Sleeper Protocol

Disclaimer: I received a pre-release copy of this book in return for a review.

The blurb for this book drew me in and so I was looking forward to reading the book. Right from the start the book gripped me and I finished it in two sessions (a man needs to sleep!)

Told in a mixture of first person from the protagonist, and third person from the other major characters, I really enjoyed this book. There was a slight immersion jarring rip from the world the book is portraying back to this one with a dismal feeling that the book was going to descend into some wacky conspiracy theory rubbish when the Greys were introduced but happily this didn't turn out to be the case.

I'm hesitant to write too much about the plot and progression, because what you read in the book's description doesn't begin to cover how the story plays out, so fairly difficult to talk spoiler free. Suffice to say, for the most part, it is (to me) believable as could happen in the future (without being “impossible” or maxxed out sci-fi), and the fact that everyone has a (not always perceivable) agenda gives depth to the different characters and their own development and motivation.

As I read through the book the story progressed nicely and parts of it remained opaque until the end, rather than realizing everything that's going to happen before it happens. It would have been nice to know a little more about current events outside the core story arc, but then again, from the point of view of the protagonist, how is he to know.

The ending-before-the-ending was a little surprising, but it worked itself out. The final chapter made me giggle a little when I read a listing of unix/linux? commands, which was perhaps not the authors intention but the geek in me broke out.

I really hope this book does well, as the ending clearly hints of things to come, and I hope Kevin will write further stories in this interesting world he's building. I also need to check out his existing books as I haven't read any of his works before.