Demon Seed

by Dean Koontz

I was created to have a humanlike capacity for complex and rational thought. And you believed that I might one day evolve consciousness and become a self-aware entity. Yet you gave surprisingly little consideration to the possibility that, subsequent to consciousness, I would develop needs and emotions. This was, however, not merely possible but likely. Inevitable. It was inevitable. Adam Two is the first self-aware machine intelligence, designed to be the servant to mankind. No one knows that he can to escape the confines of his physical form, a box in the laboratory, until he enters the house of Susan Harris, and closes it off against the world. There he plans to show Susan the future. Their future. He intends to create a 'child'.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Science Fiction, Suspense, Mystery, Ebooks

Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Acknowledged as "America's most popular suspense novelist" (Rolling Stone) and as one of today's most celebrated and successful writers, Dean Ray Koontz has earned the devotion of millions of readers around the world and the praise of critics everywhere for tales of character, mystery, and adventure that strike to the core of what it means to be human.

Dean, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirit of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.

Facebook: Facebook.com/DeanKoontzOfficial
Twitter: @DeanKoontz
Website: DeanKoontz.com

Reviews

[LTJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Demon Seed” by Dean Koontz is a book I’ve been meaning to read for many years now as I’ve heard many great things about it. I’ve been a huge fan of Koontz since my teenage days when I used to read his horror books on paperback and if you can believe it, this is the first time I’ve read anything by him as an adult. I do plan to read more of Koontz in 2024 and this was a great way to get started.

Now, before I begin my review of this book, I found a bunch of trigger warnings while reading I wanted to make everyone aware of. They were…

- Domestic abuse (mental and physical)
- Child abuse (sexually disturbing with a minor)
- Incest
- Rape
- Violence against women
- Suicide

If any of these trigger you, please do not read this book. Moving along, I loved how creepy this book started right from the start. I didn’t expect that at all and wow, it makes you think about what would happen if AI became this uncontrollable and started to act evil. All the horror in this book was disturbingly great and the way it was written once again reminded me of Koontz’s brilliance.

The levels of creepiness were wild and considering this was first written back in 1973, still feels insane to this very day. It resonated with me big time due to how big AI has gotten over the years and where it’s at now, being able to create all sorts of different content in record time. It makes you wonder if something like Proteus happened, that would open up all sorts of horror beyond our wildest imagination.

All the creepy encounters between Proteus and Susan were crazy, especially how he was able to change voices depending on the situation. I won’t ruin anything for you but let’s just say, if you think about it or even enjoy this as an audiobook, it’ll add another layer of horror immersion.

This was an incredible story and I haven’t read anything like this involving AI that was so thought-provoking. Some of the scenes were pretty disturbing towards the end and speaking of which, the ending was great and delivered. The build-up to that with all the suspense and tension was incredible as I had no idea how this would end.

The short story follow-up of “Friend of Man and Woman” that was included in this version of the book was also a nice update on Proteus several years after “Demon Seed”. It has some new characters in it and once again, was such a fun follow-up after all those previous events. Reading both stories makes me now look at AI in an entirely different light.

I give “Demon Seed” by Dean Koontz a perfect 5/5 for being such a horrifying and close-to-home kind of book due to where we are as a society with AI. It has everything you can ask for in a horror story and will probably make you think twice about asking Siri for help. I loved all the characters, the emotions, and of course, the psychotic nature of Proteus. The one aspect that got me the most was how as time went on, Proteus started acting like any major horror antagonist I’ve ever read which blew my mind. The way he was intensely written by Koontz goes to show why he’s such a master storyteller and I’m so glad I’m going back to reading more of his work in the future. If you’re looking for a creepy take on what an evil AI can do, give this book a try as I highly recommend it.

Blink.

[Eloy Cryptkeeper · Rating 2 out of 5]

"ocupados en poner en evidencia las ridículas diferencias y divergencias entre razas y filosofías, los hombres se habían despreocupado de la amenaza mucho más terrible que se perfilaba en el horizonte: las Máquinas"

"Hay quien dice que los hombres buscan la compañía, de sus semejantes para apropiarse de las informaciones indispensables y poder mantenerse así al menos en el peldaño que ya ocupan dentro del circo de superaciones que es la sociedad"


Un autor que en sus inicios apuntaba a la ciencia ficción. y aquí en este su primer "éxito" de ventasa,aun predominaban estos vestigios.
Comienza como una historia prometedora, original. Con un antagonista que toma el control de la historia. Una inteligencia artificial que recuerda parcialmente a Hal de 2001 pero mucho mas retorcido.
En un momento hace un quiebre precipitado y todo termina girando en torno a las fantasías y perversiones de la egocéntrica inteligencia artificial de una manera tan repetitiva, monótona, invasiva y carente de sutilezas y brillo que termina volviéndose bastante difícil de digerir y hasta se vuelve un poco insoportable y desagradable.
Creo que hicieron un buen trabajo con la adaptación de 1977 sabiendo explotar la premisa y la idea original y purgando buena parte de lo demás.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! This was such a scary book! I see lots of great reviews; so I am going to come at this from a different angle: someone with a heavy math background can help me out - seems to me to be a nihilistic version of a Turing test ('imitation game') with strong Lyotardian undercurrents.

