Anticipation

By Author / Illustrator

Neil Taylor

Genre

Suspense & Thrillers

Age range(s)

14+

Publisher

Neem Tree Press

ISBN

9781915584502

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

08-08-2024

Synopsis

You are being played. Your every move is being watched by businesses hoping to manipulate your behaviour. Every picture, every post, every like, every follow, every purchase, every search.

When 17-year-old Riya Sudame inherits her father's secret AI algorithm, she and a handful of carefully selected Keyholders hold the power to predict people's futures using their online data. But with great power comes great responsibility, and they must safeguard it from falling into the wrong hands.

Enter Jim Booker, a powerful social media tycoon, who will stop at nothing to steal the technology for himself. Soon Riya faces a critical choice. Fighting ruthless tech giants seems like an impossible task - wouldn't it be easier to relinquish her father's creation in exchange for a normal teenage life?

But if she does, she will have to live with the knowledge that she is the reason that, like everyone, you are being played.

Neil Taylor marks his debut in this dark, twisty AI thriller.

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Reviews

Big Tech and high stakes mark this AI-inspired story of a girl inheriting her father's company, and with it, a whole world of trouble. 17-year-old Riya's father has built the Anticipation Machine - 'ART', a game-changing tool with the power to predict people's futures. With only six keyholders able to access the technology and two of the the major players now dead, Riya and this disparate group of hackers, disinterested teenagers and potential traitorous former employees must decide how and when to deploy ART whilst keeping it out of treacherous hands.

There are lots of difficult questions posed by this book about power, morality and responsibility but the anti-Big Tech message is somewhat diluted by the characters' reliance on and attachment to technology and social media. Even the development of ART - a supposedly philanthropic tool - was completely reliant on harvesting personal information and data hacking.

There are quite a lot of big jumps in the storyline but it serves to move the plot along and maintain the pace of the storytelling. Headstrong Riya and seemingly passive sidekick Ivan make an interesting pairing as their world of privilege is swapped for a highly dangerous chase around the world. This book centres on an intriguing idea, lavishly played out with plenty of troubling issues to ponder on long after reading.

304 pages / Reviewed by Clare Wilkins, school librarian