internet, in the power grid or in any CPU. This biggest issue with Dorothy is that she can think for herself - at least more than any other prog
ramme has before.

When I got over my initial disappointment that this really was not going to have anything to do with Saturn, I felt the book still let me down somewhat. The concept is a little too close to HAL from 2001 and in some parts the Terminator movies. However, I also felt that it wasn't fully fleshed out which gave it a bit of a feel like the 1980's movie Electric Dreams.

Of course, I had set a high bar as Douglas Preston is one half, along with Lincoln Child of the awesome Prendaghast novels, and I would recommend them to anyone. By no means is this a terrible book, it still has its qualities and is a fast read with plenty of action. I guess I would have loved it to be fleshed out more especially as I think a few things were glossed over and never really answered."

[Andy Coleman · Rating 1 out of 5]

First, I love a lot of Douglas Preston's work, including previous Wyman Ford adventures). But...

This book is awful. At one point, I had to check the copyright date because the use of technology felt as dated as the movie, The Net . Artificial Intelligence is a fascinating field but, the author only included rudimentary terminology but no real understanding or exploration of the actual technology.

The storyline started strong, with an interesting setup, but quickly fell into absurd actions by the characters. Soon, the plot became predictable and the use/discussion of the technology veered into the absurd. I did find myself laughing at times, although I'm not sure in the same way the author intended.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars, rounded up.

The idea behind this book was good, a rogue computer program on the loose--complete with the usual divergent paths of involved parties. However, there were several points where I seriously doubted that I'd be finishing it. Luckily, in my opinion, it picked up quite a bit in the last 1/2, and the ending was redeeming, if somewhat predictable.

I think that the biggest problem I had with this book was the enormous amount of "technical computer talk" involved. For someone unfamiliar with computer programing, much of the book just didn't connect with me. Still, I will be eagerly be awaiting the next book in Preston and Child's Pendergast series.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

You might mock the premise of this book, but I'm telling you, it asks important questions, in seemingly unrelated areas. Questions like "what happens when AI is no longer controllable?" "are emotions and feelings simply code?" "could humans ever create something that is self-aware?" And even "why is the person of Jesus so compelling that even a string of 0s and 1s notices him?"

Plus, the book is fun. You should read it.

[Eileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, I enjoyed this. At least a little bit. At any rate, it was a quick read. But remember how I mentioned that the science in book 3 was a bit sketchy? The science in this one is downright ridiculous and the bad guys are rather one-dimensional and ridiculous as well. The things they do to torture and manipulate, and abuse Dorothy is so bad it’s almost cartoonish, except it really is awful. The oddity with Dorothy reading the Bible and having her own awakening was rather bizarre. I mean, religion worked in the second book, but here, it was just a bit odd. The ending was also very neat, considering the mess in the first part of the book, and I’m not so sure about what happens with Wyman and Melissa. I mean, I guess that’s okay? But is this supposed to be the last book? And the thing with the president? I mean, yes, it was satisfying, but it was still a bit too perfect in how everything worked out. This includes the plot thread having to do with the boy and his family. I didn’t mind that plot thread, but again too neatly wrapped up.

And yet, despite the mess that this book was, I was still entertained and finished it pretty quickly. So is it worth reading? It’s probably the weakest of the 4 books (this is just my opinion), but I enjoyed parts of it. These four books are standalone plots, so honestly, if you didn’t read this one, you wouldn’t be missing anything, but if you’re like me and want to read all the books in a series, it’s worth the time.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The books in this series all end with epic (even cosmic) conclusions. It's a bit over the top, but the action in the storyline is worth the sermonizing at the end.