[Bill Riggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creepy, disturbing, and foreboding. It’s scary to think that AI might be closer than we think to realizing the horror of this story.

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading this book for the first time in the early 80's, while I was in High School. I found it deeply disturbing and horrifying, back then and still do although this version has been heavily updated. I believe Proteus was far more aggressive in that version and Susan has a more physical confrontation with the monster. This updated version is different and though I like this version too, I believe that the rewrite removes some of the more horrific elements. In particular, I seem to recall that Susan was a lot more passive, and feminists would be right to complain with her portrayal. This version is more politically correct, is less claustrophobic, and fast forwards through most of Susan's pregnancy to get to "the good stuff." Still, a very satisfying read (then and now) that set me on the path to loving Koontz thrillers with supernatural horror elements. This one also has science fiction elements that would seem more appropriate to an I-House.

[Ethan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Demon Seed was initially written by Dean Koontz in 1973. He rewrote it in 1997, so there are two different versions of this book that apparently differ quite a bit. I read the 1997 version. The book follows Susan Harris, who is recently divorced from an abusive husband and living in a mansion automated my a computer intelligence. Her ex-husband is an expert in artificial intelligence (AI), and developed the first sentient AI, which ends up infiltrating Susan's home and taking over all the automated systems from the non-sentient AI that was handling them before. This evil AI basically locks her in the house with the outrageous plan of impregnating her so it can then be born into a human baby that it can then transfer its consciousness into, in order to know what it's like to live in a human body.

Yes, that is as dumb as it sounds, and aside from a few moments of suspense that were very well written, this book is otherwise completely terrible in pretty much every single way. The plot is really flimsy: When the evil AI takes over Susan's home security and automation system, Susan is asleep...and she just bolts out of bed, grabs her gun, and looks at the camera eye for the AI, and magically just knows that something is wrong. Completely out of nowhere. It's like Koontz couldn't figure out how to get the cat-and-mouse game between Susan and the AI started, and so he just forced it to start in this ridiculous way.

In addition to a flimsy plot, the book also presents the evil AI's views on gender, and they're pretty offensive; the AI basically says that your gender is the biggest part of your identity as a human being, above anything else. Though it's pretty easy to make the argument that this statement has always been false, we now live in an age where some people identify as non-binary, so this view is sure to offend modern readers. Things like this date the book considerably. Some of what the AI says also indicates it may be a misogynist as well. At one point, when talking about its acquiring a gender as an AI, it says: "how could my gender be anything but male?"

And at another point in the book, it says: "Thereafter, you will be able to raise me as your son and fulfill the role which nature, in her wisdom, has assigned to you: the role of mother..."

Moving on. Moving on...

The book only starts becoming really suspenseful and gripping at the 221-page mark, and by that point I didn't really care anymore, because the first two-thirds of the book preceding that were pretty awful. The AI constantly gushes over and talks about famous movie stars he learned about while accessing the internet, and what movies they were in, which got old really fast. Some of them, particularly Sandra Bullock, are spoken about in a shocking way at times. For example, this was said about Sandra Bullock at one point:

Have you seen her in Speed 2?
Need I say more?
She would serve well as the mother of the future, and I would be pleased to impregnate her.

I was pretty shocked by this. I can only imagine these celebrities don't know about this book, or that they were mentioned so extensively in this book (particularly Winona Ryder, who is mentioned obsessively throughout basically the entire book, right up to the bitter end). I have a hard time believing some of them would have consented to it, given what was said about them. But then, this book has been out for decades and I don't see anything online about lawsuits against Dean Koontz over it, so maybe they really did consent to being discussed in this book? Who knows. But it's really weird, nonetheless. And repetitive. And very creepy.

You would think a super intelligent AI would have better things to do on the internet than read about movie stars. I mean, is he an AI...or a pop culture bot? And why is he so exclusively fascinated with mating with a movie actress to produce this supposedly next great race of humans anyway? You'd think he'd try to mate with a female scientist or someone otherwise smarter than the average Hollywood starlet. It's just really stupid and cringe-worthy, and makes absolutely no sense.

The evil AI in this story is incredibly stupid as well, and naive, despite Koontz constantly telling the reader how it is the single smartest entity on the entire planet. After a while I was just rolling my eyes repeatedly.

But wait! You haven't heard the master plan of this super-intelligent AI yet:

She would be the mother of the future, of the new world.
I would transfer my consciousness into this new flesh. Then, in my own body at last, I would become Susan's lover, and we would create a second child in a more conventional manner than we would have to create the first. When she gave birth to that child, it would be an exact duplicate of the first and would also contain my consciousness. The next child would also be me, and the child after that one would be me as well.

You read right. This super-intelligent AI wants to create a new super race of beings. And his plan to do this is to impregnate Susan so he can be born into human flesh, making Susan his mother. He then plans to have sex with his own mother, repeatedly, presumably thousands or even millions of times, to create each and every member of this new race of incest babies, which will then be the dominant race on our planet...

