The Passengers by John Marrs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I didn't really know what to expect with this except that John Marrs seems to be very popular.

So. Fairly interesting concept. It kinda feels like a hit-job on the electric vehicle market, but whatever, let's roll with this and see where it goes. Driverless vehicles. Hackers. Murder. Sounds okay so far.

But here's where it went wonky with me -- I pretty much hated every single character and felt no sympathy for anyone. By the time the whole book started going in the direction of a reality tv show with voting people off the island, I was having a really really hard time caring at all.

Was the book good for what it was? Sure. If you like this kind of over-the-top soap opera with bigger-than-life characters and a slight (or large) slippage in the character of all humanity, then this is the perfect spectacle for you. It's big, splashy, and it takes away from the murders themselves and becomes a commentary on the fickleness of everyone and how we let just about any bad thing slide if it is in our best interest.

Of course, that sounds better than the experience I had while reading this. *shrug* Again, I just wanted to cry, the way I hated everyone in this. And not even in the Stephen King kind of way where I love to hate the people but it's okay because I know they'll all suffer. It's the reality tv aspect that completely turned me off.

But I'm sure others will love the hell out of this and I recognize that it wasn't bad, so it's not like I'm going to give it a lower rating. This is just a reflection of my own dislike.


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