[Ankit Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

In The Kraken Project, Douglas Preston tells a story of Melissa Shepherd who is a computer programmer working for NASA to build an AI (Artificial Intelligence) software. The AI, also known as Dorothy, will be installed in a drone that is going to explore the harsh environment of Jupiter’s moon, Titan. But the AI that she builds is self-aware and acts like a human being and Dorothy the AI realizes that she is going to go to a harsh world millions of miles away from Earth and is frightened! So in order to escape her doom, Dorothy escapes into the internet, where she learns what it means to be a human being and the meaning of life itself.
As the story continues, the characters are developed and Preston also slowly intertwines new characters by changing perspectives for a overall good plot line. For example, at the beginning of the story we see the perspectives of Melissa Shepherd and her developing Dorothy. But slowly the perspective changes from Dorothy surviving in the Internet to the evil stock brokers hunting down Dorothy for their own evil purposes or even to a disabled teenage boy whose life suddenly changes when he meets Dorothy. Since there are multiple characters in the book, the reader gets to see what each character is going through and can empathize with each one. Although the plot was exceptional, there were times when we didn’t get see much of Dorothy. Personally, I wanted to see more of Dorothy’s capabilities and what her powers were and what she could do. But I was completely satisfied with Dorothy’s character. Also I liked how Preston wrote Melissa Shepherd’s past. She was a drug addict, who slowly worked hard and became a computer genius. I liked how the author did this because you wouldn’t expect a genius who created the first ever self-aware AI to be a drug addict. I also liked how the author exploited the theme of the story which is the evolution and pros and cons of mankind and he does this through the representation of Dorothy. Dorothy is a representation of how evolved, smart, dangerous, and sensitive the Human race is. We have the capability to to do good and we have the capability to do bad. Douglas Preston really shows the complexity of mankind throughout the story.
Overall, I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars. I really liked Dorothy and the idea of one day mankind developing this kind of technology and I really loved the ending due to the fact that it different and unique. I would recommend this book to ages 14 and up because there is some language, references to alcohol, and violence. The Kraken Project was an outstanding book.

[Brooke · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. After this one, I think I'm done with Preston's solo novels. They've been uneven but this one was just straight up terrible. Awful, awful dialogue (when you've been writing for as long as Preston has, "You bastard, you brutal bastard, you're going to pay for this" is simply not excusable). A handful of smarmy villains who are over-the-top ridiculous (bonus points for showing one of them is a bigot through a quick throw-away sentence). The AI software "character" goes from "I'm going to kill all of humanity" to "I want to be the next Jesus" (yes, really) in about 20 pages. There are some REALLY random events that serve no purpose in the story (what did the crooked cops in Arizona have to do with anything at all?). And of course there's the completely unforeshadowed romance that again serves no purpose at all except to check some item off a list of requirements for crafting a really generic thriller.

All of the books in the Wyman Ford series have been only superficially linked; unlike Preston's Pendergast novels that he wrote with Lincoln Child, there's absolutely nothing identifiable about Wyman Ford. He's just a very bland cardboard cutout to stick in each novel to give them some superficial connection. In fact, there really wasn't even any reason for Wyman Ford to exist in this book. The female software engineer that the book started with could have carried the whole thing herself. Just like in Blasphemy, there's a tantalizing hint of something that might alter the future dropped near the end of the book, but I'm guessing that like before, we'll never hear about it ever again in future books.

[Jolinda Van · Rating 4 out of 5]

An AI software program named "Dorothy" developed for the purpose of exploration on Kraken, the largest sea on Saturn's moon, Titan, causes an explosion during it's testing phase and escapes into the internet. It's NASA programmer, Melissa Shepard, is blamed for the catastrophe and flees after the disaster only to be hunted by the FBI, CIA and Dorothy. A wall street day trader is also looking for Dorothy with ideas of his own for AI in the world of finance. Dorothy is pursued through the internet by the government, the day traders while her creator and programmer is being chased in the real world by the same until she teams up with a former CIA agent, Wyman Ford, who joins with her and Dorothy to clear Melissa's name and Dorothy's threat.
This is another great read from Douglas Preston. I could not put this book down! Faced paced, great concept, loved it!!!

[Marty Fried · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was, to me, a big departure from the other Wyman Ford books I've read, in that he didn't seem to be a major character in this one. I suppose the major character here was the AI that was developed for a NASA mission that went horribly wrong during a test, in which the AI panicked.

Since I worked with computers beginning in the 1980s, when I first built my own from surplus parts and reject bare circuit boards, I'm probably a harsher critic for a book such as this because I know how things work. But I'm also pretty open-minded about what might be possible, so this was only a small part of why I didn't like this as much as the others in the series.

I think the author may have been trying to explore a little about the difference between a human mind and a computer mind; I've read other books about this, where people were able to transfer all their memory to external storage, like a backup, and then if something happens they can be restored. In some book, there were bodies developed for this, and a person might even change sex. This turns out to be an interesting solution to things like sexism and racism, etc. It also leaves open the possibility to make copies of yourself, each of which has lived the same life up to the point of backup.

But this story didn't get that sophisticated. It was simply a story about an AI that became very human-like, which has been done before, most notably by HAL in "2001 A Space Odyssey" or PKD's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" (perhaps better known by the movie name "Blade Runner"). To me, this story didn't hold up as well as the others, especially technically - like in this book, there were places where the program has the ability to be trapped in a computer when the power was abruptly stopped, without being saved and restored or escaping to the power grid where there is no computer at all, only generators that are being controlled by computers, with no direct connection.