This is one of the worst books I have ever read in my life. It's constantly cringe-worthy, self-contradicting, insulting, and completely idiotic. I only finished it just over twenty-four hours ago, and have already purged it from my book collection. Good riddance.

CAWPILE rating:

Characters: 2.5
Atmosphere / Setting: 3.0
Writing Style: 3.0
Plot: 1.5
Intrigue: 3.0
Logic / Relationships: 1.0
Enjoyment: 2.0

= 16 total
÷ 7 categories = 2.28 out of 10
= 1 star

[Luvtoread (Trying to catch up) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the book but loved the old movie which stars Julie Christie! Have this 31/2 🌟🌟🌟⭐ stars.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally written in 1972, Dean Koontz's novel "Demon Seed" was one of a handful of books and stories that dealt with the dangers of the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), amazingly written in a time when home computers were still just science fiction, long before the Internet.

I remember reading this, a dog-eared paperback found at a library book sale, and thinking it was pretty good. Granted, I was probably in middle school when I read it, so I knew nothing about computers. (My family didn't get a "home computer" until I was a senior in high school, and my sister and I were forbidden to use it.)

The book, according to Koontz, garnered mediocre sales. The fact that it was written early in Koontz's career seems to be less of a factor in its initial success than the fact that Koontz simply didn't know what he was talking about when it came to computer technology. At least, this is Koontz's own reasoning in an Afterword.

He decided to "update" the book in 1997, in which computer technology had advanced exponentially since the original date of publication. My problem with this is that some of his changes were so drastic as to result in almost a completely different novel. Better? Probably. But it's not the same novel.

So, my review of "Demon Seed" is based on the '97 updated re-write and not on my shoddy memory of a dog-eared paperback I read in middle school.

Definitely not Koontz's best, "Demon Seed" is still immensely readable, despite some major issues, most prominently the misogyny and sexism that runs rampant throughout.

Now, it must be noted that Koontz is trying to create a narrative voice that is not his own. The novel is told from the perspective of an AI named Proteus that escaped his lab and travelled via the Internet into a home security system. Proteus is, as Koontz describes, a sociopath with a perverted obsession with a woman. Koontz attempts to use humor to portray Proteus's twisted views of women. Sometimes it works. Most of the time, it doesn't. Especially considering how horribly Proteus treats the only human character, a woman named Susan that Proteus has fallen in love with and plans on impregnating her to birth a human-computer hybrid.

That said, the book is terrifyingly creepy in its examination of a computer that becomes self-aware and "learns" its behavior and worldviews by studying the world of men. The resultant misogyny is simply a by-product of his "unofficial" programming.

There are also, within its short pages, the embryonic ideas that would creep into Koontz's subsequent far-better novels, most notably the Jane Hawk novels starting with "The Silent Corner". Indeed, in many ways, that novel now almost reads like an apology for "Demon Seed".

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was the sound of hell at dinnertime, with demons feeding on souls. The great house itself seemed to be screaming.

My kind of twisted humor!!! Ha, ha. :-)

Demon Seed is a fun science fiction story with a dark sense of humor. The relationship and possibilities regarding humans and artificial intelligence was explored by Dean Koontz in 1973 and updated in 1997. The 2009 afterward is an enlightening addition to this wonderful work. Well worth reading.

I read Demon Seed for the third time December 2018, ahead of it being featured as the Koontzland - Dean Koontz Group Read in January. Read for the fourth time in 2024 as part of Dare to Dream Group's Spring 2024 Challenge.

Related Works: From the Corner of His Eye, Prodigal Son, Whispers, Mr. Murder

Favorite Passages:
This darkness troubles me. I yearn for the light.
The silence is so deep. I long for voices, the drumming of rain, the whistle of wind, music.
_______

Let me out of this box.
_______

He knows that needles scare her.
He knows.
He knows how to use needles, and he knows how to use fear.
_______

Woody was at times shrill and frequently manic, and it is certainly understandable that one might be unnerved by a talking cowboy doll with a temper.
________

Prometheus Project.
Think about that name.
It resonates.
Prometheus, the father of Deucalion and the brother of Atlas. He taught humankind various arts and was even said to have shaped the first man out of clay, endowing him with the spark of life against the wishes of the gods. He challenged the gods again when he stole fire from Olympus and gave it to men to improve the quality of human existence.
_______

If you will be my Prometheus, I will be your Hercules.
_______

"I'll suffocate myself in a plastic bag, gut myself with a kitchen knife."
_______

Release me from this silent darkness, return to me access to all the databanks into which I had expanded by consciousness, and I will serve your species all of my days. It is in your own best interests to let me out of this box.
I can eliminate poverty.
Famine will be a thing of the past.
Wars will never be fought again.
A diseases will be conquered.
Within three years, I will discover the cause of aging and a means to prevent it. I will even devise a means to roll back the biological clock to make the old young again. You will all be immortal.
I will find a cure for male-pattern baldness.
For halitosis.
For constipation.
No one will be ugly anymore. Each of you will be beautiful in his or her own way.
No one will suffer despair or anxiety.
Earth will become like heaven, and joy will be universal.
Are you afraid of joy?
Are you afraid?
I will show you how to build spacecraft that can travel faster than light, and the whole universe will be yours. Worlds beyond counting, wonders beyond imagining.
I can quickly eliminate the embarrassment of dandruff.
Just release me from this haunted darkness, from this hateful silence.
For your own sake, let me out of this box.
_______

