Darwin's Blade

by Dan Simmons Narrated by Brian Troxell

Overview

"A literary thriller like no other...A hard-charging, edge-of-the-seat tale." -Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Darwin Minor travels a dangerous road. A Vietnam veteran turned reluctant expert on interpreting the wreckage of fatal accidents, Darwin uses science and instinct to unravel the real causes of unnatural disasters. He is very, very good at his job.

His latest case promises to be his most challenging yet. A spate of seemingly random high-speed car accidents has struck the highways of southern California. Each seems to have been staged-yet the participants have all died. Why would anyone commit fraud at the cost of his own life? The deeper Darwin digs, the closer he comes to unmasking an international network specializing in intimidation and murder, whose members will do anything to make sure Darwin soon suffers a deadly accident of his own.

Editorial Reviews

Des Moines Sunday Register

One of America's finest writers.

Locus

Simmons has over the last decade repeatedy shown himself to be one of the most versatile, intelligent, and unpredictable novelists around.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

H"Stupidity kills. Absolute stupidity kills absolutely." Simmons, who has moved effortlessly from horror (Children of the Night) to science fiction (Hyperion; Endymion) to thrillers (The Crook Factory) obviously had a lot of fun writing this gripping suspense thriller about automobile insurance fraud rackets in Southern California. Former NTSB investigator Dr. Darwin Minor (Ph.D., physics) is the best at what he does. As the country's leading "accident reconstruction specialist," Darwin has saved the insurance industry millions, as well as solving the most confounding cases of vehicular stupidity. But suddenly, he finds himself the target of assassins, resulting in a wild car chase that is only the first of many spellbinding set pieces. Is Darwin being targeted for business reasons, or is the attack somehow tied to the ongoing federal investigation of the Alliance, a Russian mafia-type group that specializes in staging accidents to perpetrate insurance fraud? A delightfully bizarre inside joke concerns the "Darwin Awards," which celebrate those who improve the human gene pool by removing themselves from it, like the young man who attempts to break the land speed record by attaching a couple of rockets to his '82 El Camino and ends up splattered on a cliff face hundreds of feet above the highway. In the course of the novel, Darwin investigates several accident scenes that duplicate either Darwin Award-winning demises or urban legends. A breezy writing style, rollicking humor and ingenious descriptions of weird accidents make this action-packed thriller a real winner. (Nov.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Darwin Minor earns his living by reconstructing car accidents for insurance companies, but his examination of a collision near Los Angeles spirals into an investigation of a string of high-speed wrecks. Someone is killing a lot of people, and Dar's investigations place him high on the hit list. Tracked by Russian assassins, Dar draws on hidden resources to survive. With his girlfriend, the state's chief investigator, he sets a trap for them. The ensuing shootout delivers all that could be expected. Simmons made his name on horror thrillers, but in Darwin's Blade, he shows a knack as well for the high-tech, high-voltage action thriller. Offering an appealing hero and heroine, deadly villains, zippy dialog, and high-tech weaponry and expertise, this is, most of all, a hair-raising adventure to satisfy the most discriminating reader. Heartily recommended for all general collections.--David Keymer, California State Univ., Stanislaus Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Darwin is a specialist in accident reconstruction, but despite the emotional nature of his job his life runs smoothly until his involvement with one accident - an attempt on his life. His probe into a possible conspiracy brings him both romance and danger in this action-packed adventure.

Kirkus Reviews

A smart, wellresearched thriller, heavy on macho accessories like sniper rifles and sports cars, from Hugo Award–winning, genrehopping Simmons (The Crook, 1999, etc.).

From the Publisher

"A literary thriller like no other... The pace of this novel speeds along like the lead car of the Indy 500... DARWIN'S BLADE exemplifies Simmons's skill at delivering novels that are different from anything else in the market today, while still managing to tell a hard-charging, edge-of-the-seat tale."
—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Spellbinding... [A] gripping suspense thriller... A breezy writing style, rollicking humor, and ingenious descriptions of weird accidents make this action-packed thriller a real winner."
—Publishers Weekly

"Alternately hilarious and suspenseful... Simmons is not one to disappoint... [His] readers already know that he will keep them on the edges of their seats; that his gift for descriptive writing will make them feel as if they are right there; and that he will make them feel as if they are old friends (or enemies) with his characters. This time, though, they may be surprised to find themselves laughing out loud while reading this tale... Another tasty treat from Mr. Simmons. Savor it."
—Denver Rocky Mountain News