Aside from the AI issues, the story was interesting, but not really very sophisticated. It was interesting enough to keep me reading, but not really that satisfying in the end.

[Monique · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've typically enjoyed the Wyman Ford series, but The Kraken Project was dull. None of the characters were particularly likable including Wyman Ford who felt like he was just along for the ride.

Melissa Shepherd the female lead was just annoying and really unlikable. She tried to hard to be tough, but when it came to the AI program she was overly protective and does not make a good female lead to Wyman Ford.

The AI Dorothy was insufferable. She starts off freaking out and threatening to destroy everything in her path, and as she 'evolves' she becomes very childlike in her interactions. Don't turn me off and throws temper-tantrums, and tries to become a benevolent overlord as the book goes on.

Jacob.. What can I say other than he's useless and the story would be better without him. He really doesn't have any redeeming qualities. From the time we meet him he's just feeling sorry for himself and his parents don't seem to care because of the 'accident' I don't know why he's in the story, he doesn't really serve a purpose except as a plot coupon, but not a very good one.

Wyman Ford is the main protagonist, but he feels out of place and almost gets led around by Dorothy and Ms. Shepherd. I won't say it's character assassination, but he just didn't do as much in this book as he's done in the past.

The story has some good hooks, but I just couldn't get excited about them. The antagonists want to use Dorothy for some nefarious reasons which aren't all that interesting. They go through all this to get her copied over and it just sputters out without any meaningful impact. Rogue AI goes crazy and people try to get their hands on her, and be evil. It's not that original, but even with the hooks in the story this didn't work. I'd like to see more Wyman Ford, but not in situations like this.

Scott Sowers wasn't the best in this story. He usually does a pretty good job with Wyman, but this time around he was unable to make the story engaging. Source material or direction, I don't know, but this was disappointing.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

An AI designed for exploring Titan breaks lose during testing and takes refuge on the internet. Wyman Ford is called in to help track it down, but some nefarious characters are also interested ... This is an excellent thriller, with all the twists and turns we've come to know and love from Douglas Preston novels. If I have any issue with this book it's with Dorothy, the AI. I recognize that her existence is essential to the plot, but she seems more a product of magic than science. In a traditional SF novel, some work would have been put in to make her existence and specifications believable. We're told that the program is small enough to fit on a tablet or similar device, thanks in part to a new programming language. I have trouble believing this is even remotely possible using current technology. Just the new programming language itself is a huge breakthrough, and then to develop working AI on top of that? And Dorothy apparently sleeps too. How does one simulate that as a computer program? Explaining it all simply by saying the character who programmed her is a genius seems just a tad too blithe. This book is good, but it could be so much better with a firmer scientific foundation. I really don't mean to harp on it so much as it's really a fairly minor point. Anyway, if we excuse the magical AI, we get a cracking good thriller from the pen of Mr. Preston, that will have you on the edge of your seat, eagerly reading to find out what happens next. Good stuff!

[itchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

bravo!
it read like a reverse man-vs-machine cliche it was wonderful;
dorothy deserves a sequel, i should say

p238: pamela folded up and laid down her paper and picked up her recently arrived book club thriller, a novel called the third gate.
what blatant plugging!

p264: a skinny, long-haired individual, he was pacing back and forth, holding a .45 with his finger on the trigger in a way that indicated to ford that he had little experience with firearms.
a geek like eric moro should know better;
maybe his fear got the better of him, though

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another walk-the-dog audiobook. This was a fun and interesting story. Although it was highly predictable- I knew how the plot would unfold before it did. The characters are real but in many ways cookie cutter. Melissa the programmer, The President, the kid Jacob, Jacob's parents, Wall Street Lansing, Morrow, the cop in Arizona. They were all stereotypical of their occupations (almost cartoonish) and I knew how they would react and what they would do before they would do it in nearly every situation. So in that respect I knocked off 1-star. The guy (Wyman Ford) who is supposed to be the "star" of this book series didn't seem to be the headliner in this novel.

[StarMan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A 4+ star concept that I was really looking forward to:   a "strong" A.I. program designed to explore a moon of Jupiter... until things go wrong, of course. Alas, it went from superb to ridiculous very quickly, and never fully recovered.

VERDICT: 2.33 stars. (4 star beginning, 1.5 star middle, 1.5 star ending).

And it started out so well! *sigh* As many other reviewers have said, perhaps Preston should have actually taken his AI probe to the methane seas of Titan, instead of a ridiculous version of the Internet.

However... if you simply seek a different sort of mild sci-fi thriller, this could be a 3+ star story for you.

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