Centered on advanced AI and the mysteries of consciousness, Harwin’s debut, the kickoff to a tech-thriller series with an SF edge, hits the ground running. William Ell, a professor of mathematics, arrives in Hamburg after the murder of his father, the genius founder of the tech company CyberSim, who had been endeavoring to develop a terrifyingly advanced computer. Ell receives an envelope packed with enticing clues: his grandfather’s gold pocket watch, a mysterious codebook, and a large green diamond with unique, even baffling properties. Just as intriguing is the arrival of Chang Feng Zhao, an appraiser from a London auction house, eager to acquire the stone.

Harwin combines a tense chase—Ell doesn’t know who to trust—with convincingly detailed speculative science as Ell discovers his father’s legacy. These events have drawn the attention of a mysterious, apparently malevolent intelligence, and soon Ell and Feng are on the run, first to CyberSim’s secret Arizona compound, desperate not just to survive but to crack the departed Ell’s secrets—and possibly save humanity’s future. Despite the occasional lecture or unexpected flash-forward, the pacing is quick and the storytelling accessible, thanks to crisp prose, the satisfying teasing of mysteries, and characters with more life to them than the genre usually demands.

That’s especially true of the jittery Trina, who gives Ell and Feng a tour of the compound and has a terrifying vision of Allison, from the Department of Defense, who’s determined to get the stone—and whose mind seems capable of more than the human norm. The adventure circles the globe, the stakes continually escalating, with steady jolts of surprise keeping the pages turning. The length edges toward the epic, with many international parties to keep track of, but the ending is satisfying, and fans of the genre will find much that’s appealing and unexpected. That’s especially true of Harwin’s setup for a sequel, which promises an even wilder science-fiction conspiracy.

Takeaway: The chase is on in this clever tech thriller of murder, AI, and humanity’s future.

Great for fans of: Tom Chatfield’s The Gomorrah Gambit, Douglas E. Richards’s Infinity Born.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A