Wow. This book was the equivalent of a summer blockbuster movie - pure entertainment that will keep you on the edge of your seat and give you plenty to talk about over dinner after! You need a friend or a few to read this one at the same time.

Synopsis: 8 passengers each get into their driverless cars to head to their destinations one morning only to find they aren’t going where they planned. The vehicles have been hacked into and set on a fatal collision course. The public and a group of jurors are asked to decide who will live and who will die.

This was an intense and enjoyable read that brings up a lot of interesting discussion points around our reliance on technology and the risks of automation and having our lives online. It took me a little while at the beginning to get into it - it’s a lot of characters to meet and get interested in at the start - but worth it!

While this is definitely a standalone, I also really appreciated all the references to The One - another John Marrs novel that I read earlier this year.

I would recommend this if you’re looking for a quick fun ride of a read!

CW: suicide of a family member, abuse

Thank you very much to Berkley and Netgalley for the advance reading copy. Available now!

Driverless cars have taken to the streets in Britain, with a plan for all cars to go driverless in the next few years. Until one day when 8 cars, all driverless, and all carrying passengers, are taken over by a hacker. The jury meant to decide fault in driverless car accidents is wrapped up in the middle of the hacking and forced to decide which passengers should live, and which should die.

Holy crap. This book. Driverless cars are definitely a scary reality right now, as as we know with technology, nothing is truly unhackable. This book had me on the edge of my seat wondering who was going to live, who would die, and how this entire situation would end up. I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to netgalley and berkley for allowing me to read and review this book in advance!

One of the fascinating things about The Passengers is the way that it starts out by seeming to expose the so-called evils of artificial intelligence, only to turn the whole thing around and end up exposing the very definite evils of human beings.

While taking the reader, just like the titular passengers, on an edge-of-your-seat, can’t-stop-watching thrill ride every mile (and page) of the way.

Of course, the reader can at least take a bathroom break – admittedly while carrying the book with them – while those passengers are locked into their supposedly self-driving cars for the entire 2.5 hour journey – except for the ones who die along the way.

I say supposedly self-driving because in this particular scenario, they really aren’t. Not that there is someone sitting behind the wheel, but there is certainly someone, or a whole bunch of someones, hiding behind their computer screens and directing all of the action. An action with a very definite purpose even if it’s not the one that everyone watching – and EVERYONE is definitely watching – believes that there is.

At first, this seems like a story about technology run amok. Driver-less cars have been mandated by the government and they seem like a mostly unquestioned good with very little downside.

But just as every cloud has a silver lining, every silver lining also has a cloud.

Libby Dixon is part of that cloud. Both in that she has grave doubts about the degree to which “Big Brother” is watching everyone in general and specific doubts about the supposed wonderfulness of driver-less cars in specific.

She’s still traumatized by an accident she witnessed, where a driver-less car protected its passenger by mowing down a mother, grandmother and baby in the street rather than crash into empty parked cars by the side of the road. Libby is just certain there was another choice – a choice that a human driver would have made that a soulless machine did not. Or could not. Or was programmed not to.

In spite of her skepticism about the efficacy of driver-less cars, she’s been summoned to serve on the secret jury that determines whether, in the case of one of the supposedly rare accidents involving one of those supposedly safe driver-less cars, the AI driving the car was at fault – or whether the fault rests with the humans who seem to have gotten in its way.

The jury seems to always decide in favor of the AI. After one day on the jury, Libby is all too aware that the decisions are not based on any facts, but on the ability of the politician in charge of this farce to cow or bully any dissenting voices in the small group.

And then the Hacker Collective steps in, taking over what initially appears to be a random selection of 8 driver-less cars occupied by frantic passengers, hijacking them onto a one-way trip to an unknown destination – where they will crash – and burn.

As the entire world watches, the darkest secrets of those 8 passengers as well as the members of the formerly secret jury are laid bare, live and in real time, as the Hacker Collective plays with everyone’s emotions and the world watches from every news station and social media outlet on the planet.