"Harrowing... Not since J.G. Ballard's Crash have automobile wrecks been so compelling... Simmons throws a light on a whole new murky subculture for thriller fans... [He] has mastered whatever genre he's chosen to write in... With a simple, unadorned style backed up by massive amounts of research, intricate plotting, and well-rounded characters, he isn't hemmed in by formulas."
—San Antonio Express-News

"This is an exciting novel, full of shootouts, computer-aided investigations, duplicity, and humor. The humor... [is] the black kind, common to cops, reporters, and accident investigators--where you laugh to keep from crying."
—Houston Chronicle

"A smart, well-researched thriller."
—Kirkus Reviews

"A born storyteller... Simmons has over the last decade repeatedly shown himself to be one of the most versatile, intelligent, and unpredictable novelists around."
—Locus

"One of America's finest writers... Dan Simmons is, in many ways, the reincarnation of Robert Louis Stevenson."
—Des Moines Sunday Register

"[A] high-tech, high-voltage action thriller. Offering an appealing hero and heroine, deadly villains, zippy dialogue, and high-tech weaponry and expertise, this is, most of all, a hair-raising adventure to satisfy the most discriminating reader."
—Library Journal

"If Donald Westlake, John Irving, and Robert Parker had sat down to collaborate on a novel, DARWIN'S BLADE would have been the aftermath... [Simmons] manages to juggle tragedy and comedy with uncommon skill... This off-beat thriller will have readers wondering whether to laugh or cry in their headlong rush to see how it all ends."
—Denver Post

"A strong, thoroughly intelligent novel-- welcome relief from thrillers that offer nothing more than action scenes strung together... Don't be surprised if you come away from this book with what might appear to be an unhealthy interest in accidents."
—Booklist

Booklist

"A strong, thoroughly intelligent novel-- welcome relief from thrillers that offer nothing more than action scenes strung together... Don't be surprised if you come away from this book with what might appear to be an unhealthy interest in accidents."

Denver Post

"If Donald Westlake, John Irving, and Robert Parker had sat down to collaborate on a novel, DARWIN'S BLADE would have been the aftermath... [Simmons] manages to juggle tragedy and comedy with uncommon skill... This off-beat thriller will have readers wondering whether to laugh or cry in their headlong rush to see how it all ends."

Houston Chronicle

"This is an exciting novel, full of shootouts, computer-aided investigations, duplicity, and humor. The humor... [is] the black kind, common to cops, reporters, and accident investigators--where you laugh to keep from crying."

San Antonio Express-News

"Harrowing... Not since J.G. Ballard's Crash have automobile wrecks been so compelling... Simmons throws a light on a whole new murky subculture for thriller fans... [He] has mastered whatever genre he's chosen to write in... With a simple, unadorned style backed up by massive amounts of research, intricate plotting, and well-rounded characters, he isn't hemmed in by formulas."

Denver Rocky Mountain News

"Alternately hilarious and suspenseful... Simmons is not one to disappoint... [His] readers already know that he will keep them on the edges of their seats; that his gift for descriptive writing will make them feel as if they are right there; and that he will make them feel as if they are old friends (or enemies) with his characters. This time, though, they may be surprised to find themselves laughing out loud while reading this tale... Another tasty treat from Mr. Simmons. Savor it."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"A literary thriller like no other... The pace of this novel speeds along like the lead car of the Indy 500... DARWIN'S BLADE exemplifies Simmons's skill at delivering novels that are different from anything else in the market today, while still managing to tell a hard-charging, edge-of-the-seat tale."

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170234813
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	10/29/2013
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

"A is for Hole"

The Phone Rang a few minutes after four in the morning. "You like accidents, Dar. You owe it to yourself to comesee this one."

"I don't like accidents," said Dar. He did not ask who was calling. He recognized Paul Cameron's voice even though he and Cameron had not been in touch for over a year. Cameron was a CHP officer working out of Palm springs.

"All right, then," said Cameron, "You like puzzles."

Dar swiveled to read his clock. "Not at four-oh-eight A.M.," he said.

"This one's worth it." The connection sounded hollow, as if it were a radio patch or a cell phone.

