Search - Deep State

Dagmar Shaw is back.
This sequel to This Is Not a Game has Dagmar and her team from Great Big Idea playing a very high stakes game - the fate of a nation, life and death. And it all sounds eerily familiar to folks who have watched the news since January 2011 (Arab Spring anyone?).

Walter Jon Williams has cooked up an interesting story about Dagmar's moving from fictional alternate reality games (ARGs) to pulling the strings of a revolution in Turkey. There, the stakes get higher and the penalties more dangerous as she and her team work to over throw a military government.

Did I like it? Yes. It wasn't as striking and novel as This Is Not a Game, but Dagmar is back and action, running ARGs and putting tasks to the group mind all over again. And saving the world. Can't forget that. Unlike This Is Not a Game, it has more elements of espionage and intrigue, all but eliminating the gaming piece. Its also technologically plausible as well.

I give it four stars, but I wonder if Williams has ridden this horse as far as it can go.

Suggested for: Fans of technothrillers and near future novels like Halting State, Daemon, Freedom and This Is Not a Game. Also for fans of Walter Jon Williams.