In the end, a hero emerges – and a villain. Only the dead are silent.

But what was it all for?

Escape Rating A+: First of all, the thing about science fiction (and fantasy, for that matter) is that no matter what we say we’re talking about, whether elves or aliens or androids, we’re always really talking about people. Because that’s all we really know.

And that’s a big part of what happens in this book. Both in the sense that the viewing, listening and tweeting mass audience identifies with those human passengers and not the cars that seem to be driving them, but also in the sense that it’s not and never has been the AI that driving those cars – but rather the humans who created and programmed that AI.

And the humans who exploited that programming. We have met the enemy, and it’s not artificial intelligence or robots or androids, it’s always us.

There are, in fact, at least two sets of villains in this piece – or really three. The third is the mob mentality that drives so many of those people watching, listening and tweeting. They are all hiding behind the anonymity of their screens and keyboards, making just the kind of disgusting comments that have become part of 21st century life. And while I could say that it’s just that this time there are actual lives in the balance, there are always lives in the balance. Maybe not people who will die in an exploding car because of those inhumane comments, but certainly people whose lives and livelihoods and self-esteem and careers and relationships are exploded because the ones hiding behind the keyboards feel like they can divorce themselves from the results of their actions and their hateful commentary.

The second villain is the obvious one, the Hacker Collective that has set the immediate events of the story in motion. They have kidnapped 8 seemingly innocent people and sent them on a collision course with death. That those 8 people are not, in fact, innocent is all part of the story. And it’s the story that is playing out in the international media.

Underneath the obvious crime, is the one that the Hacker Collective wants to expose. And it’s not the crimes that those supposedly innocent people have actually committed – although that’s certainly considered a benefit by the faceless group.

It’s a crime that feels both climactic and anti-climactic at the same time. The way it is exposed is very definitely climactic, but the nature of it is anticlimactic and shocking in its anticlimax. We’re not surprised at the rot that is at the heart of it all. Only that the Collective had to go to that much deadly trouble to expose it.

But watching it all play out is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat from the seemingly innocent beginning to the destructive conclusion, until you fall off that edge in shock – and relief that it wasn’t real. Or isn’t real – yet.

When I was approached about reviewing The Passengers, I was hooked before even reading a single sentence: comparisons to ’70s disaster flicks, Agatha Christie, and Speed, all rolled into one book. How could I possibly say no? As it turns out, this fiercely addictive novel was all that and then some.

In the near future, driverless cars have become the norm, with differing levels based on the amount of autonomy the vehicle has. One day, eight Londoners (including an aging television star, an abused woman hoping to finally flee her husband, and a husband and wife) begin their morning like any other…only they quickly learn their self-driving cars are no longer under their control. A mysterious hacker has taken over and announces that within two hours the passengers will die. The real kicker? The cars’ cameras are being broadcast worldwide – and the hacker wants the viewers to choose the sole survivor.

I am a reader who loves a bursting-to-the-seams cast of characters – and that’s certainly the case with The Passengers. Not only do the chapters alternate between every single passenger, but also a woman serving as the lone civilian on a Vehicle Inquest Jury that determines who’s at fault regarding car accidents. (Spoiler: it’s never the car’s fault.) Libby was a fascinating character: she’s staunchly against self-driving cars and practically all technology for that matter. She’s experienced firsthand the destruction these cars can cause and she’s determined to fight for the people, despite the jury’s attempts to intimidate and outright bully her. It’s during a jury meeting that the hacker first makes contact and it’s clear he (?) knows far more about the members of the panel than anyone should.

As the story progresses and the characters begin to realize something is capital w Wrong, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. If you were like me and millions of others who read Lord of the Flies in school, you won’t be at all surprised when these adults begin fearing for their lives and acting out in ways they normally wouldn’t. Only one passenger will get to live and it’s up to the viewers to decide who’s worthy. Because of that, awful, dark secrets get out: blackmail, a double-life (including an entire second family), a dead spouse in the trunk of the car, covering up another spouses’s pedophilia. Naturally there’s more to those secrets, but the hacker only reveals the bare bones. It’s what’s hidden under the surface that was truly gripping and really made me think.

