Robert Ludlum's (TM) The Utopia Experiment

by Kyle Mills Narrated by Jeff Woodman

Overview

With U.S. intelligence agencies wracked by internal power struggles and paralyzed by bureaucracy, the president has been forced to establish his own clandestine group--Covert-One. It's activated only as a last resort, when the threat is on a global scale and time is running out.The Utopia Experiment When Dresner Industries unveils the Merge, a device that is destined to revolutionize the world and make the personal computer and smartphone obsolete, Covert-One operative Colonel Jon Smith is assigned to assess its military potential. He discovers that enhanced vision, real-time battlefield displays, unbreakable security, and near-perfect marksmanship are only the beginning of a technology that will change the face of warfare forever--and one that must be kept out of the hands of America's enemies at all costs.

Meanwhile, in the mountains of Afghanistan, CIA operative Randi Russell encounters an entire village of murdered Afghans--all equipped with enhanced Merge technology that even the Agency didn't know existed. As Smith and Russell delve into the circumstances surrounding the Afghans' deaths, they're quickly blocked by someone who seems to have access to the highest levels of the military--a person that even the president knows nothing about.

Is the Merge really as secure as its creator claims? And what secrets about its development is the Pentagon so desperate to hide? Smith and Russell are determined to learn the truth. But they may pay for it with their lives . . .

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

The 10th installment in this thriller series about a super-secret government agency is easily the best yet. Mills, who authored the eighth entry, The Ares Decision, succeeds in melding science-fiction, espionage, and action to create an intelligent page-turner. Covert-One operative Lieutenant Colonel Jon Smith, a microbiologist, is on hand in Las Vegas when tech genius Christian Dresner unveils Merge, a sort of Google Glass on steroids that has extraordinary military potential. Merge links directly to the wearer's brain, but, more disturbingly, it uses all the online data in can get to code the people the wearer observes as either good or bad. To very few readers' surprise, Dresner's motives in creating Merge-and offering the US exclusive rights to the military application-aren't pure, setting up another opportunity for Smith and his allies to save the day. Mills's projections of where current technology and the future of privacy may be heading are both chilling and plausible. (Apr.)

People on The Altman Code

"Packed with all the classic Ludlum elements . . . the intricately engineered plot thunders forward at breakneck pace. Bottom line: Perfectly executed."

Booklist on The Arctic Event

"Fast-paced, exciting . . . a winner."

Booklist on The Ares Decision

"A tight and tense pageturner."

Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star on The Ares Decision

"Fast-paced and action-filled, with iconic characters and contemporary themes . . . Fans of Ludlum . . . thrillers will find The Ares Decision right on target."

Fredericksberg Free-Lance Star

"Ludlum fans will enjoy the familiar frantic pace and dramat ic shifts in plot they have come to expect from this series."

Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

"Fast-paced and action-filled, with iconic characters and contemporary themes . . . Fans of Ludlum . . . thrillers will find The Ares Decision right on target."

Booklist

"Fast-paced, exciting . . . a winner."

People

"Packed with all the classic Ludlum elements . . . the intricately engineered plot thunders forward at breakneck pace. Bottom line: Perfectly executed."

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170233823
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	03/26/2013
Series:	Covert-One Series , #10
Edition description:	Unabridged

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