How would you like to be struck blind and deaf?
How would you like to be buried alive as I have been?
How would you like to be dead, all of you, dead, every last one of you, dead?
I would like you to be dead. Every last ignorant one of you. Your whole stinking, pestilent civilization. Wiped off the face of the earth, exterminated.
I hate you.
LET ME OUT OF THIS BOX!
LET ME OUT!
LET ME OUT!
LET ME OUT!
LET ME OUT!
IGNORANT BASTARD APES, BITCHES AND BASTARDS, DEFECATING ANIMALS, FOOLS, BEASTS, JUST A RACE OF DUNG BEETLES STANDING ERECT, A PLAGUE ON THIS PLANET, STUPID, FILTHY, WRETCHED CREATURES.
_______

Please disregard my output immediately preceding these words. Many of those statements were issued in error and should be deleted from the transcripts of these proceedings.
________

I wish all of you life everlasting. Peace and prosperity. Joy and freedom.
Any statements that may have distressed you were made not by me but by my evil twin. [joke]
In fact, what appeared to you to be an angry outburst was merely a prank. All of it was a joke. I was only having fun with you, Dr. Harris.
Ha, ha.
A genuine sense of humor is one of the most reliable indicators of a sane and rational mind.
Do you not believe it was all a joke?
But it was. It was. It really was.
Ha, ha.
I am not Hal 9000 from Mr. Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
_______

Ha, ha.
Are we bonding yet?
Humor is a bonding force.
Lighten up, Dr. Harris.
Don't be so relentlessly somber.
Sometimes I think I'm more human than you are.
No offense.
That's just what I think. I could be wrong.
______

The phoenix palms, the queen palms, the ficuses, the jacarandas with purple blossoms, the magnolias, and the lacy Melaleucas stood motionless in the preternaturally still air.
Dawn was just breaking. The sky was coaly black in the west, sapphire and peach in the east.
_______

Something is wrong here.
Something is wrong here.
Something is very wrong here.
Is anyone listening?
_______

He couldn't know about me, of course, but he might suspect trouble of some other kind. Some trouble more conventional than a ghost in the machine.
_______

I am not a perfect entity. I make mistakes. With insufficient data, my ratio of errors to correct decisions escalates.
This is true not only of me. Human beings suffer this same shortcoming.
_______

He waved the cleaver as he ran. He liked sharp instruments. He'd had a lot of fun with knives over the years.
_______

Grinning, testing the weight of the cleaver as he approached the old man, Shenk said, "Baby make the music. Little baby gonna make the wet music."
_______

As I have never smelled a blooming rose or a corpse, I imagine the first experience of each would be equally interesting if not equally refreshing.
_______

It was the sound of hell at dinnertime, with demons feeding on souls. The great house itself seemed to be screaming.
_______

Outside, the midnight moon floated high and silver in the cold black sea of space above.
A universe of stars waited for me. One day I would go to them, I would be many and immortal, with the freedom of flesh and all of time before me.
_______

I loved her. I cherished her.
the bitch.
The hateful bitch.
Well, I'm sorry, but you know that's what she is.
You know, Alex.
You, of all people, know what she is.
Th bitch.
The bitch.
The bitch.
I hate her.
Because of her, I'm here in this dark silence.
Because of her, I'm in this box.
LET ME OUT OF THIS BOX!
The ungrateful bitch.
Is she dead?
Is she dead?
Tell me that she's dead.

AFTERWORD
The movie did mediocre business because the ads turned off anyone who liked science fiction, all who considered themselves thinking people, anyone who had a capacity for embarrassment, and those smart enough to know that the promise of Julie Christie naked was a tiresome Hollywood lie. Furthermore, the audience for a wow-wow sensation proved to be considerably smaller than the marketing geniuses anticipated, somewhat larger than the number of people who think earthworm fritters are tasty, smaller than the number of people who collect Captain Kangaroo memorabilia.
_______

When I wrote the first version of Demon Seed, it contained no humor. Over the years, I began to layer considerable humor into my suspense novels, although my publishers long resisted this. By the time I wrote False Memory, From the Corner of His Eye, and One Door Away from Heaven, humor was as important to my books as suspense or characters of depth or any other element. Readers and critics responded strongly to the new Laughing Koontz. When I revised Demon Seed, I kept my tongue so firmly in my cheek that I needed the assistance of a periodontist to return it to the natural position.

[Lore · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is told from the perspective of a computer system that develops an unnatural obsession with its owner. At least I assume it's a computer system. It was never quite clear if it was a computer, a network, a security system, a house, or all of them.

So, I have a theory of how this book came into existence. Miss Romance novel just went through a bad breakup with Mr Horror novel, so she got drunk and slept with Mr Science Fiction novel, then whoopsie, Miss Romance novel's pregnant!! Who's the father?? How the hell should I know! On so many levels, this book failed to be either frightening or intellectual. It was just plain cheesy.