Dotted with news tickers, chat logs, and articles, the chapters flew by, particularly once things really got into gear and the action ramped up. Labor Day weekend heralds the end of summer and The Passengers is the perfect final beach read: it was intense and engaging and I tore through the pages, desperate to know what was going to happen next! I’m shocked I had never read anything by Marrs before – or had even heard of him prior to this novel! He has an impressive backlist that I will for sure be scrambling to get.

This book had me literally hooked from the very start. Imagine living in a world wher the advancement of technology allows the public to be “passengers” in their very own, self-riving car. I mean, to me it is terrifying! Would you be able to trust a self-driving car to get you where you needed to go? It would certainly have it’s advantages, allowing you to focus on other things while being driven to your destination.. but would it be 100% safe?

This book had me gasping and I turned the page to see what would happen next. Imagine being one of the 8 passengers trapped in their self-driving cars, and being told they were going to die and the whole world was watching their ordeal. Imagine still being the public, watching all of this tragedy as it unfolds on all the tv and news channels, wishing you could help or do something, but knowing there was nothing you could do and that you were helplessly watching the terror unfold live. And more than that, imagine being one of the people trapped in the viewing room, and having to be the ones to decide who will die first, and the impossible decision of who to save.

Captivating chapter after chapter, this novel will have readers biting their nails and sitting on the edges of their seat as they read along to the very shocking ending!

Imagine The Purge, Twelve Angry Men, and Black Mirror all tied up into one book - and that's what you get in this thrilling novel about when autonomous vehicles go absolutely wrong.

This book was a deeply dark, thrilling ride from start to finish. I devoured the novel and simply could not put it down - the way Marrs draws out the suspense, makes you love and hate each person involved, and constructs this whole twisted game is wicked and addicting. At some points, The Passengers was so dark and upsetting that I was close to putting it down - it is not for the light of heart. The similarities between this book and The Chain, my other favorite thriller from this summer, are many, both particularly focusing on the chilling notion that there is way, way more about you out on the Internet than you think or ever want to know. I saw this book as the best-written and executed episode of Black Mirror that never was, as it achieves the outcomes that Black Mirror so often tries to: a) distrust and fear of the dark side of technology, b) a realization that humans are much worse than you think, and b) the nasty and salacious nature of the public as a greedy, depraved animal.

Marrs presents a total tour de force of (almost) horror, a political thriller, and suspense wrapped into one high-voltage package. Highly, highly recommend. Huge thank you to Berkley & Netgalley for the ARC!

Self driving cars are about to become the norm in England and the government has taken measures to have self driving cars make the best decisions for its occupants. Until one day when someone is able to hack into the system and takes hostage an assortment of passengers and those who thought they were in charge must make some decisions.

This felt on the cusp of a dystopian, but also close to real life and I loved it for this. I loved how this could be reality in no time and how we all need to question the technology that we allow into our lives and how much it knows. This book made me question how much my technology knows about me and my patterns and can possibly predict things about me! I don't know that I could do do a self driving car, the lack of control of a vehicle wouldn't work for me!

The other lesson that was interesting was who gets to make decisions - should those who decide be only ones in power or have money, technology or fate. This book had a great debate about decision making and I really enjoyed thinking about that after the book.

The twists were fantastic and perfectly timed. I loved how the clues were revealed at just the right time and even in the end a twist and a turn to make you question it all!

I loved this book and would love to read more of its kind!

Here I am once again, standing apart with my unpopular opinion.

This book's premise is unnerving. Already, we're not that far removed from a world with self-driving cars and computers that do the thinking for us, so it's all too easy to see this scenario playing out.

