Utopia
Fasten your seat belts–the white-knuckle thrills at Utopia, the world’s most fantastic theme park, escalate to nightmare proportions in this intricately imagined techno-thriller by New York Times bestselling author Lincoln Child.
Rising out of the stony canyons of Nevada, Utopia is a world on the cutting edge of technology. A theme park attracting 65,000 visitors each day, its dazzling array of robots and futuristic holograms make it a worldwide sensation. But ominous mishaps are beginning to disrupt the once flawless technology. A friendly robot goes haywire, causing panic, and a popular roller coaster malfunctions, nearly killing a teenaged rider. Dr. Andrew Warne, the brilliant computer engineer who designed much of the park’s robotics, is summoned from the East Coast to get things back on track.
On the day Warne arrives, however, Utopia is caught in the grip of something far more sinister. A group of ruthless criminals has infiltrated the park’s computerized infrastructure, giving them complete access to all of Utopia’s attractions and systems. Their communication begins with a simple and dire warning: If their demands are met, none of the 65,000 people in the park that day will ever know they were there; if not, chaos will descend, and every man, woman, and child will become a target. As one of the brains behind Utopia, Warne finds himself thrust into a role he never imagined–trying to save the lives of thousands of innocent people. And as the minutes tick away, Warne’s struggle to outsmart his opponents grows ever more urgent, for his only daughter is among the unsuspecting crowds in the park.
Lincoln Child evokes the technological wonders of Utopia with such skill and precision it is hard to believe the park exists only in the pages of this extraordinary book. Like Jurassic Park, Utopia sweeps readers into a make-believe world of riveting suspense, technology, and adventure.
UTOPIA -- Where technology dazzles–and then turns deadly!
From the Hardcover edition.
Good entertainment
I have been a fan of Lincoln Child for many years through his collaboration with Douglas Preston. Utopia is an interesting story with decent character development and very interesting plot. I found the ending a little rushed, but still entertaining.
200 pages too long!
Bottom line: This is a below average novel that quickly becomes tedious because the narrative is mostly fluff. This book could have been much more enjoyable if 200 pages of useless descriptions were removed. Note to the author, it is ok to let the readers use their imagination.
Pros: interesting and ruthless villains; cool concept for a future theme park in Nevada near Las Vegas (I'd go).
Cons: overly wordy by 200 pages; weak and uninteresting protagonists; cheap imitation of R2-D2 type robot.
Alternative Lincoln Child book: Try "Deepstorm"; it is much more interesting and fun to read.
One question
While this is a fun complex mystery that meets one's needs for the development of human relationships, it asks significant questions. In this 'universe' robots are well developed. And the humans who work in the universe are robotized. So one question for contemporary society lies in whether personnel should be trained to the checklist, robotized to fit in a robotic environment? And another question asks the scientist whether robots and artificial intelligence actually learns from experience? So this leaves us with a book appealing to the romantics and humanists that keeps the interest of the adventurers and challenges the anthropologists.
Utopia
Action packed, good read. Kept you guessing . Lots of twists and turns. Would make a great movie.
This is a Dark Ride
This is an excellent thriller written by a master of the craft. Child sets the stage in a high-tech theme park, controlled by sophisticated computers so that nothing can possibly go wrong *click* ... go wrong *click* ... go wrong ...
Of course, things do go horribly wrong. Others reviewers have covered the plot sufficiently. So I'll just say that it's a thrill-a-minute ride.
Child sets the story up like a clockwork machine. No blind alleys, no red herrings, no wasted scenes. Things that are discussed in scenes early in the book turn up again at the end, and I found myself thinking, "Ah... of course..." several times.
This is one of the best crafted thrillers I've ever read. I had one quibble about some techno-babble that I couldn't quite buy into. But that was a minor point, and didn't really detract from my enjoyment. (I'm an "Elder Geek", so I'm used to snorting and saying "Yeah, right!" when books, movies and TV shows try to get technical.)
I highly recommend this book.
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It takes a lot of chutzpah to give your novel the same title as one of the most famous novels in the history of English-language literature, even if the original novel didn't spawn a literary field or two (utopian and dystopian fiction) or become an everyday term for the perfect place to live on Earth. Yet there's a postmodern appropriateness to applying the title Utopia to a novel set in a theme park that uses cutting-edge technology to create Earth's most desirable fantasy place to visit. Like Westworld and Jurassic Park, Lincoln Child's Utopia is a near-future theme-park thriller, and like Michael Crichton, Child delivers an abundance of white-knuckle thrills, chills, and shocks.
Despite its remote location in the Nevada desert, the Utopia theme park receives 65,000 visitors daily. They never dream their lives may be in any real danger. However, some of the self-programming robots are becoming erratic, so park administrators quietly bring the robots' brilliant creator from the East Coast to fix the problem before it gets any worse. Dr. Andrew Warne brings his daughter, for he doesn't believe there is anything wrong with his creations. But on the day of their arrival, a mysterious band of ruthless criminals infiltrates not only the park, but its computerized systems. The unknown terrorists appear to control everything, from the simplest robot to the most dangerous ride. And if their demands aren't met, thousands of innocent park-goers will be killed. --Cynthia Ward
Product Description:
Fasten your seat belts–the white-knuckle thrills at Utopia, the world’s most fantastic theme park, escalate to nightmare proportions in this intricately imagined techno-thriller by New York Times bestselling author Lincoln Child.
Rising out of the stony canyons of Nevada, Utopia is a world on the cutting edge of technology. A theme park attracting 65,000 visitors each day, its dazzling array of robots and futuristic holograms make it a worldwide sensation. But ominous mishaps are beginning to disrupt the once flawless technology. A friendly robot goes haywire, causing panic, and a popular roller coaster malfunctions, nearly killing a teenaged rider. Dr. Andrew Warne, the brilliant computer engineer who designed much of the park’s robotics, is summoned from the East Coast to get things back on track.
On the day Warne arrives, however, Utopia is caught in the grip of something far more sinister. A group of ruthless criminals has infiltrated the park’s computerized infrastructure, giving them complete access to all of Utopia’s attractions and systems. Their communication begins with a simple and dire warning: If their demands are met, none of the 65,000 people in the park that day will ever know they were there; if not, chaos will descend, and every man, woman, and child will become a target. As one of the brains behind Utopia, Warne finds himself thrust into a role he never imagined–trying to save the lives of thousands of innocent people. And as the minutes tick away, Warne’s struggle to outsmart his opponents grows ever more urgent, for his only daughter is among the unsuspecting crowds in the park.
Lincoln Child evokes the technological wonders of Utopia with such skill and precision it is hard to believe the park exists only in the pages of this extraordinary book. Like Jurassic Park, Utopia sweeps readers into a make-believe world of riveting suspense, technology, and adventure.
UTOPIA -- Where technology dazzles–and then turns deadly!
From the Hardcover edition.
ISBN: 0345455207
Number Of Pages: 464
Release Date: 2003-12-02
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