The Boost - Hardcover

Baker, Stephen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0765334372 ISBN 13: 9780765334374

Publisher: Tor Books, 2014

Synopsis

Ralf is a software prodigy. He works in the US government office that updates the software in the population's boosts―networked supercomputers contained in a chip implanted within the brains of 99 percent of the world's population. Invented by Chinese researchers in 2032, the boost is credited with leading humanity to its most significant cognitive leap since the discovery of fire.

Days before a national upgrade, Ralf notices that the update includes an open surveillance gate―meaning that Americans, who had negotiated high levels of privacy with the Chinese manufacturers, will now be subjected to the invasive Chinese standard. Ralf attempts to hack the boost, but is caught by agents working for Washington's preeminent lobbyist. His boost is ripped from his head, and Ralf barely escapes with his life.

Pursued by the lobbyist's mercenary cadre, Ralf flees to the US–Mexico border, where there are others like him―"wild" humans on the fringes of society, unenhanced by technology. It's a frightening and backward world controlled by powerful drug lords. Ralf's only hope is to somehow work with these wild bosses of the analog world―in hopes of winning back freedom in the digital one.

About this title

About the Author

STEPHEN BAKER was born in the Philadelphia area, graduated from the University of Wisconsin, and earned a masters in science from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. For ten years, Baker was a senior technology writer at BusinessWeek. He has also written for The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe. He is the author of two nonfiction books, The Numerati, and Final Jeopardy―Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything.

Reviews

In the not-too-distant future, just before a major update to the network of computer chips, known colloquially as “boosts,” implanted in the brains of most of the world’s population, Ralf, a low-level government employee who also happens to be a bit of a techno-whiz, learns that the Chinese company behind the chips has incorporated into the update a rather frightening security breach, which will allow the Chinese to monitor each and every boost-outfitted person. Before he can blow the whistle, Ralf’s boost is forcibly removed, leaving him unconnected from the network and on the run, hiding out in a community of similarly unconnected people (they’re called “wild”), hoping his brother, a fella with a seriously mysterious lifestyle, can help him survive. This is an exciting story, even if it’s built on a familiar platform. There are plenty of other sf novels involving similar types of implants, but Baker loads this one with enough fresh material that it doesn’t seem like a been-there, done-that affair. Highly recommended to sf and techno-thriller fans. --David Pitt

Edition details

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0765334372
• ISBN 13: 9780765334374
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336