Unfortunately, the technological realism is offset by the number of unexplained and improbable coincidences necessary to move the plot forward. For one, Libby's prominent role is unlikely at best. And, beyond that, of all the people in the city, why those specific passengers? Even more confounding to me was how specific events magically came together when no one, regardless of knowledge and planning, could have possibly predicted or forced the timing. Too much of the story relies on coincidence and happenstance, even though it's supposed to be a detailed, coordinated master plan.

The story's execution offers a strong political and social statement at the expense of a cohesive plot with strong characters. If you read this story for the action and message, without looking closely at the why and how, then you'll probably be among those readers who loved it.

Self-driving cars have become the norm in the UK. People no longer drive themselves anywhere, but instead have learned to trust a safer alternative. Or so they think…

Eight people find themselves trapped inside their cars. There is no way out. A mysterious voice informs them that they no longer have control of their cars and their destiny is in the hands of a small jury. They are travelling to a pre-programmed destination where their cars will collide. The cameras inside their cars and the room of the sequestered jury are being broadcast across the world. As social media takes hold the question of the fate of the passengers changes from who should the jury save to who should they let die first.

John Marrs is an absolute mastermind for coming up with unique, yet plausible futuristic thriller/crime fiction concepts. I first fell in love with Marrs’ writing last year when I read THE ONE, which gave me massive Black Mirror vibes and THE PASSENGERS is proof that this concept is completely translatable to literature. I felt like I was watching a TV show as I was frantically flipping through this book.

Marrs kickstarts THE PASSENGERS by giving the reader a first-hand look into the situation of being trapped in an automated car through the eyes of several victims. Each person comes from a different background and appears to have something they are hiding. There are immediately hints from each narrator that they have done something or participated in something they don’t want others to know about. Several even believe that their actions might have led them to this terrifying fate. I loved getting in the head of each of these people!

The reader is also introduced to an interesting group of people that work together as a jury deciding on the guilt associated with accidents involving automated cars. They are now the jury of who will live or die. There are so many secrets and lies coming out at this point that it’s almost hard to keep up with. I was swept away with the dramatics in the history of the characters, as well as the current situation. I should clarify, however, that even though I am referring to dramatics, there is nothing cheesy about the content. The plot is absolutely solid throughout THE PASSENGERS and each time Marrs chooses to throw a twist at the reader you won’t see it coming!

THE PASSENGERS is an excellent addition to the TBR of any reader looking for a brilliantly intricate and captivating story! There is so much within this book to attract a wide range of audiences. You have everything from a fascinating premise, to compelling characters with interesting backstories, to tension from the situation, to interesting snippets from social media sources, to so much more!

Disclosure: Thank you to Berkley for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Unputdownable! I loved this book. Fast paced with twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. I’m a John Marrs believer! Anyone that doesn’t think this is our future is wrong.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

This was really good! I have never read anything by John Marrs before picking up this book but I thought it sounded good so I decided to take a chance. I loved the idea behind the story and was pretty excited to start reading. I found this book to be really exciting and I loved the fact that it was able to keep me guessing. I definitely found this one to be quite an enjoyable page-turner.

This story is set a few years in the future where driverless cars are not only the norm but they will soon be the only cars allowed on the road. These cars are reported to be safer and have cut down on traffic and travel times. It seems perfect. Too perfect. Of course, these cars are also reported to be completely secure and safe from hackers. That is until they are hacked.

Eight different people find themselves locked in their cars unable to control them. They are told that they will die in a couple of hours. Their plight is broadcast around the world through social media and news stations. At the same time, a group that is tasked with looking into accidents involving these cars are together and thrust in the spotlight as they are forced to make impossible decisions.

Each of the eight passengers had their own story. We didn't always get all of the pieces to tell their complete story right away and I really liked how I never knew who should be trusted and what was real. The characters were quite varied and they all had very interesting stories. I will say that I didn't really feel any kind of connection to any of the characters. I felt like the book only focused on each character for a very short time and it was somewhat difficult to really feel too much for any of them.

This story was really exciting with a whole lot of surprises. Often, I would think that I had something figured out only to learn a few pages later that I was wrong. I love a book that can keep me guessing and this one certainly was able to do that. I liked that the book was fast-paced and the short chapters really seemed to help keep things moving.