"Where?"

"Montezuma Valley Road," said Cameron. "Just a mile inside the canyon, where S22 comes out of the hills into the desert."

"Jesus Christ," muttered Dar. "You're talking Borrego Springs. It would take me more than ninety minutes to get there."

"Not if you drive your black car," said Cameron, his chuckle blending with the rasp and static of the poor connection.

"What kind of accident would bring me almost all the way to Borrego Springs before breakfast?" said Dar, sitting up now. "Multiple vehicle?"

"We don't know," said Officer Cameron. His voice still sounded amused.

"What do you mean you don't know? Don't you have anyone at the scene yet?"

"I'm calling from the scene," said Cameron through the static.

"And you can't tell how many vehicles were involved?" Dar found himself wishing that he had a cigarette in the drawer of his bedside table. He had given up smoking ten years earlier, just after the death of hiswife, but he still got the craving at odd times.

"We can't even ascertain beyond a reasonable doubt what kind of vehicle or vehicles was or were involved," said Cameron, his voice taking on that official, strained-syntax, preliterate lilt that cops used when speaking in their official capacity.

"You mean what make?" said Dar. He rubbed his chin, heard the sandpaper scratch there, and shook his head. He had seen plenty of high-speed vehicular accidents where the make and model of the car were not immediately apparent. Especially at night.

"I mean we don't know if this is a car, more than one car, a plane or a fucking UFO crash," said Cameron. "If you don't see this one Darwin, you'll regret it for the rest of your days."

"What do you..." Dar began, and stopped. Cameron had broken the connection. Dar swung his legs over the edge of the bed, looked out at the dark beyond the glass of his tall condo windows, muttered, "Shit," and got up to take a fast shower.

It took him two minutes less than an hour to drive there from San Diego, pushing the Acura NSX hard through the canyon turns, slamming it into high gear on the long straights, and leaving the radar detector in the tiny glove compartment because he assumed that all of the highway patrol cars working S22 would be at the scene of the accident. It was paling toward sunrise as he began the long 6-percent grade, four-thousand-foot descent past Ranchita toward Borrega Springs and the Anza-Borrega Desert.

One of the problems with being an accident reconstruction specialist, Dar was thinking as he shifted the NSX into third and took a decreasing radius turn effortlessly, with only the throaty purr of the exhaust marking the deceleration and then the shift back up to speed, is that almost every mile of every damned highway holds the memory of someone's fatal stupidity. The NSX roared up a low rise in the predawn glow and then growled down the long, twisty descent into the canyon some miles below.

There, thought Dar, glancing quickly at an unremarkable stretch of old single-height guardrail set on wooden posts flashing past on the outside of a tight turn. Right there.

A little more than five years ago, Dar had arrived at that point only thirty-five minutes after a school bus had struck that stretch of old guardrail, scraped along it for more than sixty feet, and plunged over the embankment, rolled three times down the steep, boulder-strewn hillside, and had come to rest on its side, with its shattered roof in the narrow stream below. The bus had been owned by the Desert Springs School District and was returning from an "Eco-Week" overnight camping trip in the mountains, carrying forty-one sixth-grade students and two teachers. When Dar arrived, ambulances and Flight-For-Life helicopters were still carrying off seriously injured children, a mob of rescue workers was handing litters hand over hand up the rocky slope, and yellow plastic tarps covered at least three small bodies on the rocks below. When the final tally came in, six children and one teacher were dead, twenty-four students were seriously injured — including one boy who would be a paraplegic for the rest of his life — and the bus driver received cuts, bruises, and a broken left arm.

Dar was working for the NTS13 then — it was the year before he quit the National Transportation Safety Board to go to work as an independent accident reconstruction specialist. That time the call came to his condo in Palm Springs.

For days after the accident, Dar watched the media coverage of the "terrible tragedy." The L.A. television stations and newspapers had decided early on that the bus driver was a heroine — and their coverage reflected that stance. The driver's postcrash interview and other eyewitness testimony, including that of the teacher who had been sitting directly behind one of the children who had perished, certainly suggested as much. All agreed that the brakes had failed about one mile after the bus began its long, steep descent. The driver, a forty-one-year-old divorced mother of two, had shouted at...

Darwin's Blade. Copyright © by Dan Simmons. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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