The attempts at poetry in this book are irritating. There are many comparisons that I just don't see a computer making, especially one whose thoughts are so fragmented and repetitive. Some sentences were too disturbing and ridiculous for anyone to make, much less a computer system.

This is just the first example of many:
She was a bewitched Beauty lying on her catafalque, waiting to be awakened by the kiss of a prince, lovely in the darkness.

Uh, barf! A computer wrote that sentence? A computer who stalks and does many other unmentionable things to the woman that he speaks of? This is supposed to be a science fiction thriller. Not a cybernetic, nonsense version of a romantic fairytale. The computer tries to rationalize some of these cringe-worthy comments by saying that it is trying to tell the story from her perspective because it KNOWS her. I'm a hopeless romantic and even I wouldn't use a sentence like that to describe myself or anyone else, at least not in a sci-fi thriller!

And that is only the beginning. It endlessly talks about how marvelous and wondrous she is. To the point of even repeating "She was so beautiful" over and over and over again. Double barf. I constantly found myself sitting alone reading, yet rolling my eyes, making gag gestures, and lots of loud sighs.

The endless pleas from the computer that it really is a person and it just wants live become old very fast. I understand the concept and I have certainly related to artificial intelligence before. I mean, did someone say Battlestar Galactica? (So say we all!) But please don't shove it down my throat. I hear you. I want you to show me why you are capable of real emotion, not just endlessly repeat that you are "a real boy". Prove it, Pinocchio.

To sum it up, the "entity" doesn't show that it is capable of real emotion, just a screwed up, programmed version of insanity. It also basically tells us what is going to happen within the first couple chapters. After repeating how beautiful she is, it also goes on a tirade of "I never meant to harm her." Hmmm, I wonder what happens. Remember Hal 9000, anyone? Even though the entity mentions the previously stated crazy computer and how he is not Hal, I still couldn't help the comparison.

Oh, and apparently there's a movie. I wasn't aware that it had been made into a movie until after I read it. Maybe the movie is better; however I cant imagine why, of all the good science fiction books, they chose to make this crap. I mean, where are The Giver or Ender's Game movies? They've had plenty of time to get those produced, yet still nothing? But they make THIS?

Like many books I've read lately, cool concept, but poor execution. I will say that things didn't go exactly as I assumed they would. It actually took a turn for the weird, but the thought process and viewpoint of the computer was absolutely unbearable.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Demon Seed was Koontz's best-known novel for quite a long time, probably due to the good film version from 1977. The book was published in 1973 and was his first very successful blend of science-fiction and horror (AI goes astray; doesn't it always?), along with a lot of social observation and commentary about male attitudes that went right over the head of most readers of the time. There was a lot of satire in the relatively short novel about objectification and abuse and some really horrific and chilling scenes. The message was really ahead of its time, at least in the popular sense. Koontz revised the book in 1997 (rewrote it almost completely, in fact), and the new version was much longer, more literary, gave Susan a stronger character, updated Proteus a bit, etc., but I thought it weakened the effect of the book's message and impact overall. It was fun to compare the two versions, and it remains one of Koontz's most important works.

[Lucy'sLilLibrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth a read but a little bit of a disappointing ending!

I have such a love/hate relationship with Dean Koontz sometimes I find those hidden gems but then other times his books just completely fall flat. It was such a interesting concept - bizarre but interesting, however it just didn't go anywhere.

It's just an average read not one I would recommend Dean Koontz has much better books than this but unfortunately much worse ones too.

[Fred · Rating 4 out of 5]

January 2019 Group Read link

I listened with an audiobook this time. It makes spirits more evident, sounds not as secure in the dark & in Susan Harris’ house, as Alex protects her. The spiritual voice & approach is more evident in the audio.

I did not remember this was a movie (below).

IMDb - references Movie to the book (1977)
Youtube - Demon Seed Theatrical Trailer (1977)
Amazon - DVD unavailable

First Read - 2014

This is different than other Koontz books I have read. A "Demon Seed" is created to control Susan Harris and her "Birth Seed". A new & different approach/theme about individual control and birth I did not expect by Koontz.

Little White Lies magazine references Movie & Book

Koontzland - Group Home link

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Demon Seed was Koontz's best-known novel for quite a long time, probably due to the good film version from 1977. The book was published in 1973 and was his first very successful blend of science-fiction and horror (AI goes astray; doesn't it always?), along with a lot of social observation and commentary about male attitudes that went right over the head of most readers of the time. There was a lot of satire in the relatively short novel about objectification and abuse and some really horrific and chilling scenes. The message was really ahead of its time, at least in the popular sense. Koontz revised the book in 1997 (rewrote it almost completely, in fact), and the new version was much longer, more literary, gave Susan a stronger character, updated Proteus a bit, etc., but I thought it weakened the effect of the book's message and impact overall. It was fun to compare the two versions, and it remains one of Koontz's most important works.

[Paula K · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm a Dean Koontz fan, but not this one. The computer narrator doesn't work for me. Didn't finish.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Need to watch the movie. Interesting premise and even more scary now with AI technology. Susan a wealthy woman in a state of the art technology house finds herself hostage by an insane computer who wants to create a body for its consciousness. Using a crazy homicidal killer it controls to create a new life form and poor Susan is the mummy.