I would recommend this book to others. I think that thriller fans that appreciate unexpected twists and turns will enjoy this one. I would not hesitate to read more of John Marrs work!

I received a review copy of this book from Berkley Publishing Group.

Well I didn't love this as much as The One, but it was certainly a clever, nail-biting read. Marrs mixes eerily realistic technology-driven (ha ha—driven) science fiction with interesting moral questions with a gift for plotting and drawing a multitude of characters with only brief sketches. The number of plot twists in this one... phew. I really can't say too much for fear of giving away an epic read, but it is something else. I was well on the way to 4 stars except a few elements of the ending felt a bit abrupt and convenient for my taste (while others worked very well), so I enjoyed the journey a lot more than the destination. Still, it's one hell of a journey that I can only recommend. Buckle up!

John Marrs is officially one of my favorite authors! I have read his books before and LOVED them, but it was before I had a blog or a bookstagram and if I’m honest, I should go back and feature those books I’ve read because they deserve to join the echelon of books I’ve promoted. His books are so fascinating—truly they have completely unique storylines and execution. This one was SO outstanding and different that I can’t wait to share it with other readers!

About the Book

It was supposed to be safer…

In the U.K. legislation is in effect mandating that all cars on the road are required to be fully self-driving. These level 5 vehicles use high-speed data processing to avoid accidents, reduce traffic, and save human lives. They also don’t have a manual override for the driver. In a country where all people are now passengers rather than drivers, the benefits are huge.

It was supposed to save lives…

It was a typical morning. People left their houses, got in their vehicles, programmed their destinations, and set off for the day. But when eight passengers in eight different vehicles see their destination reprogrammed before their eyes, their car locked down, and no cell service, they realize something went horribly wrong. And then the hacker begins to speak.

In two and half hours, all eight of them will be dead…

Meanwhile mental health worker Libby is pulled for a sort of jury duty. A secret committee meets monthly to review deaths involving self-driving vehicles and determine who is at fault. One member of the public is randomly pulled to serve on the committee. But on the second day of the committee review, something different happens. Eight vehicles have been hijacked by a remote hacker, and the events inside of those vehicles are being broadcast across the globe.

The secret jury now becomes public…

In the midst of the attack, Libby and the other jury members find themselves broadcast alongside the eight passengers, and they’ll have a very important role to play. One passenger will be saved, and it will be up to them to choose who lives and who dies while the world is watching.

Reflection

The premise of this book feels at once futuristic and terrifyingly realistic. It isn’t too far of a stretch to imagine a time in the future where self-driving vehicles are the norm. And the truth is, they are much safer is so many ways. When well-designed they make way less error than a human driver and are much more precise. That is what makes the events of this book so suspenseful and horrifying. Because when the person in the car has no control over the vehicle, they can’t stop this from unfolding.

I thought each of the eight passengers were so interesting, and I really connected with Libby. These are normal people, with families, friends, reasons to live, and reasons someone could say they shouldn’t be saved. The psychology of this book was executed to perfection! How do you decide who to save? What makes a life worth saving versus dying? What if you aren’t given the chance to truly advocate for yourself? And if you do advocate for yourself, how will you go on living knowing that for you to be saved, seven others had to die?

Thought-provoking is an understatement!

John Marrs peppered the book with multi-media excerpts—news stories, legislation, tweets, social media posts. This leant a real-time feel to the book that made the suspense ratchet up to full intensity! I thought these were clever, engaging, and really punctuated key moments in the story. As things unfolded on the pages, we would see the public reaction as they watched it live.

There are so many twists—both big and small—that keep this book moving at break neck pace. I was so engrossed in the story that I almost missed my train stop one day because I lost touch of where I was. I truly felt like I was with Libby in that war room, watching the horrifying events unfold on screen. Two twists in particular were so good that I reread them several times so try to process what they meant!

I won’t say more in fear of spoiling anything. Do not skip this one!

Thank you Berkley for my copy. Opinions are my own.

The nitty-gritty: A thrilling, fast-paced beginning lost steam for me near the end, but up until about the three-quarter mark I really had a lot of fun with this book.

I enjoyed the hell out of this book—up to a point. And then things really started to go wrong for me. It’s almost as if The Passengers itself was one of the self driving cars in the story: heading down a road toward an inevitable and violent disaster. I thought the first three-quarters of the book was a bunch of fun, which is why it’s getting three-and-a-half stars from me, and Marrs certainly knows how to keep a reader flipping pages as fast as they can. But ultimately, the story ended with a fizzle rather than a bang, although I’m still recommending it because I really enjoyed the journey, if not the destination.

The set-up is an interesting one. The action takes place in the UK, where we’re introduced to several characters just going about the business of starting their day. In each case, the character gets into their self-driving car, but minutes after they take off, the car is taken over by an unidentified person, who informs each rider that in a matter of hours, they will most likely be dead. The cars of these unlucky people are no longer under their control, and according to the mysterious voice, they are all heading towards each other and their journeys will end in a fiery collision. Claire is a pregnant woman who is on a secret and terrible mission. Sofia is a famous but aging actress who is trying her best to stay relevant. When her car is hijacked, she thinks it’s a prank and that her agent has finally got her on the show she’s been dreaming of, Celebs Against the Odds. Sam and Heidi are a married couple who are both keeping huge secrets from each other, and just happen to be in separate cars that day. And Shabana is a Muslim wife and mother who is desperately trying to get away from her cruel and controlling husband.

Elsewhere in Birmingham, Libby Dixon is headed toward the second day of a week long, mandatory jury duty, where she and a panel of five other jurors will decide who is to blame for a fatal accident involving a self driving car. Libby hates self driving cars after witnessing the deaths of three innocent people who were killed when one chose not to stop for them as they crossed the street. But soon after the proceedings begin, the same mystery person, now called the Hacker, breaks into the computer/video systems in the courtroom and informs the jurors that they now hold the fate of the Passengers—the eight people who have had their cars hijacked—in their hands. In two and a half hours, all eight cars will collide. The Hacker has some tricks up his sleeve, however, and begins a cruel game with the jurors that involves them having to decide which Passengers to sacrifice and which to save. As he slowly reveals shocking secrets about each Passenger, Libby and her fellow jurors are forced to make some terrible decisions.

Let’s start with what I loved. My favorite part of this book, by far, was the way Marrs created backstories for each character. As the cars are barreling towards their imminent demise, the Hacker reveals a secret about each Passenger. This was a great way to get you to care (or not care) about each one, knowing that each secret could alter their chances of living or dying. Granted, some of the secrets are completely bonkers and over-the-top, so in some ways it was like watching a soap opera, as each character seemed to have a more sensational secret than the last. But hey, people are addicted to soap operas, and there’s a reason for that!

I also enjoyed the mounting tension as the cars get closer and closer to their destination. Marrs also throws in some interesting commentary about the far reaching influence of social media and mob mentality, as he starts each chapter with some sort of Twitter poll, tweet or internet news report. I think part of what was so disturbing about this scenario is that people will change their opinions based on what the masses are doing and saying, and I thought adding this to the story was very effective.

I started to have problems on page 314 of the ARC, when Marrs throws in a big twist and then proceeds to go off on a tangent that I was not expecting, and quite frankly, did not enjoy that much. In the aftermath of the Hacker’s shenanigans, the author explains what happens to all the characters who survived, several years after the event. It was almost like taking the wind out of the sails after such a thrilling story filled with juicy secrets, and it nearly ruined the entire book for me. Libby’s story in particular was sort of ridiculous, which is too bad since it really changed the way I felt about her character. For obvious reasons I can’t tell you what happened, but let’s just say that Marrs tries to explain why the Hacker did what he did, but the story is so convoluted that it only left me scratching my head in confusion.