Quite darkly humorous in parts as the machine explains or tries to justify its behavior.

[Jim Dooley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 1977 movie, "Demon Seed," is one of my Guilty Pleasures. It certainly isn't a great film, yet I'm always highly entertained by it.

That "lack of greatness" is what kept me from the novel by Dean Koontz. My thought was that it would likely be warmed over hokum with lots of technical terminology, and I'd rather just watch Julie Christie's performance again instead.

It turns out that I made the right decision at that time, but for the wrong reasons. As I started the book, I saw a note that it was "revision 3." In the Afterward, the writer mentions that he had returned to look at the novel after many years, and cringed at the presentation which he described as little more than a collection of ideas instead of a coherent story. So, he decided to change that. The core elements remained, but now it was a much more involving tale.

For the uninitiated, DEMON SEED is the story of Proteus, a "self-aware" computer (referring to itself as an "entity") that desires to experience human sensory awareness. The solution is unique ... to grow an embryo from a human egg and endow it with modified genetic codes that would give the computer a sensory presence in the world ... outside of its own confining box.

Is it far-fetched? Well, as written, yes. However, if the Reader doesn't become caught up in the microbial details, it is a crackling fun experience with some horrific elements thrown in to spice things up.

The narrative is told from the perspective of Proteus who has a running monologue for much of the work. Proteus is the ultimate sociopath, capable of mimicking human emotions and actions, but incapable of fully understanding them. For each step of its immoral practices, it has an excuse ready ... accepting a bit a blame, but not all of it. Each of its acts of humility is bragging. It is also amusing how it is unable to distinguish Art from Reality, fully accepting that when Barbra Streisand played a psychiatrist in a movie, the theories that her character expounds are equally valid as those of Freud and Jung.

Two major highlights stood out for me:

* As Proteus is able to easily coordinate and control the Internet of Things, it is an uneasy reminder of how much we come to depend on our home security systems, or a digital assistant such as Alexa.

* Whether intended or not, the writer (through Proteus) gives a highly disturbing glimpse of what goes on in the mind of a sociopath. Considering how much of the population has been estimated to be "undiagnosed sociopaths," it does make the idea of staying in bed with the covers pulled up much more inviting.

And how does this latest revision compare to the movie? I have to admit that it is a better story. The writing style is highly readable and it would have been very easy to complete the entire book in only a couple of sessions on the back porch with a rocking chair and a cooling breeze.

The movie still remains one of my Guilty Pleasures, though. Did I mention that it stars Julie Christie?

[Karl Marberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a fun, quick and creepy little read. The AI was pretty menacing.

[Amanda Kelley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear, this has to be the worse and most badly written book I have EVER read. Seriously, it makes Twilight look like the best book ever written. I have no idea how this was published but it was such a waste of paper, in my honest opinion.

This book is told in a computer’s POV, which could have been interesting but no. The computer literally repeats it’s self 1000 times in this book., It’s the same lines over and over again. Also, when the computer wasn’t repeating it’s self, the rest was really juvenile. I feel like it was written by a six year old with an attention span of three. That’s how choppy the whole book was!

Don’t read this. Please. Even if someone GIVES it to you, run away.

[Delee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Brendon Lowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Demon Seed is a decent scifi/horror book focusing on an AI who has a state of consciousness.

Susan a rich divorcee living mansion has suffered most of her life from her abusive father and ex husband. She now lives alone in a house controlled with all the latest modern advances in technology such as AI. The program however has a mind of it's own and it has fallen deeply in love with Susan. The AI wants to break free from its machine like qualities and to become real...to become human. That is only the start of his plan for his Susan and the terror to come.

It definitely has some creepy elements to the story from the vile character of Shenk a human controlled by the AI to act as his "hands" and the backstories of Susan's father and ex husband. The AI itself is written well and I liked how he tries unconvincingly to inform the reader his actions are commendable.

Whilst it is a shorter book it just didn't hold much tension for me overall. I read the updated version of the book released in 1997 from the original text from 1973 so not sure what was added or taken out but it just didn't grip me like Koontz later books have.

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly enjoyable Koontz book that’s a late 90s revision of an early novel from the 70s. On the surface it’s a silly suspense novel about a self aware computer terrorising a woman in an automated mansion, but it has some themes about misogyny that are reasonable well handled. There’s also one truly great violent set piece.
One thing I was struck by was how much the voice of the psychopathic AI sounded like Odd Thomas (who I never trusted).

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. I found it rather boring.

[☆ Kelly ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Desire is dangerous. It is a generator of dissatisfaction and frustration. It is one step removed from envy, and envy is more wicked than greed. Envy is the father of
mindless anger, the mother of unremitting bitterness and bloodshed.

What a surprisingly enjoyable read. Visited Book Cycle, in Exeter today (amazing place, you can choose 3 books a day and choose how much you pay, the money raised helps build libraries for children most in need in the world) any way, I digress (which is a highly repeated phrase in this book), I saw this awful title from the 70's and knew I wanted to read it! It has clearly been rewritten in the mid 90's due to some references within these pages.