But for some good old fashioned fun, The Passengers is definitely worth reading. It’s not perfect, but I guarantee you’ll get plenty of entertainment value from it, at least up to a point.

Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.

A pregnant teacher, a woman fleeing her abusive husband, an aging actress, a couple planning their tenth anniversary, a veteran, a refugee, and a man at the end of his rope get into their autonomous cars one morning and are driven to hell. The supposedly unhackable vehicles are taken over and programmed to collide. As the world looks on with mingled horror and bloodlust, it grows clear that they are not the random cross-section of society they first seemed. And the shadowy panel overseeing self-driving cars, now tasked with deciding the Passengers' fates, has plenty of juicy secrets as well. A wildly improbable thriller that plays on several timely fears.

This is my brain🧠. This is my brain after reading this book🤯. Any questions?

John Marrs completely blew my mind with this exhilarating thriller! Eight passengers in eight separate driverless cars, all of them with secrets, none of them making it to their desired destination. Imagine you're in a driverless car you have no control, no brakes, no steering wheel, you can't even open the doors,and somebody has taken over the car. In 2 1/2 hours all eight of these cars will collide head on end it is up to a "jury" and the public to decide who will survive. Or imagine this you are trapped in a room on a jury of sorts and your job is to decide the fate of these eight strangers. Yikes! I don't know which situation I'd want to be in less.

This was a fast-paced wild ride full of twists, turns, and plenty of bumps in the road. I was right there with these characters in these cars, I could feel their panic and fear. I was also right there in that room trying to determine the fate of these characters. I can't even imagine determining whether someone should live or die? Part of the brilliance of this story was how the lives of these characters were revealed to us. It was so real and disturbing how my opinion was altered as each piece of information was shared. I was so invested in the story, I seriously could not put it down! And then that end! WHAT! BRAVO John Marrs! This is an absolute can't miss!

This book in three emoji's: 🤯 🚗 👩🏻‍⚖️

This is one bizarre car ride that you won't ever forget.

What happens when the power to choose who lives or dies is given to humanity? Does one life have more value than another? Set in a futuristic UK, this book follows the paths of a group of seemingly random people - all with different circumstances, different secrets - as they are trapped in driverless vehicles headed toward a fatal collision.

Thank you, Netgalley, for this arc.

Sometimes a novel comes along that skillfully pushes the buttons on our primal fears. John Marrs' The Passengers is such a novel. From giving up control of the vehicle we're in, to how social media is used-- for good or ill-- as the foundation stone of public opinion, Marrs' fast-paced thriller kept me completely engrossed in his story.

In The Passengers, the government has an agenda and so do the people who hacked into the system controlling the self-driving cars. As we learn about each of the characters trapped in the cars and the hapless "jury" that has to make the final decisions on life and death, we become complicit in the decision-making. And it's not easy. The victims locked in the cars are afraid for their lives and become selective with the truth. Marrs adds twists to each person's history by having the hackers withhold key facts that the jury needs to know in order to make informed decisions, and these twists are like landmines on the routes those self-driving cars are traveling.

This book was well on its way to becoming another of my Best Reads of 2019; however, I'm sad to say that the ending unraveled a bit for me. One character's happily-ever-after ending came out of left field, and some of the knots the other loose ends were tied up in didn't feel quite right either. But... oh what a fantastic ride to my destination! (And I doubt very much that I'll ever willingly get into a self-driving car.)

This is a riveting thriller set in the not too distant future in England. Self driving cars have become the law and are now fully autonomous. When someone hacks 8 such vehicles, promising to send the passengers to their death and group of jurors are given the chance to save one of them. If you like The One, this is an oh so worthy successor. I will be recommending it to all my thriller fans. (4.5/5 stars)

I cannot recall reading a more absurd book in my life.

At first the absurdity was laugh out loud funny.

Then the whole ridiculousness of it kinda started pissing me off as it became more and more farcical by the page.

I'm not even going to bother with a full review. I've waisted enough of my time on this buffoonery dressed up as a novel.


**I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**