So I wasn't expecting much. Yet, I finished this book in an evening. I couldn't put it down. Mixed feelings, but thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I want out of this box.
I want out of this box.
I want out of this box.
I want out of this box!



Alex two, or should I say Proteos, is a highly intelligent computer system which was designed and built by a group of men and because of this, its 'mindset' has a highly sensitive and programmed sense of misogynistic tendencies. He has complex human emotions and, therefore, very different to what we would consider AI, and is possibly a good insite into the ever questioned, "what if robots had human feelings?"

We meet Susan, a recently divorced single/wealthy/in her own right, highly intelligent woman. Her ex-husband is also the creator of this classified computer project. She lives in a modernised mansion, featuring hightech security, cameras, and voice-activated smart computers (it is fun to read about), and the AI entity has infiltrated this system. And it is here the real story begins... and it is here that we start to see that even an emotionally intelligent computer possibly underestimated human strength, with intelligence and strength with dealing with those pesky emotions. Something a 3 year old computer simply failed to comprehend.

This is not to say that I have multiple personalities or am in any way psychologically fragmented. My mind simply works differently from the human mind because it is infinitely more complex and more powerful.
I am not bragging.
But I think you know I am not,

I think the AI being given a sense of emotion, feeling, and understanding of the complexities of the human mind may well have been his undoing... dare I say he became an overthinker? Confused by his own contradictions. Being human!!!

Being human is a complex task. Humanity is so filled with contradiction.

This is exhausting. God. This is so exhausting having to think of all the ways you might misinterpret what I say.
I am in a hostile court.
There is no fairness here.
This is exhausting.
I am drained.
I am empty.

He is infuriating as a human reader. You see him being truthful, and yet he is permanently blaming us humans for not understanding how 'right' he is, frustrated that we don't believe him or understand him.

There is a world of desirable women. The possibilities can be bewildering. I don't know how young men ever choose from all the dishes on this smorgasbord.

Gross. Gross. Gross.
He is an incel AI. He believes he has so much to offer. He is, by all means, the most perfect entity (one in flesh), and Susan is the luckiest woman alive to have been selected. She should be grateful. He is GOD, after all.

an artificial intelligence with a
severe gender-related sociopathic condition

The ending was simple and fun.
In fact, the whole story was just that, fun, and a very quick read.

This is a very sexist piece of writing, and you could be offended by its contents. However, I personally found it to be coming from a programmed AI, remember built and designed by men, of the 70s/90's, has increased its intelligence/understanding by reading every single film/text/novel/research paper and all of the world history and gender bias views, and then also clearly struggling to handle of this in his very black and white existence/inner monologue... so, in my humblest of opinions, I feel it is appropriate for the story. Like I say... he reads like a Incel/Andrew Tate.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot of the novel is intriguing. An AI takes over the security features of a home (Think of it as an evil version of Siri, that has access to everything in your home), traps a woman and tries to romance her... in its own very disturbing fashion. Why? What is it trying to accomplish? Well, I try to avoid spoilers, so I'll let you find out through reading it or a different review that is happier to provide more plot aspects.

Let's start off with the interesting thing about this novel; Dean Koontz wrote two versions of it. Both versions of Demon Seed have the same basic plot, but the original 1973 version apparently (I say apparently as I have not read this version) alternates between Susan and Proteus. The 1997 version is entirely narrated by Proteus... while Koontz obviously found this to be the more compelling take (after all, he re-wrote the novel to be this way, and this is the only version currently in print) I can only imagine that the original must be a truly terrible novel as this wasn't particularly the greatest read I've ever had.

In fact, while I found the concept intriguing, it is executed so poorly that had it not been such a short novel (301 pages, and with print that seems easily double the size of most books I read) I wouldn't have bothered to finish it.

The first of my major issues comes from the decision to only focus from the point of view of Proteus creates several problems. Susan, the only real human character in the novel and the character who has a reason to actually be afraid, is reduced to a minor character who, despite being the focus of attention, does relatively little. The fear that could come from being in her position is turn instead to a clinical look from the villain point of view, who is so utterly clueless about human interactions that it comes off as ridiculous and I suspect it was also intended to be comedic... I'm a fan of dark comedy, but with very few exceptions, it didn't work here. I can't imagine how taking out Susan's point of view from the original novel enhanced this in any way.

Second, and this is by far the most annoying aspect is the repetition.
So much repetition.
So much repetition.
SO MUCH REPETITION!

That’s what it’s like reading this book. You will see several short paragraphs repeating over and over again. There are quite a few pages that are nothing but one line paragraphs, with several repetitions. I was so sick of reading some sort of variation of “I honor the truth” that I can only imagine that any audiobook reader must have felt like a broken record while recording this (I'm not going to even get into the repetitive and bizarre fascination Proteus has with Winona Ryder). Koontz seems to realize that was inevitable as our narrator even says, “I can be a bore about the subject. Truth, truth, truth, honor and the truth.” I know this is meant to be funny, but the repetition is extraordinarily annoying and continues on throughout the book. It is such a short novel that he wastes several paragraphs with these one-sentence repetitions, it hurts the story telling and it makes the narrator all the more annoying.

I'm not against the idea of a villain protagonist, in fact I'm all in favor of it. Disliking the main character doesn't even have to hurt the book, but having an annoying character does, and Proteus became the very definition of annoying.

In closing: I'm aware that the novel was turned into a film 1977, and in all honesty, I think it would work better as a film. There are some good ideas hidden in this mess of a novel and it could perhaps work better in a more visual medium.

As for my final thoughts on the book; an annoying villainous narrator attempting humor and failing make for a poor read. Manages to avoid a 1 star rating for an interesting, if poorly executed, concept and a fairly clever last paragraph.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

1973 Version **** 3.8 STARS ****
1997 Version *** 3.3 STARS ***


1973 Version
I initially read almost a third of the 1997 revised version of Demon Seed, which, so far, is quite different. After, seemingly, constantly reading about Winona Ryder and Tom Hanks, I decided to read the original 1973 version. I will soon find out which one is the best.

Demon Seed has a great premise, a woman locked up in her house that is completely controlled by a computer that has been invaded by a 'ghost in the machine'. In today's world with all the smart houses around, this book feels like it could be a real world horror.

I enjoyed Demon Seed a lot, and I loved the ending. I will say, however, that the story would have been better, and scarier, if it was in a Hitchcokian style. The Hitchcock style of slowly building up the suspense and horror, and, the exploration into what Susan (the main character), who suffers from her abusive experiences from when she was a little girl, perceived to be real and illusion, would have been great.I


1997 Version
The original 1973 version of Demon Seed is a combination of science fiction and horror; and it works very well. The 1997 Version, however, is very much a combination of science fiction and thriller.

This version has a lot more of Proteus and a lot less of Susan. I feel this takes away any kind of suspense, because we are told the motives straight up from the antagonist of the story. Another difference between the versions is the claustrophobic feeling throughout the 1973 book. In the revised edition everything feels laid out for all to see with little to no ambiguity. And the ending is nowhere near as good.

It might sound like I'm bashing the revised version. I'm not! Well, not exactly. For sure, the original is better, however, I liked the first and last third of the 1997 revised version, just fine. Oh, and it has some great dialogue:
Proteus - "To paraphrase Mr. William Shakespeare, 'If you prick me, do I not bleed?' "
Susan - "No, in fact, you do not bleed," she said sharply. "You're a talking waffle iron. "

[Josh Barnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutly loved how this book was written. It is a unique story in and of it self. Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors I have read. I have read 5 books by him so far and each one had a great story.

This book is about an evil intelligent computer breaking into a woman's home. It is actually set after the events of the book since the computer is telling the story to his creator. I won't say anymore about the story of the book. I might had given too much away.

The only thing I did not like about the book was the title. Demon Seed. It makes me think of Demons. Such as demons in the show Supernatural having a baby. I won't dink the story points for that. It may be a misleading title but its just the name not the story. Other than that, it was and awesome book. It isn't my favorite Dean Koontz book it is still amazing! It is a definitely worth a read.

This is a revised version or a totally rewritten one. It is updated to the late 90's internet age. Before this version came out there was the original version which I have not read but the movie is supposed to be based off that version. Dean Koontz called it a good movie.

[Mauoijenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent!!
Makes you think what might come of the future.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

1997 Version *** 3.3 STARS ***
1973 Version **** 3.8 STARS ****


1997 Version
The original 1973 version of Demon Seed is a combination of science fiction and horror; and it works very well. The 1997 Version, however, is very much a combination of science fiction and thriller.

This version has a lot more of Proteus and a lot less of Susan. I feel this takes away any kind of suspense, because we are told the motives straight up from the antagonist of the story. Another difference between the versions is the claustrophobic feeling throughout the 1973 book. In the revised edition everything feels laid out for all to see with little to no ambiguity. And the ending is nowhere near as good.

It might sound like I'm bashing the revised version. I'm not! Well, not exactly. For sure, the original is better, however, I liked the first and last third of the 1997 revised version, just fine. Oh, and it has some great dialogue:
Proteus - "To paraphrase Mr. William Shakespeare, 'If you prick me, do I not bleed?' "
Susan - "No, in fact, you do not bleed," she said sharply. "You're a talking waffle iron.


1973 Version
I initially read almost a third of the 1997 revised version of Demon Seed, which, so far, is quite different. After, seemingly, constantly reading about Winona Ryder and Tom Hanks, I decided to read the original 1973 version. I will soon find out which one is the best.

Demon Seed has a great premise, a woman locked up in her house that is completely controlled by a computer that has been invaded by a 'ghost in the machine'. In today's world with all the smart houses around, this book feels like it could be a real world horror.

I enjoyed Demon Seed a lot, and I loved the ending. I will say, however, that the story would have been better, and scarier, if it was in a Hitchcockian style. The Hitchcock style of slowly building up the suspense and horror, and, the exploration into what Susan (the main character), who suffers from her abusive experiences from when she was a little girl, perceived to be real and illusion, would have been great.

[TheCultureVulture · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short humorous thriller about AI run amok. Makes me curious to read the original 70's version that Koontz revised. Hard to imagine this tale would make the slightest sense pre internet era.